This WW II Katana belongs to an 85 year old retired Special Forces Colonel friend. He obtained it between 1949 and 1960. I volunteered to look into the identification of the blade. To my untrained eye it looks like sword number 36 on the Military.com site...http://www.quanonline.com/military/military_reference/Japanese/sword_36.php. There are NO markings on the tang. Please see the thumbnails below, Thanks Ken