aceofspades389

Thank you guys for the help. I was disappointed by the condition as well when I first received it. I probably wont try to have it professionally restored, but I will try to keep it from getting any worse with the care guide. One thing I did find interesting in learning about nihonto is that ray skin is used on the tsuka. When I first examined the tsuka, I thought the sword was a mass produced, mid-20th century military sword because the ray skin felt plastic to me. Is aged ray skin supposed to feel plastic and "cheap" as opposed to like leather?

I came into possession of this sword about a year ago. I was told my grandfather came to possess it either during or just after WWII. He worked on a minesweeper, so he probably didn't acquire it from the source. It has no serial numbers, so I don't believe it is a military sword. The blade is about 22 inches with the overall length being about 28 inches. There are no markings on the tang that I can see. The tsuka has markings around the "rim" and both sides of the tsuba have markings. All markings are hidden when the sword is fully assembled. As a complete novice I'm having a hard time finding a direction to look for information on the sword. Hopefully I attached detailed enough pictures. I know I didn't include a pic of the tang. I can do that, but there were no markings I could see. Thank you in advance. Wes R.