lonely panet

those file marks are concering, but they were removing them back in the day aswell. its most likey a superor grade "showato" or a gendai made with a possible mix of imported steal. its just splitting hairs. judge the blade not the stamp. like koa isshin mantetsu blades and Horii Hideaki's Mikasa gunsteal blades, its about how well you can debate your point. but good pics of the hamon and JI would help us all see if the gendai goodness

few more points. your saya is a KO version as they have a smaller drag on the scabbard compared to the otsu. there should be numbers on the drag to match the blade. (mis-matched numbers are very common and make the value much lower) Also bruce is stating the whole sword lengths but check the blade lengths to clarify. KO should be approx. 32.5 inches yours id dated taisho + 3 taisho is 1912 plus 3 =1915 the two titles of the sword come from the 2 most read books on military swords, the older guys who read the Fuller & Greg books call it a 1899 troopers sword and the newer guys who read the Jim Dawsons book call it a type 32. but they are essentially the same sword

I had a 2 handed kyu gunto with a taisho blade, it was send to Andrew Ickeringill to repair a bend in the blade. He pointed out after the repair the it had been reground on the HA towards the center, to repair the cutting edge so possible battle damage or just damage, just very interesting.

look hard at he nakago guys, this is a low end nagamitsu, as it appears to have a lower quality metal attached below the mekugi ana (cant recall the correct term as I am living on no sleep). this is a cost saving measure to save tamahagane during the wartime. Joe is correct with every point. just look at the kissaki!! its shape is horrible. iv seen high end showa seki blades that would almost surpass in every aspect, evan in the hada hahahahha

Im in the same pool as Bruce, john sloughs book states that several factories in Japan made the upper end Ko issin. but with lack of any real method of IDing them how can we tell, they are just to simply to put it, they are almost identical. I'm of the opinion that they are all made in Manchuria, with the added astonishing way in which they are made which is very cool, the fact that they are almost exactly the same, points to mass production, and the only place near Japan with plenty of free labour and materials was Manchuria. also the main point that people seem to forget, is they were made to withstand sub 0c temps in hand to hand combat, also points directly to china, so it makes sence to make and sell them in the one country in which they are occupying. I know there are people on this board who disagree

probably showa seki gendai, the mei is rough but I'm sure theres some ko nie int he first pic. worth a window to see

photos

just pay the money and do it, I'm a no-collecting novice that was helped by many members, and met many people. the kamakura study group is beyond great, handled many stunning blades in the kantei, and by far the most pleasing ubu ko-kizen tachi I have ever layed eyes on. if I'm lucky I can try and do it again, the hard part ..... Guido's jokes hahahha, they are good if not wrong. my only regret was being to reserved as I didn't want to offend or look silly

Rob is the life of the party, great host. helps westerns communicate with the hosts well and makes very odd SNOW MEXICAN jokes.

new game guys, heaps of fun, and easy to play. just spot the crack and ....... http://www.ebay.com/itm/Y138-Japanese-sword-wakizashi-in-mountings-Fuyuhiro-full-temper-kozuka/352142145911?_trkparms=aid%3D888007%26algo%3DDISC.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D45727%26meid%3D207b47c0a8794c2ea8906c489666f18d%26pid%3D100009%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D1%26sd%3D142476448977&_trksid=p2047675.c100009.m1982

kind of second Sebs answer, theres def a osa.... there

im not sure if this is a "telling off" at the buyer or the peaple who posted there opinion

the blade is def a level up from the koshirae. i would like to see some better pics of the blade, esp the kissaki

interesting piece. could you do some better guality photos

silver solder can and has been used in the past to fill gaps and holes. if its from South Australia, run like the wind. a dodgy dealer comes to mind

heres one for the IJA collectors a rare piece, with plenty of guilt left too http://www.ebay.com/itm/WW2-Japanese-army-type98-gunto-parts-tsuba-and-seppa/112488478842

well, i feel sorry for you. that is a very underhanded way to do business. but to all those people who read the forum, the potential lost future customers will more then make up for your sum of money seiyudo, I hope you read this.

just hammering markes

this the permission of the new owner, ikubi on a showato is uncommon. i dont know any practical reasons why they were slowly phased out for other types of kissaki, as i have never done Iai or anything related. but i think they look very pleasing to the eye, esp on a tachi

i can post some pics, but i will have to ask the permission of the new owner WILCO

very interesting, its not that common that you find stamping on the blade of dress swords, of any kind does the D-guard had a plastic or bakerlite core instead of horn grip?

this got educated quickly

micheal, Ebay isnt a real auction. it resembles nothing like a real acution, its a online progressive bidding process, where you cant handle any of the products and your completely at the mercy of there flimsy rules. just like real auction houses, they will find ways to increase there prices with in the flimsy rules. so everyone jump off there high horse's and accept that this is how ebay is run and its the way it will continue to be. because at the bottom line, the higher the price realised, the more ebay make....

as long as your happy with the end product, that's all that matters

Dave, eric has very nice stuff. put our self in his shoes, would you sell something for less then you paid for it ? or let it got for less then the market price??? if you really want it make a offer?? don't forget ebay and paypal are crooks considering what they get in commission PS, in what world do you think your going to get a papered, polished katana in papered koshirae for 3 grand