lonely panet

Dave all your photos show civilan mounted swords (wakizashi) you can see the kurikata's on the saya and full tsuaka's making them pre-1934.so not gunto but rather wakizashi slighty changed for military service try and forget the samurai sword or family sword stuff. its all about the koshire. a pilots shin gunto is made EXACTLY the same as a type 94/97 shin gunto, just proprtioanlly smaller, the 2 tsuka are shown for Steve

WOW, Im shocked with the reaction abit, first of all the idea of a short gunto to fit into cockpits is so obvious, you cant argue with the common sense approach of space saving. also the numbers they were made in is "unknown", but we can all say with confidence, the majority of Japanese planes were shot down with kit, so making pilots/crew gunto's rare, due to the lack that survived. so Stephan please re-check the length of the sword sold to no confuse it with a wakizashi in normal shin gunto mounts. crew/pilots gunto are normally 2/3rds shorter, but identiacally made. the blade sold in this case is secondary, the mounts are far and above the blade because they are hard to find. unless your in geographic oddity and they are all in your location, they are rare in my location. average shin gunto 39.37 inches crew/pilots gunto sold 31 inches my crew gunto 27.97 inches I quickly scanned over the war relics page, and didn't find any relation to the subject at all. so the word RARE has different means to every one. http://www.ebay.com/itm/WW2-Japanese-Officer-antique-Samurai-Sword-Gunto-Wakizashi-Type-98-Kunishig-/321964318068?nma=true&si=HMqg8fPQGiJz0YK%252FH5DNVMC7JME%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

yep, if original, is very rare, to find a crew shin gunto with custom metal saya, normally they just made them out of wood, with a leather cover. some one just got a bargin, I would go so far as to say there evan RARER the Gen's grade Kyu gunto.

Hi guys, did any board member grab this little gem http://www.ebay.com/itm/Antique-blade-Red-Signature-Mint-WWII-Japanese-Army-Officer-Samurai-SWORD-WW2/222014014788?_trksid=p2047675.c100010.m2109&_trkparms=aid%3D555012%26algo%3DPW.MBE%26ao%3D2%26asc%3D33876%26meid%3Da265cd7417024077beb612e1e19e87f5%26pid%3D100010%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D24%26mehot%3Dpp%26sd%3D391377804862&autorefresh=true

me to, but could only get BI- SHU ? ? KAZU ? maybe ichi the blade looks ok, maybe a gendai?

the mei is very different from my opinion, but I look forward to the developing study into this area

boxed ww2 tanto, some times called kamikaze tanto, but I think for a gift tanto

the pace of the topic is falling behind compared to the tosugu, so im bumping it up abit published in the second Fuller and Greg book. naval patrolmans/ or naval cadet dress sword

the pace of the topic is falling behind compared to the tosugu, so im bumping it up abit published in the second Fuller and Greg book. naval patrolmans/ or naval cadet dress sword

I do love Magoroku kanemoto works. But im a real novice with quality mino works, but iv never seen suck a busy hamon on a mino koto blade before. but here a 2 magoroku kanemoto to compare to. FYI if I had money I would have these hands down, they are sexy. http://www.aoijapan.com/tanto-kanemoto-magoroku http://www.aoijapan.com/katana-kanemoto-nbthk-hozon-paper

heres a mumei, Kyu gunto, with shakudo foil seppa. I sent this to a togi, who removed 2 bends, and after that he noticed that it had some work done in it in the past, to remove some damaged to the cutting edge. so its had a interesting life.

sorry, the blade, and the inside of the koiguchi please

Hi mark, I think your close to the cav idea. the knuckle guard is very simular to the type 25, but is missing the finger loop hole and the latch hole. also I think the scabbard belongs to the type 25 model as well. all the the type 19 cav swords iv seen all have chrome/Nichol plated scabbards, but there is always a odd one. Does the side latch work on the scabbard, if not, it could be a "put togeather" piece. so maybe a custom order? some one that wished to take his type 25 with him, when he joined the cavalry but had to change the tsuka to meet regulations. can you post some pics please. I like the odd late meiji-taisho swords

well your asking a lot, considering the condition of the blade. people will only be able to guess, but due to the lost amount of meat visible though of whats left of the horimono, and general shape, im going to have a STAB at late koto-early Shinto. the nakago looks simular to sengo school. IMHO please feel free to correct me guys, got to learn

Don't be to upset about loosing this one Wanye, as a military collector myself I can say there are much better, cleaner and higher quality examples out there to add to your collection. its SEKI stamp means the normal showato, the mei is very rough, and iv always disliked battle field repairs. kind regards H

dam that Ota Chikahide in Kai-gunto looks very nice indeed. whats the smith rated at?

call me a noob, but that hamon looks devoid of any activity, would have thought there would be some nie, sunagushi or yo. but the kissaki looks well finished. could this be a modern smith working in a mino style? EDIT, hope I didn't put my neck on the block

Michael's Shodai is very interesting, with what im 98% sure is in type 94 mounts (getting rare now days). if you could please post more pics please, that would be great.

very nice guys, keep them coming. lets try and convert a few purists. I wish to see list early mint type 32, with matching numbers below 10,000 custom shin guntos mint generals grade Kyu gunto

Thanks Thomas, I might have to keep that it mind next time holiday. you don't happen to know the history of the 2 koshire?

not mine but will do some unspeakable things to get it

awesome akasaka

a minty Kyu gunto with a really nice blade and sword bag

Hi guys, with the slow pace of this thread, I have decided to steal/borrow a simular themed from tosugu. so how us your minty military gems. ill start, surrenderd in Burneo 1945 with full documation on both sides PS, I know your going to say its not a gunto, but you get the idea

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/SUPERB-MINT-SIGNED-GENDAITO-WW2-ARMY-OFFICER-Japanese-SWORD-SAMURAI-GUNTO-KATANA-/272109066843?hash=item3f5af6da5b:g:je0AAOSw3KFWdyyw