Battara

Thank you for clarifying

Thank you folks. As said earlier, it is not the typical late shin gunto blade.

So you would say this is gendaito mumei blade, though pre-WW2?

The scabbard once had a leather combat cover that is now gone.

Greetings folks. I am a newbie to nihonto and have a katana in shin gunto mounts. The blade is mumei, has some rust, and seems to me to possibly have an itame hada. On the nakago, there are file marks that seem to be katte-sagari. Where the blade meets the habaki, the blade is sharpened, so I doubt it is gendaito. It needs a polish badly but don't know if this blade is worth the cost. What can you tell me about this katana? Thank you in advance. Jose

Well I made a simple brass band and put a simple patina on it. I did this to stabilize the scabbard. The scabbard no longer comes apart. See pics. I also realized that the blade is a nihonto mumei! Too bad it has sections of rust.

My apologies. Thank you.

Good point. I forgot about gendaito and family blades. I assume that this also applies to shin gunto blades as well. Many thanks. Jose

I am looking at a kai gunto without anything on the nagado. Should all kai guntos have a stamp of some kind, or can a blade tang not have anything on it and still be legit? Thanks in advance. Jose

Thank you folks sooooo much. Will keep looking for a kai gunto, signed and with a same or sharkskin scabbard. I'm ok with a machine made blade too.

Here is a picture

I've seen a kai gunto with a brown scabbard and a green tsuka wrap. Is this rare?

Thank you folks. I will think about making a simple brass band to stabilize the wood scabbard. I will patina it if I make one.

Great. Ok a leather covering ad a simple steal band. Would it improve the value if I replaced it with a new simple steal band?

Thank you folks. This was another possibility I forgot about - a combat leather cover. So no fuchi gane at the throat either I gather. What belonged there then?

Greetings folks, Been a while since I last posted. I received a shin gunto with an unsigned blade (I'm sure machine made) and with a black lacquered says. One can see the wear at the bottom of the scabbard and it is missing a fuchi gane at a throat. Is this normal? Could this be some sort of marine piece? Any help on this piece would be appreciated. Thank you in advance.

Greetings folks, Been a while since I last posted. I have an army officer's sword given to me by a friend. Would it be wrong to add an army tassel to it (below general rank) or leave it as is, tassel-ess?

One other thought/question that I hesitantly ask: Could this possibly be a kamikaze dagger? Yes too many shira saya tantos out there are claimed to be kamikaze, but again in Fuller and Gregory's work, there is an example of such a dagger with a blade nearly identical to mine. Also, if it were a cut down blade, wouldn't the tang be more squared off like other ones reused as daggers?

Bruce you have a good point. It is probably more like a tanto in shira saya mounts, though the scabbard is missing. Thank you both for you help. What got me confused is that I have seen similar examples in Fuller's book with nearly identical blade profiles.

Greetings folks. This is my first post over on this part of the forum. I got this little aikuchi in a lot of several pieces of US and Filipino origin, including this Japanese piece. I think this is a WWII made aikuchi for an officer. The hamon looks oil tempered to me, and it is mumei. What are your thoughts? Thank you in advance.

I may take you up on this. Would these blades fit any kozuka? Would they together fit any Wakizashi? Jose C

Greetings folks! I lurked here a little and heard of this forum for a while. I used to be on the Nihonto section of the now nearly dead International Sword Forum. Since that died, I've been looking for where everyone moved. It seems to be here where the knowledgeable people are. Great. I bought a few books, did some research, seen true nihonto in an exhibition or two. Since then, I now have a WWII army gunto katana (given to me) and a wakizashi (Muromachi) and a tanto (1800s) that I traded restoration work for. I have always been interested in nihonto but was afraid to purchase until I had some research and understanding under my belt. My main interest is Philippines weaponry. However I also have love of mokume hada (which I find more among koto blades). So yes I am a newbie, but learned enough so far to know what I want and love most. And BTW - I made my first nihonto seppas for my wakizashi. Domo arigato and maraming salamat! Jose C. (aka Battara)

Many thanks folks. Very helpful information. I will take my time and look on both your sites. Grey I can get to your site, but what is Mark's site? By the way, I've seen some real and fakes ones. Big difference!

Greetings folks, This is my first post on this forum. I recently acquired a Muromachi wakazashi but it is missing the kogatana. What would be your recommendations to find a real kogatana of the same period? Thank you in advance. Jose