Anfoz

I love the look of these silver platted fittings they are beautiful. Anyone who has one in there collection are very lucky.

Looks like a star under the Habaki to me. Do you have the sword in hand? If so removing the Habaki will give you an answer.

Do you have more photos of the blade and fittings for us to see?

I see what you are all saying now. So this was a signed Shawato and the Mei has totally been filed off too pass it off as an older looking Mumei. What a shame, it looks like a nice clean sword in pretty good condition. I think I may focus on collecting showato blades to help save/protect the less loved blade.

Thanks Mal, I will have a look at that article when I get home. Much appreciated 👍

That’s great information a lot more than what I started with so I am very appreciative....... Thank you all. It’s amazing the wealth of information found within this forum. 👍👍

Ooops…I found the other photo with the missing mei kanji. I must of overlooked it some how, sorry for the confusion. I’m sure this will help. Thankyou all.👍👍

Hi Bruno, yes the wrap was way to clean and thought it should of been on a bit tighter, felt a bit soft and loose in my hand. Thanks for your help

Thanks for all the replies it was very helpful. unfortunately I cannot get any better photos as the sword is not in my hands. I was thinking of making an offer to buy, however I may hold off in search of something a little better. I did like the blade but the Mei is messy and didn’t like the new wrap on handle. I’m in no hurry so will keep looking and pestering you all for info on future swords.

Hi, firstly I will apologise for the poor photos, they have been screen shot from an internet site. I had a look at this sword the other day but wasn’t able to take my own photos. I was told this Star stamped blade was made by Kanetomo and in pat 44 mounts. There seems to be a strange marking/scratching above the date mei ?? Not sure what or why it’s there but looks out of place. ( I have it circled in photos ) can anyone confirm that this is Kanetomo and what the date is? Also it looks like the handle has been re wrapped not 100% sure. Overall with my limited experience it was to me a nice blade. Any help would be greatly appreciated and once again sorry for terrible photos.

Great sword Tony. A Star stamped sword is on my want list, I looked at one the other day a pat44 in nice condition but yours is stunning… congratulations 👍👍

Thank you for all your help everyone, this is a great forum with an incredible amount of knowledge and information.

I rubbed in a bit of chalk to highlight the mei

It looks like it’s about 9.5cm from lower peg hole to notch at start of blade. I can’t remove the Habaki all the way, I don’t want to force it as it’s not my blade and don’t want to damage it so just pulled it down a bit. The mei does look just like the one Mat posted ( thank you Mat )

Thanks John, does this help? I added a couple off close up of the blade, using an IPhone ,so not the best. It has about 56cm (22 inches) of sharpened edge if that helps as well.

Thanks for your reply’s John and Jean. Yes, I thought the Tsuka looked a bit odd as well but I don’t really know much about Japanese blades anyway ( still learning ). So if the Hamon was chemically treated does this mean it’s not an old blade? I will do some googling and see what I can find on Kanetsugu.

Hi, I am after any information on this blade. I believe it’s Japanese but I could be wrong. Blade length is about 56cm from the Tsuba to the Kissaki and looks as tho it is hand forged. I can see folds in the blade (not sure if photo picks it up) and is extremely sharp with a Nice Hamon. It has only the two mei and what looks like a bar code under the Habaki. Thankyou

Thanks Barry, good to hear I will give it a go

ok so 18, Thankyou Bruce. I will give the soapy water a go with maybe a soft toothbrush then a bit of oil on a rag. Would you stay away from using an oil with solvents in them such as some gun cleaning spray oils? I have oils with solvents for cleaning/protection and oil with no solvents.

I decided to remove the Fittings ( Seppa’s ) on my “New to me” Gunto. They have obviously not been removed for quite some time, stuck together with grime. I also noticed all the fittings were marked with a number ( 8T ) which I now know from this forum that they are assembling numbers. My question is do I clean them and if so with what? ( hot soapy water? ) or leave as is? I don’t want to make them shiny and want to keep the old aged patina look. I’m sure this has probably been asked before, but I thank you for any help. This is a Showato made by Fujii Kanefuji ( thanks to other forum members for the name )

I would like to thank everyone for their help it was greatly appreciated.

tsuba is definitely brown.

My tassel does look a little different to those. It’s very close to the one on the far left. Thank you

Yes, I will post more photos when I get home. The Tsuba is a dark brown in colour the photo makes it look black.

Hi Steve, Fujii Kanefuji This is what I found, have I translated that correctly?