Lareon

Not worth it to get it polished and sharpened in my opinion. Also have no idea how much Hamon is lost. I would either keep it as is or if you're unhappy return it

Takenori did make gendaito

Also has the thick Seppa

No way to tell. Someone could have tried to sharpen it in their shed and botched it. Got a close-up of the edge?

Don't make me feel sick

Well this is an oddity but something probably done later in its life.

1940 no acceptance stamps. Possible gendaito. Nicely struck mei. Obviously if the sword is in poor condition you may not be able to see it. If you hold the sword to the light and look down the blade. Gently move it, can you see a Hamon on the blade ?

Look around the nakago (tang) are there any more marks (stamps) that were covered by the fittings

Not sure on the damaged blade edge but I would say the sword is genuine. Just abused.

Can you take a photo of the whole blade completely out of its fittings. The nakago says Showa jugo-nen juni gatsu kitchi jitsu A lucky day in December 1940 (showa 15th year) The Smith is Take- ??? Maybe Takeyoshi but I find the wartime Kanji harder to read a lot of the time. Maybe someone can read it better

And the blade has no edge at all?

https://imageresizer.com/

@Bruce Pennington Didn't have a Souvenir in my collection but got this Toyosuke recently. Not in hand so can't send any more photos yet for you Bruce. 48 in paint and the tsuba has 45 on it

hard to see with the eye but with my dslr looks like the mon used to have gold on it in places

for posterity, a light gunto had a small Hiogi - Cypress fan mon.

interesting as a curio for sure, seems like they didn't really follow a standard style or manufacturing process, except smaller dimensions. my curiosity on it got the better of me tbh and i ended up buying it.

Happy to take more photos and measurements while i have it all fittings have a western numeric 1 stamped in one thing i noticed that i've not seen before is the fittings all have dimples on them with corresponding raised sections so they fit together without moving. as described in Dawsons, everything is smaller, even the mon

Ok, I'm back from My business trip and have had a little while to look at the sword. measurements: Nagasa: 78.5cm Sori: 2cm Nakago: 15cm Tsuba W: 4.7cm L:5.5cm Fuchi: W 2cm L 3.2cm Mon: Hiogi - cypress fan

I'm away for a few weeks now but when I get back I'll take photos and provide measurements of everything

This is where sekigane is useful ( the small copper inserts on the tsuba) The soft copper sits between the tsuba and the nakago

Took a look at it. It's 100% a lightweight gunto. All of the fittings as described in dawsons are smaller than normal. It is very light in the hand. Feels more like a police saber in all ways. There is no edge to the blade, not even a false hamon. The fittings are of high quality and the blade is obviously plated. No habaki and seems like it was never intended to have one. The saya wouldn't fit if it did. I've actually never come across one before but then again the UK market is more limited.

Thank you Jussi, Invaluable contribution to the field. I'm sure all who benefit from this now and in the future will thank you. Tony

Ironically I flew to new York a few weeks ago to collect a sword and brought it back on the plane with me. Was far less hassle than shipping it. Customs at the border were fine with it. Postal is a lot worse

I do have Dawson's yeah. When I'm at my books I'll take a look. Cheers. For some reason didn't think to look at it!

yeah no habaki but the koshirae seems to be made for the sword