Tensho

Jist pointing this out. Maybe its just the photos, but the samegawa seems to have issues on both sides of the tsuka as well. Also appears to have a mekugi-ana plugged?

Okay, I thought it looked familiar. I do not know the seller, but looking at some of the items, they are "put" together. I can tell on another sword the saya mouth isn't cut for the habaki. Probably explains all the scratches and saya rubbing on most of the blades. FWIW, not unheard of in the collecting world of WWII era swords. A lot of swords came back with no saya, wrong saya, missing tsuka, seppa etc.. I've heard numerous stories of guys going to gun shows with tables full of gunto parts. You could walk in with a sword with no saya or tsuka and walk out with one that "fits" good enough.

Did you buy it off ebay? Who it was from may be a good indicator of what all was pieced together. It appears to be a jumble of parts.

I agree, I am saying these aren't "solid gold" as the OP was told. From the late Ford Hallam himself:

I'm going to play devils advocate here, but I am seeing verdigris on these menuki. And it looks like copper showing through on the bottom edge on one of the back menuki of these thats scratched. Perhaps these are gild? Or low gold content 10kt or there abouts?

I have seen minature Noh masks like this before. Not sure there purpose.

I used 99.5% Ethyl alcohol on a saya with Kamon. They were barely visible as the Urushi darkened and became foggy. It had no problems dissolving it enough that I was able to buff it. Question is, will there be a "ghost" of the old kimpun mei left once removed? Especially if the nakago around it developed more patina.

Thanks for taking the time to post these Bruce! Interesting read on Warrelics. I guess I need to take back what I said. I have never seen a type 98 or a good quality kai gunto with the the fuchi/seppa combo before now.

Do you have any reference to "Genuine" captured late war gunto with the one piece fuchi/seppa? Hard to tell in the photos, but these parts may have been gilded at one time and/or are just heavly tarnished. I so far have only seen this combo on the PX swords along with them having mixed parts i.e solid iron tsuba, navy menuki with army parts, navy kabutogane with army menuki etc.. I would be curious to learn that legit war time swords like this have actually been taken from combat. I have only seen documented PX receipts.

Yes, its a PX sword. The fused seppa on the fuchi, Army(not navy) kabutogane and menuki are the main giveaway. https://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/51891-kai-gunto/

Saw that one listed on ebay. Looks like a piece together of original(tsuka and saya) and not original parts(tsuba and blade) not sure what is going on with that blade. The saya cover caught my eye, unfortunate about everything else.

Thank you!

Going through my box of assortments and came across this. Any thoughts on to what it means? I had no luck drawing the Kanji. Thank you.

Looks like a "showa22" sword. That blue backdrop is notorious. He likes to "touch up" the blades he gets so I would tread caution with what you get.

I was going to say, I have never seen an original "color" photo of Japanese soldiers.