Tensho

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.

If you do a search of his name on here, there's a couple threads going back a year of people unsuccessfully getting a hold of him.

Having purchased an item that was badly misrepresented from this seller, I wouldn't belive a word of any of it without having a ton of provenance. Besides having the very faded(which is strange considering the ito and sarute seem unaffected) company grade tassel I would expect an admirals kai gunto to be a little more higher end and have a full samegawa saya.

Much appreciated. Thank you.

I've had this one for a while but I never wrote down the smith. I believe its an unknown one. Thank you.

Looks legit to me. If its fake I would really like to know where to purchase an identical one! As far as the colors being "flipped" I cannot say. Personal preference? Disassembled and put back incorrectly?

Much appreciated Steve! It appears to be Showa period so perhaps not a surname. Blade isnt traditionally made and has a fake hamon.

Found on boys day tachi.

Try buyee. You can switch over to yahoo Japan via that service. Some items you are still not able to buy. I don't use it much, more knowledgeable people may be of more help.

None of these ebay sellers "own/possess" these items. They are for sale on yahoo Japan(for much cheaper)After a westerner pays double the price for them on ebay they purchase the item and have it sent to the buyer.

I've been seeing this done a lot by Japanese dealers(especially on ebay) my guess is they're taking Hazuya or Jizuya stones to rusted blades. I don't understand why they do this.