Steve C

I made a modest effort to unscrew the cap but didn't want to chooch on it too hard. Cool stuff! For now, this is going into storage. Thanks again, everyone!

This should be my last post. The fluoroscope image shows where the tang could have been secured in the traditional manner, but you can also clearly see the tang is threaded. I wish I could know if this option was even available to a Japanese officer ordering a sword, or if this is definitely the work of someone in later possession. Thanks to all of you for your responses. This has all been very illuminating. No pun intended.

Thanks everyone for the excellent advice and assistance in identification. I do have access to a fluoroscopy machine and will report back if any information on the tang can be revealed.

Thanks, Bruce! That is encouraging. I like that possibility better than a well-meaning but inappropriate serviceman's modification.

Thanks for taking a look, and I will certainly follow up on the advice to seek a local expert who may be able to safely disassemble the handle to reveal more possible information on the tang. There is no pin anywhere, just stacked rings. However, I am sharing a close up of the pommel, where it appears to my inexpert eye that the tang has been peened into the pommel. Fake? Modified later by a serviceman?

And no numbers or stamps anywhere.

Hello, and thanks for the add. This sword belonged to my father-in-law, now deceased. According to my mother-in-law, his father was a USN officer and brought it home after WW2 (along with an original model year Savage 22-410). I know nothing more than that. I was hoping the experts here could identify this sword. It measures 99cm overall from end of scabbard to pommel. The blade length (nagasa?) is 71.5 cm. The blade is sharpened along the entire length, and is magnetic. I can't see any hamon/hada anywhere. The scabbard appears to be brown painted steel. It is also magnetic. There is a thumb-actuated retention clip in the handle. The handle is not wrapped. It is composed of concentric discs of what appears to be leather or similar material. Each disc can be shifted slightly, as the handle is loose. I can't see any way to disassemble the handle to expose the tang, and I wasn't sure that would be a good idea anyway. Thanks, Steve.