Lockinload

Oh no I totally agree. A amateur would totally destroy the blade. I wouldn’t trust myself sharpening or polishing it unless I was trained by a professional and had my own equipment. It’s still a beautiful piece of history even with the damage over the years but I’ll try to keep a good eye on it and if it gets worse I’ll maybe try to get it looked at by a professional. I agree with both of you though, thanks! -Alex

Ok then no worries. I kinda like the beat up look anyway. I was just asking for advice on what to do. But I’ll keep it the way it is. But yeah that looks like it. The only thing is it doesn’t have the blood groves in it. -Alex

Ah ok that makes a lot more sense now. But now that I know the relative age and history of the blade I should find ways to take care and preserve it. I do know that the blade is dull in some areas and sharper in others so a nice sharpening could honor the smith who crafted the blade. The blade has a lot of rust spots on it so it could do a little polishing too. The tang is great looking so I don’t need to mess with it. The type 98 Tsuka is beautiful and in good shape other than it’s missing it’s Peg/Mekugi so the handle will fly off. Then I have to deal with the scabbard sheath. It’s a old leather one that I took off as it wasn’t in good condition and was shedding, I’m going to keep it in a case as it’s a original one but I’ll need to find a type 98 Leather scabbard sheath. Once all that is done hopefully it’ll honor the sword smith and the previous owner of the sword. It’s the most I can do anyway. But thank you for the info! -Alex

I now know Heian is Kyoto. Would Masatoshi be the Sword Smith? thank you!

Thank you! I needed those last ones translated. They get harder to read the more down they go and the more strokes the characters are! Thanks again -Alex

Oh ok. If I remember correctly I don’t believe that it does but I’m not sure. nice type 98 though

Do you mean the Flower ornaments under the wrapping? They are gold in color.

That super interesting! Thank you! It gives me a greater clue to the history of it. Any idea as to why the blade is older but it has WW2 Imperial Army Type 98 Tsuka and Scabbard? Much thanks!

Hey! Sorry, I’m located far away from my house as I’m visiting family. I won’t be back home until August.

Ah no problem it’s better than what I could come up with! I was hoping it was going to give me a date of manufacture or something. Any idea what it could mean? To me it sounds like a location. I’ll wait till you get back to me though

Hey I have this beautiful Type 98 Gunto or so I think. I’ve been having issues with the tang as the kanji is not etched deep enough after the first two characters. Maybe some one has eagle eyes or something. I only know the first two but I don’t know what it means. Any help will be so much help.