Brian Dent

So several individuals that are much wiser/more experienced sword collectors have now looked at this sword in hand and I can say they state that two of their comments are in common: 1. This certainly appears to be from the Rai school (late 1400's). 2. This is most certainly NOT a Kunimitsu mei, but is most probably from the Rai school. I intend to have it submitted to a shinsa, after which I feel that I will need the mei crushed, and then resubmit to shinsa to try and get it attributed to one of the smiths/students of the school. Fascinating that I bought this as a "after thought" to keep it with the Type 2 Arasaka that I originally wanted to keep the items together that the GI brought home after the war 80 years ago. This has certainly taken me down Alice's rabbit hole once I started to appreciate the blade as something potentially pretty nice. Thanks for the comments and help to all here, as since I have demonstrated by my ignorance that I am NOT a sword collector. Brian

I will wait until I get the photo's and report back before I post more on this blade. I was told this blade probably dates from the mid/late 1500's and is a decent blade. I will post more of Chris's findings when I get his written evaluation of the blade/mei/hamon/etc. forgive my ignorance if I misspelled something in this email. Again, I am FAR from a sword collector and really just want to know what it is that I have. Stay tuned, more to follow............

All, this is my sword. Everything stated on all of the 3 forums it has been posted on, including this one several months ago, was true and honest. I am taking this to have Chris look at it in hand tomorrow and hope to find out a little more about it. I do not collect swords but bought this sword from the son of the WWII AAA vet that brought it back. Actually, the sword was sort of a "throw in" and I probably would not have purchased it (I really know NOTHING about swords like this) if it hadn't been for the Type 2 Arasaka para rifle that was with the sword as the bring backs of the vet. I didn't want to see these broken up since they have been together since he returned home after the war. It was a package deal (rifle and sword) and I know much more about the rifle than the sword and what I gave I knew I wasn't losing anything on the deal so I kept both together. Once I had the sword in hand and showed it to another local US military collector he told me that from what he could tell (a novice sword guy) that the blade was very well made, clean with no damage, and could be very old so I decided to try and get a little more information on it. I hope that I can get you a few more pictures after tomorrow and have ChrisW comment his much more informed/experienced thoughts on this sword. I did post it on here but know that sometimes a more well known member of a forum may get more responses than someone who just "pops up" out of no where asking for help. I hope you all now have a clearer picture of my goals, and appreciate Jeff posting it back up on the board for me. I am primarily a US military collector with a focus on WWII, which is how I even came to own these items. Hope to give all more info this weekend after Chris has this in his hands for thoughts and inspection. Brian

Sent you a DM reply before I read this post. Indy is certainly doable as I have family in the area and would love for someone more knowledgeable than myself (not hard to do! ha) to examine this in person. I truly do appreciate the offer and look forward to further DM's to maybe arrange a meeting in person sometime in the next few months. Best to you! BD

Thanks John. Unfortunately being located in the Midwest a CA show is a bit out of range for me. If anyone knows when the next Chicago show is to be held I would certainly make an attempt to attend and have this evaluated in hand by the experts. Again, thank you so much for welcoming me here and all of the great input. You are all very helpful to this novice when it comes to these older swords!

And a huge thank you to all who have given their input on this sword as I truly am an EXTREME NOVICE on such items! Great forum so far and glad I was directed here by another person on a different site.

Do the shows occur multiple times a year or is an annual show only?

Makes sense since that is what they were told by Mr. Pepin years ago when he looked at it. So who/how do I get this into someone's hands who can look it over for me? Again, I humbly thank everyone who commented and looked as I am a real novice when it comes to this sort of area of collecting.

Tang....

More pictures....

Recently acquired this sword from the son of a veteran who was with an AAA unit in the Pacific during the war. Along with this sword I also bought a decent Arisaka Type 2 rifle. Now, I know about the rifle but was encouraged to post the sword here in hopes of finding out more about it. I know that it was checked by Eric Pepin back in the 1980's in Chicago and the son was told that this sword was made by another maker and was cut down at some point. So with all the experts on here I am asking for your opinions/thoughts on this sword. I appreciate and thank you all in advance for your help as I know next to nothing on swords outside of the traditional military blades issued in the first half of the 19th century so I am truly ignorant on what I may have here.