CarstairsCowboy

@Julien All good! No malice assumed from me! I actually ended up going into a bit of a deep dive since I was last on here to see if I could find out more! Between that and getting super busy at work, I kinda ended up putting my nose straight to the grindstone and everything else fell off my radar! -Connor

@Julien16 It definitely looks like this is likely a gimei then, since the signature and style are pretty different from the reference material. The hamon line also stands out as being very different by comparison and looks like it was done in an entirely different style.

More photos part 2.

Hey @Scogg! I have added a few more images for context. I'll have to add more under this post. If y'all think that this is a genuine Nihonto, then I'm now doubly curious to see if I can find out more, because this is one of those once in a lifetime kind of things. My family never really kept or cared about things like this and my mother almost pawned it decades ago, so I'm hoping I can find out the history of it!

I don't really know all too much, to be honest. My father told me he didn't really talk about the war much and he passed when my father was still quite young. As it is, the majority of what we know is that he didn't have it when he went into the jungle, and had it when he came out. If it is genuine, should I move the post to the Nihonto thread? I'm still somewhat skeptical that it is genuine, since it seems a bit far-fetched in my mind, given how many swords were produced period around the war. Cheers -Connor

Great timing! I actually just fired a post into there, since I am unsure what the actual provenance is. I'm honestly expecting it to end up in the fakes thread, but at least I'd still know a little bit more about it either way. Cheers -Connor

Good Afternoon Y'all! I'm posting this here because, quite frankly, I don't really know where best to put this. My grandfather came back with this sword from the Burma campaign and it eventually passed down to me, and until now no one in my family really cared to look into it, treating it as a neat war trophy and nothing more. Consequently, I have effectively no knowledge about this and anyone who did know anything has already passed on. I have done a little bit of digging and been told it is everything from a fake to an early 18th century Gimei. What I do know about it is that it lived in a closet in Terrace, BC, then in Carstairs, Alberta, Seattle, Washington, then eventually back to Calgary before it came into my hands. Truth be told, I am leaning more heavily toward it being fake than anything else, but it would still be nice to know a bit more about it, since it has been in my family since at least 1945, nor do I have any intention of selling it. If anyone has any ideas or thoughts, I'm all ears! If anyone knows who I could speak to about getting it polished and where I could find or have someone put on new fittings, that would be super helpful too! Photos below are the best ones I have of it, but please let me know if you need more or a different angle or something. Cheers and thanks! -Connor

Hey Kissakai! Yes, right now all I have been doing is some light cleaning to keep any further patina or damage from happening. Otherwise I have left it entirely in the state that I inherited it in. What would be the best thread to put it in, since I am not entirely convinced that it is an authentic Nihonto. When I say it is inherited, I should clarify that my family is not Japanese, but that my grandfather served with the British during the Burma campaign and tactically acquired it from the previous owner. That being the case, which would be the best thread for me to post the pictures I have into in order to not clutter anything up? -Connor

Howdy y'all! I just found this board and signed up recently. Name's Connor and I am based out of Calgary, Alberta, and I have always loved swords and history. A bit ago I started digging more into the history of Japanese swords and swordsmithing when I inherited a katana from my father, who inherited it from my grandfather. I would love to find out more about it, since a few people I trust have told me it is a gimei. I would love to find out more about it and see if I can get it properly restored and refitted one day! In the meantime, I do my best to keep it in tact and clean, and do the digging I can.