Tang marking translation

[wwiirelics]

Hi, I am pretty new to Japanese swords as I collect German edged weapons from WW2.

 

This said, my fascination for blades has expanded a bit into the Japanese area and I want to add a WW2 era sword to my collection.

 

I found one the internet and wonder what the tang markings mean on this sword and what the going price is for a (pre) WW2 sword in good condition.

 

Kris.

[Brian]

Hi Kris,

 

I edited and rotated the picture to (mostly) the right way up. This should assist someone to translate for you.

With that lower mekugi ana (hole) I would expect this to have been in 1944 pattern shin gunto mounts, but not sure if the rest of the fittings fit this profile.

Higher grade of military seppa (spacers) but the age looks to me to be around WW2.

We would need a few other pics to get an idea of whether this is a std machine made blade or something better, and which military pattern.

I am sure someone will help with the translation shortly. Is there any other markings on the other side of the tang? This is usually where the date is.

 

Regards,

Brian

[Stephen]

is always a good place to check on gunto's

 

http://home.earthlink.net/~steinrl/teruhide.htm

 

I know Rich S. collects Teruhide's but he is not responding to Email at the time. Speedy recovery Rich.