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Old blade or Showa blade


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Greetings, my name is Alex and I recently started collecting Japanese military swords. I acquired a sword which I believe to be a type 94, although it does not have the removable haikan. The mei on the nakago did not have any information about the sword maker and the year of the blade was forged, but it said “Showa 10th year 3rd regiment (a name I can’t translate) test cut” From the shape of the nakago it doesn’t look like a Showa blade, any information is greatly appreciated.

 

The seller stated that the sword is a battlefield pickup from a WW2 vet who fought in the pacific theatre.

Best regards,

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Two mekugi Ana, one that’s been filled, looks like an older blade to me, but please post pictures of the entire naked blade for the sugata and try to get some picture of the Hada, the Hamon (if you can see them) and a picture of the nakago jiri.

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Totally guessing, pre-showa, but not by more than 100 years, just going by the yasurime and how proudly they still stand even with all the corrosion nearby. interested to see what the seasoned folks think. kinda a hard call with the blade being out of polish. And we never get much to go on. still a shot in the dark a bit. maybe zooming in to see if the metal has big/small/no grain.

 

Maybe some resident vets miss the post with the words Showa (bless their souls) in the title, but you can look thru a few posts and see some folks that are excellent at translating whatever missing characters you need, and send them a pm. That would be a surefire way to get help with translating.

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Two mekugi Ana, one that’s been filled, looks like an older blade to me, but please post pictures of the entire naked blade for the sugata and try to get some picture of the Hada, the Hamon (if you can see them) and a picture of the nakago jiri.

I will post the entire blade later, thank you.

-Alex

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I'm in the IJA camp. The third kanji is the second of "Showa" (和) and the other bit I can make out is:

 

第三師団 - Dai san shidan - "number three division".

 

A clearer picture of the tang might enable one of the better linguists to read the inscription. Given the length of the inscription it might be higher quality than the usual Showato or maybe even a Gendaito.

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I don’t know, John. Looks older to me, probably shortened to conform to length regulations and tested during Showa as you can see that the tang around the inscription is shinier. Inscription looks more recent than the rest of the patina.

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於昭和十年一月(At Showa 10th Year 1 Month-1935 January)

第三師團留守部(Third Division Stay-behind force) 

百有餘囬(Over Hundred times)  

Not sure what's the last two Character,it looks like 試切(Test Cut).or 試刀(Test Sword)

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I don’t know, John. Looks older to me, probably shortened to conform to length regulations and tested during Showa as you can see that the tang around the inscription is shinier. Inscription looks more recent than the rest of the patina.

 

I won't disagree: I'm a bit thrown by what I think is corrosion and that the last two kanji are obscured. So we have some corrosion, some original patina and part of the inscription that has been cleaned up? 

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Yes,Can't be sure what's the last two Kanji .I think 試切or試刀 kind of make sense.But also could be other character,like 武力。。。

 

I won't disagree: I'm a bit thrown by what I think is corrosion and that the last two kanji are obscured. So we have some corrosion, some original patina and part of the inscription that has been cleaned up?

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  • 2 months later...

Thanks everyone for sharing your knowledge, since I am a newbie to the gunto collection, I hope you gentlemen on this forum will continue to share your knowledge and experience with me in the future.

 

Best regards,

 

Alex

The last two kanji could be 成功(success),that way make more sense.

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