Officers Sword What do I have No 3

[Guns Knives and Swords]

This is one of the military swords in the collection of stuff I bought recently.  Please excuse my poor pictures of the blade.  It is very hard for me to get around glare and reflections with my current setup. It works great for most things but not shiny blades.  The blade is 34 and 3/4 inches tin total length and 27 inches are exposed when the handle is in place.  The hamon is quite active and even from end to end and side to side.  It has no rust or dings.  The leather tag was affixed to it along with the tassel.  Three of the swords had similar tags and they may have come out of a museum.  I am not much help on this so here are the pictures.

 

 

[Guns Knives and Swords]

[PNSSHOGUN]

That is a very fine Type 94, the blade I'm not 100% sure on but it may be traditionally made.

[Bruce Pennington]

36 minutes ago, PNSSHOGUN said:

Type 94

John, you're the Type 94 expert - are you basing that on the thickness of the tsuba?  Just curious.  I don't see any tell-tale rubbing signs of the second haikan (ashi), but that may just mean the owner removed it immediately.

 

Michael,

From the first 2 pics, I can see the remnants of a cloth sarute.  You must have removed it already for the subsequent photos?  My dad's Mantetsu came with the same thing, which is how I knew to look for a cloth one to replace it with.  Very pristine gunto.  I agree with John, that the officer paid some extra Yen for this.  The sakura chuso button (release button) is not very common, and is clearly custom addition.

 

Hopefully someone will translate soon.  If not, be sure to drop a pic of the mei over at the Translation Assistance thread.

 

I also haven't seen that family mon before.  I'm posting it on the Mon thread, if you don't mind!

[PNSSHOGUN]

Thickness of the Tsuba, the separate Sarute barrel on the Kabutogane, the curvature of the Tsuka and the colour of the paint on the fittings. All are consistent with the Type 94, at least to my eyes.

[Guns Knives and Swords]

This was attached but the cord securing it just came apart when touched. 

 

[PNSSHOGUN]

Field grade tassel for ranks Major-Colonel, unfortunately the cord Sarute are very fragile and can easily break apart like this one.

[george trotter]

Can't read the first two? kanji, but the last 5 look like    .... ju Minamoto Yoshi haru Saku.

Hope this helps,

Regards,

 

edit to add: It is signed TOTO JU MINAMOTO YOSHIHARU SAKU. His family name is NIIHO Motoharu (might be Motohira?) and was born in Niigata prefecture. Made gendaito and worked in Tokyo (hence the name TOTO - Tokyo). Also worked after the war. Saw a pic of his sig, on worthpoint...same man.

[ChrisW]

Looks like a gendaito to me just from the fittings alone though has it lost one of the seppa I wonder? Usually seppa come in pairs.

[Dave R]

A very nice sword, and I would say a type 94 as well. The separate sarute barrel being the clincher for me. The way the signature is cut has me wondering about a non traditional blade.Some very high class officers went for practicality rather than art!

 

 

[Grey Doffin]

Morning Michael,

Your pictures don't show a mekugi (the bamboo pin that locks the blade in the handle).  If the pin is missing be sure to whittle a new one ASAP.  Without the mekugi the blade can fall out of the handle and shatter its point, either in the scabbard bottom or on the floor.  You can use a chopstick for this.

Grey

[Bruce Pennington]

If you plan to replace the sarute and remount the tassel, you an sometimes find replacement cloth sarute for sale.  Otherwise, it would be completely acceptable to replace it with a metal one.  I have no doubt that the original owner wouldn't have hesitated to do so, if it were broken during the war.

 

Either way, you will find a tiny metal wedge inside the sarute barrel (which simply unscrews.  I use a cloth to cover the ends of the barrel and grip them with pliers to gently unscrew the halves).  I would keep that tiny wedge in a safe place as it would be very easy to lose, and you might find someone looking for one in the future.

[Mark C]

Very nice sword Michael,

 

Just for interest, Bruce has shown a screw in type of sarute cord retention, here is a push in type I got when I purchased a lone kashira with the remnants of the sarute cord in it.

 

Regards

 

 

[BANGBANGSAN]

東都住源義治作

[Bruce Pennington]

Google translate: Sumitomo Yoshiharu

[george trotter]

No Bruce. Trystan and my translation is correct. As they say...google can be naughty...

[Bruce Pennington]

52 minutes ago, george trotter said:

google can be naughty.

Sorry George, I literally forgot you had translated this earlier!  When I saw Trystan's un-translated post, I sent it to Google and got bamboozled! 

[george trotter]

Yes, google often bam the boozle!