My first Shin Gunto, Type-95 NCO

[hale1940 13]

Hey there guys, 

 

I'm new to the forum and Gunto collecting so I thought I'd show off my first piece. I just picked her up the other day, a Type-95 NCO. She definitely has a bit of a 'war horse' kinda feel to her. She is of one of the earlier variations (though not the earliest) with the painted aluminum Tsuka, brass Tsuba, and iron Saya with horseshoe chape. The paint is pretty well worn from the the Tsuka and the Saya but there is definitely still some there on both. 

 

I find these Gunto's pretty fascinating and I've been doing quite a bit of research on my own but I'm really glad another member pointed me towards this forum. Looking forward to learning lots! 

[Shamsy 969]

Nice, clean example and a bonus to include the sarute. The early Suya are well made swords and you've got a nice level of patina without being worn out.

[Brian 6,972]

As the fakes become better and better, I forsee nice genuine ones like this going up in value and interest.
Nice pickup. In the past it would have been "Meh, another mass produced NCO" but that has changed and for investment purposes at least...these are a solid buy.

[Bruce Pennington 2,776]

Welcome Hale!  Nice start on a long-term hobby.  Have you discovered the Ohmura pages?  http://ohmura-study.net/957.html

 

Also worth you money to pick up the Dawson Book and the Fuller & Gregory Book.  They are foundational reference books on all the Japanese war swords since the modernization.

[hale1940 13]

2 hours ago, Bruce Pennington said:

Welcome Hale!  Nice start on a long-term hobby.  Have you discovered the Ohmura pages?  http://ohmura-study.net/957.html

 

Also worth you money to pick up the Dawson Book and the Fuller & Gregory Book.  They are foundational reference books on all the Japanese war swords since the modernization.

 
Thanks for pointing me here Bruce! 
 

And yep I’ve spend a bit of time already on the Ohmura website reading. 
 

And Ill have to get one of those books - they both look like excellent resources. 
 

Ive got a quick question already too haha. I noticed this sub-forum says its for ‘military swords made with non-traditional methods’ but I thought the Type 98 Shin Gunto’s and others were often made via traditional methods. Were they a sort of cross over, using swordsmith made blades but in a specific military determined pattern? Or am I ignorant around the meaning of ‘traditionally made’? 
 

thanks! 

[Stephen 5,739]

Thank god you didn't take it apart.

WTG!!

Enjoy your adventure.

 

Be sure to sign your post per board rules.

[Bruce Pennington 2,776]

If you look at the top, under "Japan News" you'll see a Home button.  Click that and you'll find all sorts of interesting forums, here at NMB.  One of them is "Nihonto" where the traditionally made blades are most often discussed.  Military gunto had a variety of blades in them, from ancestral, real Samurai, to "modern" nihonto, through the gamut of factory blades.  I'm posting a list of 9 ways Fuller categorized the military blades.

 

Some of the fun of hunting WWII gunto, is hoping to find a gorgeous, old, nihonto that had been re-fitted for the war.  I decided to collect a fair representative of each of the branches (army, navy) and officer/NCO, plus a few of the pre-WWII gunto.  My favorite are the Mantetsu blades.

3 hours ago, hale1940 said:

I thought the Type 98 Shin Gunto’s and others were often made via traditional methods

 

[hale1940 13]

2 hours ago, Bruce Pennington said:

If you look at the top, under "Japan News" you'll see a Home button.  Click that and you'll find all sorts of interesting forums, here at NMB.  One of them is "Nihonto" where the traditionally made blades are most often discussed.  Military gunto had a variety of blades in them, from ancestral, real Samurai, to "modern" nihonto, through the gamut of factory blades.  I'm posting a list of 9 ways Fuller categorized the military blades.

 

Some of the fun of hunting WWII gunto, is hoping to find a gorgeous, old, nihonto that had been re-fitted for the war.  I decided to collect a fair representative of each of the branches (army, navy) and officer/NCO, plus a few of the pre-WWII gunto.  My favorite are the Mantetsu blades.

 

thanks for all this info Bruce! Really gives me a bit more insight. 

[hale1940 13]

4 hours ago, Stephen said:

Thank god you didn't take it apart.

WTG!!

Enjoy your adventure.

 

Be sure to sign your post per board rules.

thank you stephen! 
 

and what do you mean by ‘sigh’ my post. I tried to find a reference to what you are talking about but Im still not sure. 

[Stephen 5,739]

somewhere in this new format ther is a profile once your in there it gives you a place to have your name at bottom of each post, so you dont have to sign each time. This new format is not for a old fart like me...i cant even find mine. someone will help im sure

[Stephen 5,739]

Well crapola your first name is your post name....sorry back to my room again. 

[hale1940 13]

9 minutes ago, Stephen said:

Well crapola your first name is your post name....sorry back to my room again. 

 

Haha no worries! Your feedback lead me to find the rules forum where I put my name and last initial in... so we've got it figured out now!

[Mister Gunto 65]

Nice blade, and a nice find!

 

A Type 95 NCO sword was my first true Japanese made sword. Careful, they're addicitve! 

[Stegel 256]

@ Stephen.... Hehehe, i have those moments too sometimes!

I'm also getting used to this new format.

 

Hale, Thats a very nice sword for your first one! and welcome to the asylum! Lol

As Mr Gunto said..  they can become quite addictive, so watch out!

Depending on how hard the bug bites, you could be an addict like us real soon.

I've just seen the next pattern with steel tsuba in the For Sale section, just FYI.

Good luck with your collecting and keep reading here on the forum, you'll pick up some good info along the way.

[Smee78 25]

Welcome to the forum,

 

Nice example you picked up. Your sword has numbers that are close to mine 69022.

[hale1940 13]

On 11/11/2020 at 1:24 PM, Smee78 said:

Welcome to the forum,

 

Nice example you picked up. Your sword has numbers that are close to mine 69022.

cool! I need to learn more about the Type 95 serialization process haha.