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Katana mei help


sechan

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See those little pits all over the brass tsuba? Brass doesn't pitt like that naturally. That is pitting from a poorly-done sand-casting job.  There is literally nothing about this sword that is legitimate, sorry to say. It looks like the other blade you posted is good though.

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7 minutes ago, ChrisW said:

See those little pits all over the brass tsuba? Brass doesn't pitt like that naturally. That is pitting from a poorly-done sand-casting job.  There is literally nothing about this sword that is legitimate, sorry to say. It looks like the other blade you posted is good though.

Thank you.

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The fittings are at best imitation Japanese, and at worst intentional fakes.  Yet the thing has age.  I'm aware that the professional fakers can artificially age stuff, so that's no guarantee the item is legit. 

 

Please give a full photo of the nakago (tang).  But unless someone can come up with an island/SE Asian language the kanji fit, then the mei alone shows the whole thing to be a fake.  I checked the Java (Sumaran) mei and it's not even close to the same. I'll post a pic for comparison.

P1090064.jpg.7f72afa6e98654c966f245d215614327.jpg

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Well, the numbered habaki says it's Chinese-made.  There were legit Japanese swords made in Manchuria for officers stationed with the North China Railway, but the differences are obvious.  In spite of the apparent age,  I'd have to place this one in the fake category.  There were fairly poor looking swords made in occupied lands for collaboration forces, but they are different than this.  This one is trying, in every way to present itself as an IJA gunto.

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Steve,

To your question of "too much trouble" - I used to wonder that myself.  It seems a lot of work to produce something that sells for $150 USD when advertised honestly.  But have since seen posts with photos from factories in China making dozens of these at a time.  If they can make them for a profit at $150, imagine their profit at $1,500!  And China is only one of several countries doing this.  The fakes began actually DURING the war! So many of these came home with returning soldiers.  Lots were made in the occupation years with G.I.s swarming all previously held Japanese lands.  But there are known fakers (one of them IN Japan!) producing them today.  Fake aging is becoming a science. 

 

Now to the angle that it's produced by an occupied land, you're best bet is to find someone with language skills in from the Southeast Asian nations.  If you can find someone that recognizes the characters, then you're in business.  But for now, they look like someone trying to imitate Japanese characters, badly.

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They are very crudely drawn Japanese hiragana characters. To me they look like

 

み 

お or maybe す

で or maybe じ 

 

Basically its gibberish. The letters are crudely inscribed. It looks like an elementary school kid's attempt at engraving letters. You could entertain the possibility that they were carved by some recruit who was barely literate, or who had to make a hasty job of it while in the field, but you are still left with a fake sword that has a meaningless inscription scratched on it. The most likely explanation is someone tried to put "Japanese-ish" writing on a fake sword in order to try to boost its value. It is very common. 

 

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