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WW2 Japanese navy sword


Swords

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Steve,

I want to say "Hisamichi" but I'm usually wrong on smith mei!

 

Quite an unusual gunto.  95% of it is kaigunto, but he menugi is Army.  The finish on the saya, and dull gold gilding screams Post-war souvenir, but that blade!!! Wow.  Cannot see the stamp at the top of the nakago, is it a Tenzoshan anchor or Toyokawa?

Tenzoshan

2055899710_TENZOSHANFORGE.jpg.81603990614ecbd2c55f9d59214b4c15.jpg

 

Toyokawa

SmartSelect_20190929-181732_Gallery.jpg.ffc85d2ab30db5253a1cfc19c3914ab1.jpg

 

I'm wondering if it was very late war kaigunto.

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Yes, I love the hamon on it.  Even if it's oil quenched, it's still a beauty.

 

Ok.......thanks for bringing up the shark-skin saya.  I hadn't noticed that, but was simply seeing the dull sheen of the photos from a distance.  After zooming, you are right.  So, forget all I've said up to this point about the possibility of it being a post-war souvenir.  Nothing about it, with exception of the Army menugi is symptomatic of the Toyokawa souvenir. 

 

I've not followed current market prices on kaigunto.  Pre-covid, they sold around $2,400 plus or minus.  Re-wrapped tsuka are not uncommon, as many gunto came home with some really damaged ito.  The only oddity, then is the menugi.  I personally wouldn't downgrade a kaigunto much for that, as who knows if it was done post-war or simply late war.  It's a pretty piece overall.  If you're selling, I'd simply ask market price and see what counter offers come in.

 

Sorry for getting this all confusing with my mistaken souvenir saya impression!

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You said plus or minus 2400 it’s still oil quench? What puzzles me is that the hamon looks more traditional then oil quench unless they can look that good

But I’m no expert ethier

here’s the best picture I hav It looks almost like a seki which of course is a Arsenal stamped 

I don’t hav the sword in my hands or I would hav a better picture 

 

26E966AA-1B3B-4B2B-93C5-04DF0CB33D1A.jpeg

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That seller is a member here. He gets good stuff. Also has good stuff for cutting and martial arts.

 

I’ve got rare naval mounts posted fs that are mint but the showato blade needs to be polished as another option to consider. 😄 

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Steve,

Kaigunto prices are higher than Army because they are more rare, or less common.  There's just not as many of them.  Plus they are "prettier" than the plain Army gunto.

 

Thanks for the stamp!  The large seki stamp was used by the Seki Cutlery Manufacturers' Association to mark good quality blades.  It is not know for a fact whether they are only on showato, but I believe that is the case, and higher quality showato at that.  You can read more about this in the Stamps of the Japanese Sword document.

 

A good close-up of a section of the blade, showing steel hada (grain) and hamon details might help guys give you a more educated opinion.  I'm no nihonto guy, so my opinion on that is not worth anything.

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2 minutes ago, Swords said:

if it effects value??

Steve,

Difficult to say.  As a buyer, and I was looking at your kai and a "perfect" kai with the navy menugi, I personally would chose the one with the Navy menugi, regardless of price.  But other collectors, who have different collecting goals, might not care if the price is right (cheaper).  So, in general, I could say, yes it would lower the price, but there is such a variety of buyers and what they want and why they want it.  That's why I said, earlier, that I'd set the asking price at normal market value and wait to see what offers come in.

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  • 9 months later...
On 4/17/2022 at 6:02 AM, Bruce Pennington said:

Kaigunto prices are higher than Army because they are more rare, or less common.

Bruce:

Found this old thread and it got me thinking. Without trying to be morbid, how many kai gunto do you think were lost at sea? I know roughly 300 thousand Japanese sailors and officers were lost, however I'm not sure how many would have had swords or even if swords were on the ships.

John C.

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On 2/8/2023 at 3:39 PM, John C said:

Bruce:

Found this old thread and it got me thinking. Without trying to be morbid, how many kai gunto do you think were lost at sea? I know roughly 300 thousand Japanese sailors and officers were lost, however I'm not sure how many would have had swords or even if swords were on the ships.

John C.

Ran the question by Austin Adachi on Wehrmacht-awards.  He wrote the book RIKUSENTAI The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Japanese Naval Landing Forces 1927-1945.  Figured he would have some numbers if they could be had.  His answer:

 

 
  • Hello Bruce,

    I'm seeing a wide range of numbers but it's said at least 155,000 IJN personnel were KIA or MIA. I'm not sure about the ratio of officers to enlisted during the war but the 1932 records state about 9.8% of the navy were officers and 9.3% by 1935. Unfortunately the records on public archives don't list these figures beyond 1935. We can make a very broad guess that the number of officers KIA in WWII was around 14k using 9.3%. I'm sure someone has done a more thorough investigation but I did not have much luck in finding anything either.

    Regards,
    Austin
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3 hours ago, Bruce Pennington said:

I'm sure someone has done a more thorough investigation but I did not have much luck in finding anything either.

Bruce:

Thank you and Austin for your efforts. Maybe I will try to research these numbers and hopefully come up with something that will add to our knowledge base. But either way, it seems as if there weren't that many swords lost relative to the production numbers.

John C.

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