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Trying to identify this sword. Possibly Type 98 gento.


Loona93

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So, the story of this one os a bit of a doozy.
Well, I bought this katana arround 3 years ago right before covid in southern Brazil, and only got the time to research it further a couple months ago. I bought it on a flea market believing the word of the seller that this was a old training sword...so that's a great start.
Now I do believe what I bought is in fact one of the most misstreated type 98 in the world, but I'm here to hear a second informed opinion...is that really a 98?
The scabbard was almost cpmpletly sanded down to bare metal, though you can still see the finishing in a few spots, the seppa and tsuba are all glued together with a verry stong glue(if any of you got any ideas of how to get them separated withoud damadging it further, do tell)...worst yet this glue dribbled all over the sword in every tiny crack and now its whitening from time...in short, a disaster.
You can vaaaguely see what I believe is whats left of the company logo that sold/build the sword and a faint 4 on the seppa I believe, also inside the fuchi its inscribed "X IX", not in the photos because I reasembled it already, but if someone is interested I can take a picture tomorrow.
either way, I'd like to know if someone can tell me if this is a real 98, and if it is how can I fix this poor thing up? should I fix it up?

seppa.png

photo_2022-08-09_21-29-57.jpg

photo_2022-08-09_21-29-57 (2).jpg

photo_2022-08-09_21-29-58.jpg

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Luna,

Welcome to NMB!  You have a legitimate Type 98 Japanese officer sword.  I personally believe the blade, though, is something older.  The 3-tiered machi (those notches where the nakago (tang) meets the cutting blade) shows the blade was reshaped 2 times after it was made.  The nakago is also longer than standard, so the blade shows promise as something interesting.  You might benefit from posting some full-length photos of the bare blade and some basic measurements:

measure.thumb.gif.ff34a48972bffaf31fcd36a2a2f75d8a.gif

 

And your posts should probably be better addressed at the Nihonto forum HERE.

 

Re-painting the saya (scabbard) is tough to do and make it look right.  I've experimented with an NCO Type 95, and while close, it's still obviously off a bit.  Yes, it still looks better than the scabbard that was stripped to the bare steel, but it's a toss-up on which way is better.

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G'day Luna,

I hope I am wrong, but I think all of the small details are lining up to point towards this sword not being a "real" type 98. We need some better photos to be sure, including what Bruce has suggested, but also need a better closeup of the nakago and kissaki and assembled sword showing fuchi and habaki.

Cheers,

Bryce

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