An Island sword

[Ian B3HR2UH]

I was shown this sword during the week . The father of the man who owns it was the Clerk of Courts in rural Victoria in the 60's . The sword was an exhibit in a court case and at the conclusion of the case no one claimed it so the Clerk wound up with it .Another son had buffed the blade and tsuba and had glued the handle on 

The kabuto gane is interesting as it is a crude copy of a shin gunto one . The cherry blossoms have been cast separately from the main body . The fuchi is plain iron without a base plate . The menuki appear to be a cherry blossom flanked by two smaller ones . There are no marks on anything other than some hard to read red writing on the saya cover, one of which appears to be Gun

It seems to me that this has been made during the war in the south west Pacific area . The finer details make me think that it is a bit too good to have been knocked out in an Australian workshop . I concluded that it was Japanese made in the Islands . I have attached photos for posterity and in case anyone turns up a similar one.

Ian Brooks

[Ian B3HR2UH]

And a couple more shots

[Ian B3HR2UH]

And a clearer shot of the kabuto gane

[Shamsy]

Hard to know. I mean, is there any indication it came from a soldier originally? Forgive me if I am not understanding, but it sounds as if it just came to the Clerk of Courts without any history, other than being part of an exhibit?

 

As to quality, I've seen far better. Neil had one that was far nicer from memory. I've also seen much worse (Java swords, the single Island Sword I can verify).

 

Just such a difficult area. We know genuine examples exist but since they are all basically unique, how can you ever know trash from treasure? There is the PoW that made swords, accounts of collaboration forces making them, the Java Sword Works, the sword smithing team that made them in the field... but then the Aussies made a bunch and of course lots of fakes and weird stuff.

[John C]

For me, the dichotomy is between the crudeness of these types of swords versus the number of hours it must have taken to produce them. Somebody had a lot of time on his/her hands to hand stamp all of the details. 

John C.

[Bruce Pennington]

Thanks for posting, Ian!  

 

It fits what we know of the island swords.  The thing that often tips the scales for me is legitimate aging and use.  Real wear and tear, that is old.  We've seen attempts to fake that, but this one looks real.

[lonely panet]

IMHO is want made in Japan or by a Japanese person,  so there for dosnt deserve the title.

 

its a sword,  no more Japanese then my left testicle. "speculation?" well we are allowed that but is it healthy ????

 

if you label this as island made,  which island?? as thats its national dentity. 

but i wouldnt give much time