RobCarter3 Posted March 11 Report Share Posted March 11 Greetings all, This is a Toyokawa anti-rust kai gunto that I picked up last year because I wanted a representative stainless Type 97 with a sharkskin saya. Just got around to photographing it. One thing that's strange about this sword is the ito. It doesn't cover the whole tsuka, but ends about exactly one tape's width above the fuchi, leaving the wood core and sharkskin panels exposed. The ito is otherwise well-done, very tight, and with obvious age to it. I don't think it's appearance is due to shrinkage because the wrap changes to hiramaki over the menuki, and there's no indication that the menuki have moved. The mekugi-ana is also unobstructed and everything lines up well. The tsuka, saya (inside the throat), and fittings are all numbered "166," matching the nakago. So it appears that the sword was made this way. I could swear I've seen this exact same thing before on NMB but I can't find it. Maybe the tsuka was originally had a leather or canvas cover? Another thing about this sword is that someone has scratched writing into the habaki. One side appears to say 中村 "Nakamura," a common surname, but the other side is too deteriorated for me to try to decipher. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobCarter3 Posted March 11 Author Report Share Posted March 11 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobCarter3 Posted March 11 Author Report Share Posted March 11 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray Singer Posted March 11 Report Share Posted March 11 Please disregard, I missed that you already had the assembly number and surname translation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BANGBANGSAN Posted March 11 Report Share Posted March 11 2 hours ago, RobCarter3 said: It says“陸軍捻“=the army (style) wrapping 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobCarter3 Posted March 11 Author Report Share Posted March 11 Just now, BANGBANGSAN said: It says“陸軍卷“=the army (style) wrapping Thank you for the translation! That makes sense -- I know the strict Navy Type 97 spec mandated hiramaki wrapping. Just don't know why it looks like they ran out of ito. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BANGBANGSAN Posted March 11 Report Share Posted March 11 34 minutes ago, RobCarter3 said: Thank you for the translation! That makes sense -- I know the strict Navy Type 97 spec mandated hiramaki wrapping. Just don't know why it looks like they ran out of ito. here is Army 陸軍捻（諸捻卷）vs Navy Tachi style (平卷） 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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