WWII Kai Gunto signature ID help

[Testa]

Hello. I inherited a Kai Gunto from my grandfather who served in the Navy during WWII. He found it in a cave on Saipan. I removed the handle and I am wondering if anyone can help

in identifying the signature?  Unfortunately he removed the original ray skin and thassles from the scabbard and sanded it down. 

[Ian B3HR2UH]

It is a Shin gunto or army sword rather than a kai gunto which is a naval sword . You can tell this by the handle mountings. The blade is signed Kaneshige and is most likely made during the war years

[Bruce Pennington]

Hi Steve, welcome!

Ian is right.  Yours originally came with a leather saya (scabbard) cover) and a belt loop hanger.  They often go missing after the war.  You can see how it would have looked on this page on Ohmura's site:  Type 98 Informal Mounts,

 

Sesko listed two Kaneshige working during the war, so don't know which was your guy:

"KANESHIGE (兼重), Shōwa (昭和, 1926-1989), Ise – “Fujiwara Kaneshige” (藤原兼重), he lived in Kuwana (桑名)
KANESHIGE (兼重), Shōwa (昭和, 1926-1989), Kumamoto – “Higo-jū Kaneshige” (肥後住兼重), “Kaneshige” (兼重), family name Kimura (木村) but it is said that Kaneshige had been his first name too, he lived in Yatsushiro (八代), the Kimura had been smiths in the service of Higo’s Hitoyoshi fief (人吉藩) since the Edo period, Kaneshige studied from 1942 under Kurihara Akihide (栗原昭秀) and worked then as a guntō smith until the end of World War II (see picture right)"

 

Care and Cleaning: Japanese Sword Care.