Frankenblade

[A Dunne]

I was given this sword; I have no idea what is going on with it, as the mounts are corroded, but the blade looks like it was cleaned at some point. The wrap is dirty from years of being handled, but this was its state when it was bought about 25 years ago. Since then, it has been stored away in its leather/bamboo saya. There's only a single stamp on the tang and no markings anywhere else. Sorry about the rubbish photos; I'm freehanding it with a phone. Anyone have an explanation of what this is? Is it a collection of random parts? It has seppa with the notch cut for a scabbard lock, which the sword doesn't have. The saya has a cutout like it was intended for a side lock. I don't think it's visible on the photos, but there's a dark smear along the edge where you would expect to see a hamon. Is it an attempt at faking one or a bad cleaning job?

 

[Tensho]

Blade has a Navy inspection stamp and is stainless steel. It does appear to be a put together just judging by the number of seppa(keep adding until the hole lines up) it is a civilian style gunto tsuka though.

 

May just be the photos, but it appears to also have a plugged mekugi ana in the tsuka? Is the scabbard mouth also filed out for the habaki to fully seat?

Edited Wednesday at 11:01 PM by Tensho

[Bruce Pennington]

The tsuka (handle) has an Army menugi (metal part in the ito wrap) and the leather cover is normally seen on Army fittings and civil swords refitted for the war.  The navy stainless blade could have been pieced together with the other parts.  Although, it is normal to see navy-produced blades in Army gunto and vice-versa, not common, but normal.

 

Your points about the cut-outs for a locking latch, combined with the extra cut-out in the koiguchi for the wider blade support the idea this was put together by a collector some time ago.  If it was a wartime throw-together, someone was pretty desperate to do it this way.

[The Blacksmith]

I have heard that some family blades were swapped prior to being surrendered, perhaps a possibility.............................?

[Kiipu]

Need to see a picture of the entire tang.  Either late war or a souvenir blade.

@Jareth

[Bruce Pennington]

Yes, I would like to see that too.  Is it possible Adrian?

[A Dunne]

Thanks for the replies. The sword fits in the saya good and tight, I can hold it inverted and shake it - within reason - and it stays put. Here are photos of both sides of the tang and the mix of seppa - in the order I found them - along with the plain iron tsuba. The piece furthest left is a piece of leather cut to fit.

 

[Tensho]

Do you have a close up of the tsuka too? Also, does it fit tight with it by itself on the blade with the mekugi ana lined up(no tsuba, seppa)? If not, then I stick to my next assessment. 

 

Thats way to many seppa on this style of mounting. I've seen a mismatch of them(chuso cutout) on bring backs, but 5 and a leather seppa is just someone stacking them up. 

 

This is what I'm talking about on the saya circled in red. Looks like someone filed the koiguchi so the habaki would fit. If thats the case the blade isn't for it. 

[A Dunne]

The tsuka absolutely needs those spacers for the mekugi to line up. The fit isn't particularly tight between the tang (nakago?) and the tsuka. As for the cutout in the saya:

 

[Bruce Pennington]

Thanks Adrian!

The blade has no obvious signs of being a souvenir blade, and the three dots are like a couple others I have on file, as well as fourth made by the Inaba forge.

 

Overall a real odd one.