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Thanks for this, I also am going the gun case route to bring 3 back in a few weeks. Going in and out of Haneda, but my sellers in Japan have handled the export permits.

John, Thank you very much for this information. It is excellent and I appreciate your help. My sword is the one with the Mei pictured in the book (according to the seller). I will attach some photos of the Mei and blade. The blade is housed in standard wartime T98 fittings and metal scabbard. It has NTHK Kanteisho papers. Thank you again and best regards, Steve

Tried to include a few more few close-ups, showing the detailing of the mounts. Each of the components are adorned with cherry-blossoms, with finer-detailing to the backstrap. I suspect the Saya has been done in Dogfish/Eel skin, instead of conventional Rayfish Same- the texture appears very uniform and lacks any variation; being without any obvious "Nodes". One interesting feature to the sword is the folding "retention flap", which secures the blade within the scabbard

To lighten the mood a bit, I'll tell you a story. In 1990, Dr. Sempé passed away, and his widow, fearing theft, hid his Andean archaeology collection, along with 70 tsuba and kozuka, behind a platform in their country house. Thirty-five years later, their daughter-in-law undertook renovations and rediscovered these completely forgotten collections. Naturally, all the tsuba and kozuka were corroded with numerous spots of red rust. Last Friday, I bought three of these tsuba at an auction. Here are photos of one of them before and after the cleaning I performed (washing with soapy water, scraping off the rust with bone, then lightly oiling). No corrosive products were used, of course