Petteri

Thanks for sharing, very interesting!

Wow some great stories here, thanks for sharing! Noone can do eccentric quite as well as the British I would say. So there might actually been a few traditional Japanese swords in WWI Europe: * Captain Johnnes and his tachi * The British officer with the waki * Japanese-Canadians with katanas * Potentially some IJN officers (?) At least a few of these seem to have been lost in battle, including swords from the Japanese-Canadians lost in trenches after attacks...

Hi Martin, That was what I feared. The provenance was strange at best so I guess I'll pass on this one. Thanks for your reply!

Damnation... Lets try again: OK seems to be working now!

Hi, I've stumbled upon an auction for what is claimed to be a World War one katana brought back from Europe. Having done a little bit of research it seems very few katanas were carried into WW1 Europe. Some Japanese-Canadians may have brought katanas. Moreover, the auctioneer claims the seller's grandfather "captured" it in Malta in 1917. Now the Japanese navy was in Malta, but on the Allied side and not infantry fighting. But maybe the grandfather was given or bought the sword from a Japanese Navy officer and this got lost in translation. The sword has only a wood handle remaining, no wrappings, and the scabbard is leather combat covered. The blade is old and rusty, and its clear it has not been treated well for a long long time. But it does intrigue me if this is really a world war one katana, as it would be quite unusual I would assume. Please have a look at this album and see what you think? I know the pictures are terrible but its all I have. Is this real at all? Has the era been confused, is it a WW2 blade? Is this worth spending a little money on as a gamble?

OK.. Thank you so much for the information Ludolf! Back to searching for me..

Then I found this auction result from the UK: Hmmmmm.....

Hi Ludolf, Thanks for the info and references! As I understand Tatare Nagayuki was a wazamono, so I could see how gimei signatures would be a concern. I'm a beginner when it comes to studying nihonto, I've bought some books but they have not yet arrived. In another thread here on NMB, I saw a blade with a similar mei: I haven't found an oshigata of a confirmed NAG562 mei though...

Hi guys, I'm considering buying a katana, but I was wondering whether the signature "Tatara Nagayuki" is gimei. And here is the blade: Would appreciate your thoughts on this!

And thanks for the interesting info!! Funny how the swords have traveled over the years

Hi guys, Sorry should have mentioned I was asking because I was considering an eBay item. The pics are from eBay so it's not like I was hiding it. Same seller is selling four swords that his grandpa apparently brought back from wwII. His grandpa must have had a discerning eye :-)

and some more:

Hi Martin, Thanks so much for helping me out here! Much appreciated. The sword is a short wakizashi. Here is one picture: and another:

Hi guys, My name is Petter, I'm a beginner when it comes to Nihonto and I was hoping to get some help here. Can anyone identify this mei, or say which time period the blade is from? I've tried using the kanji guides, but it's very hard as the photo is unclear. Any info would be much appreciated. Thanks!