phil reid

Does anyone know this pattern Japanese sabre on ebayhttp://www.ebay.com.au/itm/281274096452?ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1426.l2649 Saw one a few month ago and chap had a period photo of Japanese troops ( early meiji period from the look) and a discription of the sabre pattern but i failed to save the data . I was going to bid on this as it had been sitting in the low hundreds for a while but others more cash up have spotted it . Any info on this pattern would be appreciated - lovely blade . cheers Phil

Keep seeing these and was told they were a custom job but there were about 20 last year on ebay EXACTLY alike in there mix of army/navy fittings , all being passed off as naval - does anyone have a reference to these ???? There all in near mint condition ( have yet to see one with any real wear to it ) . Heres the ebay number if link doesnt work ( first one ive seen with a signed blade though) http://www.ebay.com/itm/Japanese-Japan-WWII-WW2-Navy-Officers-Katana-Sword-w-Scabbard/111254480465?_trksid=p2046732.m2060&_trkparms=aid%3D111000%26algo%3DREC.CURRENT%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D27%26meid%3D4057270223990067758%26pid%3D100040%26prg%3D1011%26rk%3D3%26rkt%3D4%26sd%3D350971521367%26

Hi Bruno , Ive added a a cross section shot . Looks to have been machine cut then snapped . I know a couple of chaps with a good knowledge of metal that ill get to checkout and post results if they show that its actually a core but dont think so . Phil

Is this a province name on the blade 上野 ? Kozuke ?

Thankyou for that and the corrected translation . Does anyone know why the broken swords were keep afterwards ? Did the officer have to hand his blade in for breaking and then allowed to keep the broken blade as a token of his military service or were the swords just collected on mass with the blades snapped and scrapped and the fitting just sold off as curios to whoever would buy them or kept as a tally of illegal swords destroyed ?

Picked this up out of Japan as a bit of a curio but does anyone know why these wartime blades were snapped and why they were keep afterwards?? ( the fittings on this are pretty ordinary but its probably just a put together with some modern copy seppa / sheath cover) I have the blade translation as Ueno Hiroshi-soku cheers Phil in Perth Australia

Sorry , mustve hit something incorrectly that the manufacture date sides coming up whilst the signed side has to be clicked on to view , signature hopefully here (may still have to be "clicked " on to view ) apologises Phil

Think I have this right on my WW2 type 3 thought some of the strokes may be off , nobumitsu ? Cheers in advance Phil

Thanks John Looks good from quick googling then , ill do some more research tonight but think your on the money Much appreciated Phil

Hit the point of brain dead on this one , have gone through all the kanji onsite and the eyes are blurring signature on a very plain military ww2 type 3 , probably staring me in the face, "Kane " ??? assitance would be appreciated Thanks in advance Phil

Thankyou for your replies , especially Mark S for sharing the cloth wrapped and written on handle photos on his friends sword , much appreciated Phil

The cloth wraps you sometimes see in period ww2 era photos on Japanese swords , were these just any old cloth grabbed to try and protect hilts from the pacific climes or were they of greater significance/ signed/ prayers etc cheers in advance Phil

Even on the Japanese website the semi standard scabbard is proper naval issue double ashi navy ring mounts with "round" naval cherry blossum to the scabbard ishizuke drag and certainly couldnt find the mass produced army scabbards in the navy section of the Japanese website http://www.k3.dion.ne.jp/~j-gunto/gunto_005.htm . Only diversions from naval pattern were special order custom jobs customised to an officers requirements, even the single hangers a concern as unless they were custom made all naval issue belts were double hanger , the quanity of these "naval" swords hitting ebay speak more of postwar production then a massed customised ww2 pattern

Thank you George for you considered reply , much appreciated . What I was trying to convey was the numbers of these showing up , all mint condition , all the exact pattern of mixed army/navy , all with untouched navy Toyokawa anchor stamped blades speaks of a directed quantity production of these swords and not the mixed customised swords you see late war or the odd mix of sword fittings that you see as Japan prepared for invasion and and made sure those of rank were armed with a blade . Surely with the quanity of this pattern being seen of late there is some record of this pattern WW2 production , heres a 2nd one this week http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/WW2-Imperial-Japanese-Naval-Officers-Kai-Gunt-Katana-Sword-Investment-Quality-/190871776821?pt=AU_Militaria&hash=item2c70d82e35 and another one from the same seller http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/WW2-Imperial-Japanese-Naval-Officers-Kai-Gunt-Katana-Sword-Investment-Quality/190871776821?_trksid=p2047675.m1850&_trkparms=aid%3D222002%26algo%3DSIC.FIT%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D11%26meid%3D9195064954916164101%26pid%3D100011%26prg%3D1005%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D5%26sd%3D200926121034%26 and another one in the US last month http://www.ebay.com/itm/Japanese-NAVY-SWORD-WWII-/190853583820?ssPageName=ADME%3AX%3ARTQ%3AUS%3A1123&nma=true&si=sWsIrrh1iqF7FqRus6mhTzbAF7A%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557 Alot out there for a navy/army pattern thats war time unrecorded

Ive been seeing these WW2 " naval swords " popping up recently on ebay all mint condition but with army mounts , all the pieces look wartime manufacture but this mix of army/navy would surely not have been allowed , late war stainless navy blade " but what naval officer would ever wear or be allowed to wear an army scabbard with army menuki http://www.ebay.com/itm/300935386234 without getting beaten up . All the referenced late war naval swords ive seen , and there really rough , still have the correct menuki and ashi , even the chinese knock offs have navy pattern menuki and ashi .I sent this query to jim dawson who said they were post war put togethers for the tourists using real parts . the thing is that theres alot of novice buyers paying big bucks for what they believe are mint condition naval swords . Does anyone have any referenced material on these Army/Navy swords most probably post war put togethers (saw one a few months ago with the scabbard engraved from a US soldier in Japan to his Dad dated 1953 )

Does anyone know the left hand company logo on the NCO Fuchi ? The shape which appears to be internally circular but externally is hexagonal with small beads on the points. Guess is that it is a trade or company stamp. The nearest kanji Found is SUI (water) but it can also be read as TAIRA and MOTORI which are both names but cant find the company anywhere. Bit of a Mystery Cheers Phil

Ive currently listed a type 3 sword on ebay for sale and have a request about the hamon (its very plain -straight ) item number 231009468169. Im guessing this is just a machine made blade but im unsure about how the hamon was applied , any referenced information on this? A bidder in the US wants me to (quote) "do a chemical etch? You can use lemon juice or white vinegar. If you heat the juice up and rub it on the blade with a cotton ball it will turn black.You can take the black off with a metal polish paste. You should be able to draw the hamon and any activity out more." He wants me to do the whole blade until the blades black and it "draws" the hamon and any other areas of note out on the blade to see if the hamon is real or machine made Not exactly over the moon of putting acid of any strength on the blade (hes requested the whole surface to be done -2-3 times to really bring out the character and then he tells me i can clean all the black off the blade with baking soda and water paste then 0000 steel wool :D ) http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/231009468169?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1586.l2649 your thoughts would be appreciated

Thank you gentlemen for your replys , ill checkout the online binding and if its beyond me i'll contact the chap in Qld . I was only talking about Wally Dennison today with Greg Holtham who'll be working at the cannington show with geoff smith, and he was saying he's not seen him for a few shows since wallys wife was crook but believes hes still about, but just not into the shows as such . Thank you all again

Is there someone in Perth Western Australia who know how to properly wrap the biddings on a Type 3 44 Sword Shin Gunto WW2 ? Met a chap here ages ago who said he was trained to do the binding but lost contact (or is there somewhere else local -Australia- i could get this professionally done . cheers Phil

Thankyou Brian , yes hes sold a few of what i thought were civilian wakizashi as civilian using the same format its just that he keeps pushing the army side quite adamantly and i was wondering what i was missing .Thanks again

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/190795345952?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649 Sorry but this looks like a standard civilian sword with a train luggage ticket on it , I know civilian swords were used WW2 but ive only seen them with the leather campaign scabbards , would someone please enlighten me as to how this is a ww2 crew gunto as i cant find any reference in any book i have that looks like this one? http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/190795345952?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

Hello , Can anyone enlighten me about these Ebay WW2 Naval swords I keep seeing as the fittings all seem to be Army yet they all seem to carry very fresh looking Tokokawa Arsenal stamps to the tang, are these late war/ post war knock togethers ? http://www.ebay.com/itm/Japanese-Japan-WW2-Navy-Katana-Sword-with-Scabbard-/130697329389?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1e6e2afaed130697329389 Apologies as this is my first time on and not sure if Ive added the ebay link above correctly but the ebay numbers 130697329389 if the link hasnt worked