ROKUJURO

This one is more like a repair:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanō_Tan'yū

Charles, the photos do not show the NAKAGO (tang) which would be important for a guess (orientation always tip-upwards, dark or black background). There is nothing on your sword that relates it to WWII. The blade could be older, but the condition does not allow to see HADA, HAMON or other important details. The TSUKA-ITO (handle wrap) is wrong and probably a later amateur 'repair'. SAYA, HABAKI, and the simple TSUBA look Japanese to me, but this is just a guess based on these photos.

Rob, this blade wasn't cheap because they thought it was MUMEI - it was because of the sad condition. Age and a signature do not add to the value unless a blade has good quality and is well preserved. Your blade certainly has some age, and it could be early EDO or even KOTO. It is SURIAGE, but a nice KOSHI-ZORI is still visible. The nicks on the cutting-edge and the overall state would make a polish quite expensive, and I am not optimistic that any expenses on the blade will come back in a resale.

A dark background would be working much better.

Hi Olga, as others have written, the TSUKA-ITO is not traditionally wrapped. The brass TSUBA is cast, not carved. 1) What battle are you especially thinking of? I'd like to suggest a bamboo forest, so hopefully no one gets hurt 2) Yes, there were many KANESADA sword-smiths in the past which is why they chose this MEI 3) Probably 1 to 3 years 4) no collectors value, but market price may be around $ 50 - 100.-- I am sorry for you in case you bought this as a Japanese sword.

Rick, that looks strange! Did you "clean" the NAKAGO (tang)?

Marcin, a REPLICA is an exact reproduction or a copy exact in all details. There are thousands and thousands of these fakes out there. They are not more than fantasy swords in my opinion. As you say, they are obvious fakes. I hope no one here will be deceived by them.

Ray, the writing is faded, and with out-of-focus photos, you are making reading (and helping) still more difficult!

Thank you, I see it now! Looks a bit different from other TSUBA that I have seen. Every day, you learn something new! Cleaning might be a bit difficult on this one!

Zachary, there are blades with a high SHINOGI that may require this shape. As you see often, the NAKAGO-ANA can get a bit distorted after some time of use. Sometimes you even find TSUBA with a NAKAGO-ANA that follows the shape of a BOHI in the blade.

It reads SHOWA JU SHICHI NEN - SHOWA period (starts counting in 1925) 17th year. The painted numbers are 3845. They are assembly numbers from the manufacture of the sword.

Minh, do you see the gold foil clearly? To me, it looks like a brass HABAKI that was gold-plated. It is important to remove any oil that may have gathered inside the HABAKI to prevent the build-up of Verdigris.

If you push that backwards, a slot opens for headphones.

SUKASHI TSUBA