gun addict

Please help with this translation. Also the mei including the dating seems like a higher quality of inscription than the typical Seki strokes. Even though this sword I'm looking at is in a type 3 mount there's a chance it could be a gendaito

I was able to track down some information on this bundle of sword and the owner that brought it home. The gentleman's name is PFC WM Finkel and was attached to the 97th Infantry Division. This unit arrived in Yokohama shortly after the surrender and was responsible for disarmament/security of the region until 1946. It is not a wonder that the private was able to send so many swords home then, but during that time some crafty Japanese business person must've machine made a crude blade and stuck it in a set of real gunto furniture, sold it to PFC Finkel, and that's how that "fake" Gunto missing the Tuska-Maki made it back to the states

Haha, i appreciate the advice Chuck. I have yet to make it to a show with Shinsa so this will be a great excuse for me to head to Chicago or Tempa next year. There is also the question of what to do with this short cut off pole, perhaps i will find a woodworker locally who can at least extend the pole for the time being with a freshly made piece, otherwise it looks terrible on the display!

Do you guys think this Naginata, based on its current condition, is worthy of a Shinsa? I know the saying that out of 10 Hizen Tadayoshi signed swords, 11 are Gimei, but would this also apply to Naginatas ? From my untrained eyes, the blade seems well forged and controlled, but i'll leave that to the experts

Yes thankfully that’s the only one I can locate , the Naginata has seen better days and not sure if it’s worth a polish, waiting for experts words on here

Some close up of this naginata

I did not see this thread but I end up being the owner of this Naginata since I am local and was able to see the blade before purchase

Here are some other pics, the seller also has a gunto (seki blade) and a civilian showa era blade in shirasaya. Glad that I did not buy the sword sight unseen because I would've bet money on it having a good blade inside.

a seller contacted me with a blade he inherented , the high quality fitting and fat tsuba all had indication of a nice blade but ...results are disappointing. Still worth saving ?

a seller contacted me with a blade he inherented , the high quality fitting and fat tsuba all had indication of a nice blade but ...results are disappointing. Still worth saving ?

easy, they were'nt thinking at all........ At least the blade is okay right?

This is from the same seller that just sold a Gunto signed by Yamashita (tiger of Malay) and the fake imperial gift yasumitsu? Ehh. I’d precede with caution but it’s still a nice sword

Ohhhfff, people are bidding all over it! Lesson learned for someone I’m sure soon

Yes the blade didn’t impress me much, and as I understood it yasukunitos usually has suguha Hamon don’t they ? I missed out on a very nice on years ago and am still trying to find a decent one to replace it

The mei seems too high placed and chiseling not nearly as clean as other Yasukuni-to's mei to me, what does the board say?

Done!

Other side

Better picture of the Nakago

The Gimei (maybe) aside, what era would the Nakago, file mark and color put this sword in ?

Thank you Geraint! I plan to have my wife skype me this weekend and show me the sword on screen, she's been quite supportive of my collection and told me to bid when I told her this was a good deal , with a stipulation that I take her to Greece after I come home, fair enough! I am also confused on the first mei cut on the date, it's not a kenji that I can decipher, Taisho would make sense with the date of the gunto, or possibly Kosho but that would date the blade to the Mitsuhisa of Echizen to 1455, quite the mystery

Decided to pick up this sword over the internet while on deployment. It'll be another 4 months before I can see it in person but just getting a consensus on this sword. Looks like its signed Bishu Mitsuhisa. The polish looks great over pictures and for $800, i dont think it's a bad buy even if it ends up being an average gunto at best. Let me know what you experts thinks! Cheers!

Luis. Thank you for your great advice , truly. To be honest I found this sword cheap (under $1000) and being so busy and out of sword collecting for so long I bought it on a whim. I’ve still got a lot to learn in the field despite buying some of the essential books needed for collecting.

In what way does the condition seem troublesome? Is it the Fukure?

It is not as far as I can tell. The picture makes it look worse than it is.

Recently purchase this Koto katana for the right price. Knowing full well this is hardly an art sword by any means. Still, I’d like to hear some inputs on this blade . I am particularly interested as to what school this long (28.5) katana belonged to and what period it was forged in. Thanks for all your Inputs in advance -Tim