Ed Harbulak

Although this sword and fittings look very impressive at first glance, as mentioned in the other posts, the details and workmanship are just not there. The very fact that it is so fancy or gaudy, is in itself a warning sign of it being a fake. The first picture you posted showing the handle wrapping is totally wrong for a Japanese sword. Who ever wrapped this handle has never seen a properly wrapped Japanese sword handle, or if he saw one, wasn't able to copy it correctly. Although it may look O.K. to the untrained eye, it is in fact very poorly done with sloppy over lapping, too loosely tied "knots" and the cross overs do not alternate as they should. As some of the others on this board have suggested, look at real Japanese swords in both books and in person before purchasing one and DO NOT purchase this one. Take your time, there really is no hurry, as the old saying goes: Haste makes waste. Good luck. Ed

Hi Hank, Although this sword was obviously used during WWII, it appears to be a much older blade. The tsuba, menuki, fuchi, kashira are all non-military and although there's a leather combat cover on the saya, I wouldn't be surprised if there's an old style "civilian" scabbard under the leather. Often times the only modification to an old ancestral sword to make it suitable for use during the war was to put a leather covering over the old existing scabbard. At first glance the blade appears to pre-date the war and was probably shortened somewhat. Could be a very nice older sword. Ed

That is indeed a very nice tanto with excellent fittings and history. I'm sure now we are all curious to see the other two blades your father brought back. While you indicated they are not of the same quality as the tanto, still, don't discount them completely. You never know what other treasures are out there. Congratulations to your late father and yourself for taking great care of these relics of the past. Ed Harbulak

If the mune of your blade is indeed maru mune, it could be from the Kaifu school of Awa Kuni. This school is noted for using maru mune. I have a wak with a true maru mune signed Ashu Kaiful Ju Ujiyoshi. The mei is nicely engraved on the surface of the blade itself so as to be a horimono in addition to the smith's signature. I've seen other blades by this same smith (or family of smiths) signed the same way and with maru mune. They worked up through the Shinshinto period. Other smiths besides Ujiyoshi were Yasuyoshi, Yasunaga, Yasunobu, Ujishige, Ujihisa, Fuji and Morohisa. They made some very good blades although are not particularly highly regarded by the Japanese "experts". But you have to remember that the "experts" generally like blades by the big name smiths which omits most of the swords most of us have or are likely to get. Hope this helps. Ed Harbulak

A few years ago at I believe the Tampa sword show, I saw a video of a sword newly made by Yoshindo Yoshihara being subjected to a cutting test on a traditional style Japanese steel helmet. The cutting test was carried out by an expert while Yoshindo Yoshihara could be seen rather nervously watching the proceedings. It was quite impressive to see the blade cut about 6 inches into the helmet with no obvious damage to the sword. The swordsmith looked quite relieved and satisfied that his blade cut so well and didn't break. I believe the video is commercially available, though I don't know where it can be purchased. I rather suspect that most modern smiths want to know just how well their swords really do cut after putting so much work into making a blade, so probably more blades than one would think do get a cutting test of some sort just to satisfy the desire of the sword smith to know if he's doing a good job. Ed

This style of horimono is not very unusual. It's a gomabashi on one side and either a bohi or koshibi on the other side. Rather a common method of decoration by the Echizen Seki smiths as well as some other schools. Ed

I'm not sure the "coin" is actual currency, that is, money. I have one like it that was made into a tsuba for a small tanto. The central portion of the coin was enlarged and elongaged to accept the nakago of the tanto. The tanto is long gone, but I kept the tsuba/coin. I was told that it was a temple token, sold? by a temple to be used as a donation or some story similar to that. It may be more like a "good luck" charm from some temple. I don't know the age or value, but it's not one of a kind. Besides the one I have, I recall seeing at least one other, at a flea market if I recall correctly. At least it's not a fake, whatever it is. Ed

I can't tell from the photos exactly where on the blade the hagiri is located. IF the hagiri is very near the hamachi, IF you really like the blade and IF money is of little concern, you MIGHT be able to have the blade shortened to make it into a wak and enjoy what's left of it that way. The signature looks like it might be O.K. (I didn't examine it that closely) so it might even be possible to get it papered as a wak. Again, depending on exactly where the hagiri is located and if shortening the blade to eliminate the hagiri would leave a blade of reasonable lenght. Otherwise, just enjoy it for what it is and don't put any more money into it. Ed Harbulak

The blade doesn't look like it's been cut down from what I can see in the photos. The hada appears to have a lot of masame in it and the boshi looks like it's yakitsumi, all of which would suggest a Yamato Den blade. Of course, the hada may also look the way it does because it's tired, but that's hard to tell from the photos. Since few tantos were made during shinto times and the rust on the nakago doesn't suggest shinshinto, you may have a koto tanto from one of the Yamato schools. Ed

Don't give up on the mei too soon Barry. Tsunatoshi had a son who did quite a lot of dai saku and dai mei for his father. I don't recall the exact dates of the two smiths just now, but it's quite possible the sword you have was signed by the nidai who also signed Chounsai Tsunatoshi after the shodai passed away. He would have signed daimei before the shodai died. The nidai's mei was Koretoshi before he changed to Tsunatoshi. Ed Harbulak

As someone who has spent his working years in plating research I can assure you that the chrome can be removed. However, expect the blade to require polishing and, as mentioned, if the tang has also been plated and the patina lost, or worse, then there could be a serious problem. In addition to the chromium, which typically is on the order of only 15 millionths of an inch thick and easily and quickly removed with a dip in hydrochloric acid, expect to find up to one or two thousanths of an inch of nickel plate and possibly copper plating under the nickel. They can all be removed, but require professional equipment. In addition, the relatively soft nickel and copper can be polished off and since the blade will probably need to be polished in any case, the polisher should not have a difficult time cutting through the nickel and copper which are much softer than the steel in the blade itself. The tang may be the most troublesome problem if it too has been plated. Unless the blade is either very valuable and worth saving, or extremely cheap and no great loss if things go wrong, then yes, plating can be removed without much difficulty, but expect the blade to require a professional polish or at least have a window opened to see just what is under the plating. Ed Harbulak

Your gunto sword looks the way it does because it is over 60 years old and was used in a war. It's natural that some of the paint might be missing and is a sign the sword saw active service. It will always look like it was repainted if you try to make it look like it is new again. If you really don't like the way it looks, then you might be better off finding a sword in gunto mountings that is in much better condition than the one you have and sell the one you are unhappy with. If you look around, you will find that there are still WWII era sword mountings in nearly new condition with minimal wear even though they are some 60 years old. They might have belonged to an officer who sat at a desk or served in a non combat area where his sword didn't get much wear and tear. One difficulty in trying to repaint the fittings is getting the proper color match which is most difficult. In addition, there are probably small dings and dents in the metal fittings that a coat of paint is not going to cover or hide. Repainting is not a good idea. Ed Harbulak

I have patinated small bare spots on a nakago using an antique browning solution of the type used to brown muzzle loading firearms. It does provide a good rust color which on a gendai in other wise good condition, that is, crisp file marks, would work fine. It will not restore the kind of fine pitting, covered by ancient rust, found on older blades. Several applications are required, applied at the rate of about one a day. Four to five days should produce quite a decent color. At least the nakago would not look like it had just been "cleaned". Good luck, but as with anything related to nihonto, you might want to let someone who has done this before examine your sword and suggest how best to handle your specific problem. Ed

Many of the major museum as well as university chemistry departments have XRF equipment. It might only be necessary to make contact with someone in the chemistry department of your local university to have this kind of test done. They might even take an interest in the project and do it for free. Might make a good research project for some graduate student. In addition, many companies in the metals industry (e.g., some companies doing electroplating) also have XRF equipment and would probably not charge much to run an analysis. Sounds like an interesting approach to examining nihonto. Ed Harbulak