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I recently acquired this wakizashi in shirasaya and would appreciate your translation assistance. The saya has 10 characters; the blade 8 - the last 8 of the saya appear to me to match the blade... Here is my attempt at interpretation: char 1 ? 2 ? 3 ichi 4 bun/fumi 5 mori 6 de 7 wa 8 mamori 9 yuki 10 hiro Thank you for your time and expertise.

Question on restoring the saya... I would like to restore the saya; leave the fittings as they are. I got off the fittings but the ashi are difficult. Does the ashi fitting that has the hole and ring unscrew or is this a press fit as the other ones are?

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I recently purchased this extraordinary kai gunto. I will post more pictures and information I've researched on the blades origins shortly. From what I can tell from the mei, the smith is Moriwaka Masataka. Not that I am that good at reading mei, but coincidentally, the mei matches mei pictured at http://home.earthlink.net/~steinrl/gendai.htm. Mounts numbered 426, and I believe the blade is dated July 1942. There is damage to the saya and I would like opinions on restoration. More to come. Paul

Yes Brian - I meant if its worth the restoration of the shin-gunto mountings. I did not expect the sword to be of the quality that would make a polishing cost justified.

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I recently purchased this sword which was mounted in WWII era military mounts. The fact that the blade was in good condition; there is active hamon present and relatively inexpensive price was too much to pass up. I am unsure of the originality of the tsuka as I believe it was re-wrapped. The samegawa appears newish and the quality of the morohineri-maki style wrapping of the tsuka were unsettling. The samegawa is not tightly wrapped. But I bought it for the blade; although I would like to know if its worth it to finish the restoration or am I putting good money after bad. Sugata (Shape of sword blade): Katana, 34 3/8", shingoi-zukuri, takashi-mune, chu-kissaki. 26" from kissaki to mune machi Sori (curvature of blade) - Torii 13/16" Jihada (Surface pattern of the HADA): muji-hada (none) Yakiba (Hardened, tempered sword edge): midare; yokote is distinct. The final 2" on the mune to the kissaki is not bright polished as the rest of the mune Boshi (Temper line in kissaki): komaru or omaru style Nakago (Sword tang): futsu gata, one mekugi-ana. Horimono (Carvings on sword blade): None. Yasurime (file markings on nakago): sujikai

Adding picture of hamachi and mune-machi.

I would like to remove the habaki but it is staked on and may require a good deal of force to remove it...It will move about 1/2" easily... any suggestions on removal?

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Please help me understand what I have...The blade is good overall quality from appearances; it is very sharp up to 2" from the habaki. No serious flaws. There is no tempering evident. The tang is unmarked. Since there are two holes it must have been remounted. There are no other mounting hardware. The habaki is copper with what seems to be a bonded brass layer. Blade length tip to habaki 26". Overall length 33". Blade curvature 5/8". More pics to come of saya.

Pictures of the wood and the cracks. My best guess is that this was one piece of wood; carved out. Reason I say this is because the wood is not cracked lengthwise all the way through - at the last 1" or so toward the end of where the nakago is the wood seems to be one integrated piece. See area pointed to by pencil in the first picture; in the 4th picture is the opposite end which has a crack along its full length.

I recently purchased a decent NCO sword (http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/viewtopic.php?f=50&t=6583) and would like to know a few things about the wood insert in the aluminum tsuka. I was able to disassemble the sword and to remove the wood (magnolia?) insert in the tsuka aluminum casting. The wood is cracked in a number of places and I would like to reglue it to restore its strength. Before embarking on this quest, I would like to know if this was originally 2 pieces glued together or if it was carved from a single piece of wood. Your expertise is appreciated. I will post a pic shortly of the wooden insert.

Full length picture of the nihonto and saya. The discoloration on the blade is an optical illusion; sorry, this is the best I have so far...but may be instructive nevertheless. Paul http://www.plgcollectibles.com/images/public/nihonto%20SD%2001-01-2010/021.jpg

This nihonto is being offered for sale privately and would like members opinions on its authenticity - or suggestions on what to check in addition to what I;ve already observed. I inadventantly did not take photos of the blade - for some reason - other than the nakago which I posted for translation athttp://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=6584&p=51766#p51766. The blade is katana shaped; but is about 2" shorter than a standard military shin gunto. It retains a very sharp edge and the blade is very clean; with only a very slight area of corrosion which appears "grained". There is indistinguishable hamon or "grain" in the blade. There is very little definition in the area of the transition from the monouchi to kissaki. The fuchi/kashira are iron with oxidation. The habaki is copper. The tsuba has been seemingy identified as Masafusa, from the Bushu Ito school. The saya is wooden, finished in black lacquer with no ornamentation. The sageo (not pictured) is missing and the saya is damaged at the end. Thank you for your learned analysis. Regards, Paul http://www.plgcollectibles.com/images/public/nihonto%20SD%2001-01-2010/004.jpg http://www.plgcollectibles.com/images/public/nihonto%20SD%2001-01-2010/004a.jpg http://www.plgcollectibles.com/images/public/nihonto%20SD%2001-01-2010/004b.jpg http://www.plgcollectibles.com/images/public/nihonto%20SD%2001-01-2010/004c.jpg http://www.plgcollectibles.com/images/public/nihonto%20SD%2001-01-2010/005.jpg http://www.plgcollectibles.com/images/public/nihonto%20SD%2001-01-2010/005a.jpg http://www.plgcollectibles.com/images/public/nihonto%20SD%2001-01-2010/006.jpg http://www.plgcollectibles.com/images/public/nihonto%20SD%2001-01-2010/006a.jpg http://www.plgcollectibles.com/images/public/nihonto%20SD%2001-01-2010/007.jpg http://www.plgcollectibles.com/images/public/nihonto%20SD%2001-01-2010/007a.jpg http://www.plgcollectibles.com/images/public/nihonto%20SD%2001-01-2010/008.jpg http://www.plgcollectibles.com/images/public/nihonto%20SD%2001-01-2010/008a.jpg http://www.plgcollectibles.com/images/public/nihonto%20SD%2001-01-2010/009.jpg http://www.plgcollectibles.com/images/public/nihonto%20SD%2001-01-2010/009a.jpg http://www.plgcollectibles.com/images/public/nihonto%20SD%2001-01-2010/010.jpg http://www.plgcollectibles.com/images/public/nihonto%20SD%2001-01-2010/010a.jpg http://www.plgcollectibles.com/images/public/nihonto%20SD%2001-01-2010/011.jpg http://www.plgcollectibles.com/images/public/nihonto%20SD%2001-01-2010/012.jpg http://www.plgcollectibles.com/images/public/nihonto%20SD%2001-01-2010/013.jpg

The following is a dialog between Charlie (outliar48) and myself regarding reading the nakago mei. It is highly instructive for me as a beginner and I thank him for his efforts and would like to give him the just credit for his efforts. Senior members, please if you could spare the time, read our dialog and let us know if we are on the right track - Paul Charlie, The only character I could vaguely identify after hours of looking and researching is 宗 Mune or 守 Mori and that is somewhat of a guess! ... I am using the nakago mei reference on the site; Researching these swords makes my pistol collecting research look like a cake walk ! Paul Paul, I know what you mean! There are two basic challenges: (1) being able to clearly identify a character that could be hidden by rust and/or could be somewhat stylized like cursive handwriting, and (2) coming up with the correct reading of these kanji most of which can be "pronounced" in more than one way, usually depending on use and what other kanji they are associated with. On you sword's nakago I see five characters. I believe you are correct about the first character which I see as 宗. I cannot read the second character. The thrid character is 住 ("Juu" resident). Usually the first two characters would be the name of a place such as a province of old Japan prior to the creation of "prefectures", so I think the second character probably will complete a province name. However, I cannot find a province that begins with 宗. The fourth character appears to me to be 國 - one of the many variations of 国 ("kuni") and the last character, which is very difficult to make out clearly - just like the second character - I think may be 吉 ("yoshi") with the left half of the top horizontal stroke missing or covered by rust. There are several Kuniyoshi listed in Hawley's. So, I think the mei could be 宗 ? 住 國 吉 (I have left spaces between the character for ease of reading - they normally would not be written with intervening spaces). I also expected to find two more characters in this mei: 作之 ("saku kore" = made this). However, these two characters are often implied. I have a wakizashi forged by one of the Toshihide of the Nobukuni school with only a two character mei - no province and no 作之! May I suggest that you post a follow up with the characters we have discerned so far and ask if you (we) are on the right track. I think you will quickly get a response from one or more very knowledgeable members and a "solution" to the question about the sword mei. Then you can tackle the mei on the tsuba! Happy New Year! Charlie

Serial number near habiki, Arsenal mark is difficult to distinguish; research indicates (Nagoya Army Arsenal Atsuta Arms Factory Seki Factory inspection mark: "Seki" ) ref. http://www.h4.dion.ne.jp/~t-ohmura/gunto_077.htm

Charlie, I have complete pix of the tsuba but they are too large to post. Can I email them to your email address ? Other side of nagako attached.

Thank you for your assistance in translating. This is the nakago of a sword that I am considering purchasing and would ultimately want to know if it is authentic and have some idea of fair market value. Other details of this nihonto will be posted over the next day or so in the nihonto section. For some addtional details, I have added a partial pic of the tsuba which also has kanji characters. I will put some effort in trying to identify myself, but this will take some time.... Regards, Paul

Additional pics - thanks for your analysis... Regards, Paul

I examined a type 95 NCO shin gunto today for purchase. I have doubts so I thought I would get other members assessments. Starting from the outside observations, the latching mechanism and shape of saya indicate Nagoya arsenal style. Tsuba and seppa are black painted finish. Serial number of Kuchi-gane and on blade match and are in the correct orientation for Nagoya. There are faint markings on the fuchi and the rightmost indicates Nagoya - the others are difficult to discern. The blade exhibits no hamon (correctly) has evidence of polishing and appears to be high quality. The kissaki is does not have a well defined transition from the ha. whew... Thanks.

No, I havent removed the cover. What I observed was from what I could see on the end. The scabbard is green painted metal.

The scabbard underneath is metal with ornate decorations at the ends...

I want to display the sword ex the leather. I would be surprised if no one ever wanted to remove the leather (intact of course). ... and hasnt done so successfully...

I would like to remove the leather covering on the scabbard. The leather is somewhat pliable but not enough to remove the leather without destroying it. Any suggestions?