Joe

Sounds great. Ok, I have to ask "the" question. What's it worth? I understand an accurate appraisal is nearly impossible on the interwebz, and it would vary a lot. I'll never sell it anyway. I'm just curious as to what I have here exactly from a collector's viewpoint. To me it's priceless and it wouldn't matter if it was worth $100 or $5000 given it's history in my family, the fact that I've drooled over it for nearly 40 years, and that my Dad wanted me to have it.

That's great guys. Thanks for all your help!

OK I beat my wrist silly and got it out! Thanks for your help guys! Holding low on the handle did the trick. I took pictures of the tang. I'm not having any luck posting images. Here are the links: https://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/361x6 ... 4/lc2b.jpg https://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/361x6 ... 6/t2tc.jpg https://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/361x6 ... 6/leak.jpg edit: On the tang below the kanji there are two characters that are not engraved, but rather they show up as not oxidized parts of the tang, like that part was protected from oxidization from a light coating of something. It looks to me like hiragana "so" and "ka", but it could be kanji. One I don't recognize and "chikara".

Yeah I took the screws out and tried this method twice until I almost broke my wrist and had to quit. I'll try again today! Nagamitsu... I really want to get a peek at this tang!

Yes sir, the tsuba and seppa etc are chromed. That's how it came back from Japan with my dad. I thought it was strange because all the others I've seen with similar tsuba and such have all been black or something other than chrome. As far as the other videos go...I think it's just the way YouTube is set up. They just auto play my videos as a play list. I'll look into it. Mostly just family videos so they're probably boring to everyone but the family! Thanks!

I recently inherited a Japanese sword from my father. What I do know about it is that my father served in the marines, was part of the occupying force in Japan during WW2 and brought it home with him. He never said much about it other than he got it in Japan during the war. It has sat in his closet ever since then other than when I'd ask to look at it through the years. Other than that I don't know much about it. Officers sword. The hamon looks authentic. In the video it's hard to tell, but in person it bears the hallmarks of a real hamon. Wood saya. Cloth ito. I took a video of it for help in identifying it. I was unable to separate the blade from the handle to check for a signature. I realize this is necessary for complete identification of the blade but it got to the point that i was uncomfortable in applying any more force to the sword for fear of damage. I'll post a link to the video. If anyone has any idea what type it may be it'd be appreciated! It has many characteristics of many different types as far as i can find, but I've been unable to find another sword that matches this one. Thanks!