Bruce Pennington

Hi Mark! Safe to assume you've taken a look at the lacing to see if it can be unlaced? If the leather isn't shrink fitted, in other words, if it has a little play, you might be able to remove the sarute (you actually have to pry/bend it to get it out of the holes), then unscrew the barrel screw that the sarute sits in, and see if the kabutogane will come off, allowing you to slide the leather cover up and off. Never tried something like that, though.

Good points, Mark. I suppose if I were the one wanting to try my hand at it, I'd take the blade to the Nihonto Forum and ask - Is this salvageable or trash? THEN, move from there, depending upon opinions given. The guys, like you say, that argue with the experts cannot be helped. We do see that often, unfortunately. Makes you wonder why they even ask, if they aren't prepared to accept what they hear.

I always get into trouble when I join conversations like this, but I see Joe's point, a bit. A guy buys a trashed blade and brings it to NMB and everyone says "Junk! Ruined! Zero Value! etc, etc, etc" But if the guy brought that same blade and said "Hey, I'm going to polish this myself" .... everyone flips out. Now, I understand the fear is that the rookie may have a blade that actually IS recoverable, and is incorrectly assuming it is ruined, so therefore his amateur polish WILL ruin a blade that could have been saved. But, my original point seems to be what I don't get.

Alex, Rob said "sue Koto" so: Sword Eras SUE KOTO The end of the era of old swords is generally considered to be the Oei Period(1394). Swords produced after this era are referred to as SUE KOTO or late old swords. With the onset of the Oei period, Japan suffered through a series of civil wars. During this period, the quality of sword making fell off due to the great demand for weapons. Many mass produced blades from the era survive due to the great numbers produced. Private order blades were of finer quality. However, blades from this era seldom rivaled the quality of earlier work. The end of civil war brought an era of peace to Japan. The unification came under the rule of the Tokugawa Shoguns, who moved the center of politics from Kyoto to their home city of Edo, which is today modern day Tokyo. The end of the era of Koto is generally established to coincide with the rise of the Tokugawa in the Keicho era, which began in 1596. (From: Warrelics - A Brief Introduction to Sword Making Eras)

Glen, Your hamon (temper pattern) is called Hitatsura, and is not that common, but I find it striking. I'm not expert on that stuff, but it would look amazing with a professional polish. Japanese Sword Blade Terminology

William and I chatted a little via PM. For the price, I would buy it just for the blade! It's a legit Okimitsu, star-stamped gendaito. A guy could put it in shirasaya and have a great item. But that's just me.

Waiting for John - @PNSSHOGUN

Here is a classy leather cover set on a civil sword, posted by @Glenn HERE. Unique method for attaching the tassel, and the haikan appears to straddle the kurikata

Glen, Gorgeous sword! Some technical info for you - It was a civil sword either brought to the war by the owner, or donated, or bought by the military and fitted out with the leather cover. The blue/brown tassel was used by Compay grade officers, Lt's and Capt's. Here's a good page for sword care: Japanese Sword Care - JSI

Thanks for sharing, Alex. Interesting article. Me thinks master Watts suffered a bit from the tendency to romanticize the samurai and the "old ways." While I am very minimally read in Japanese war history, I do recall reading about how farmers were conscripted for large armies and marched into battle. I suspect they were just as much cannon fodder as the enlisted troops of WWII. HIs complaint of the use of modern weaponry of mass destruction, having lost any sense of Zen, just wanton destruction, is too focused on the act of pulling the trigger. Their use on the grand scale, the tactical/strategic planner during WWII was no different than the samurai commander over an entire army that set his plan into action, using all the weapons and people at his disposal. There is no Zen in that. It is just strategy of war.

@KungFooey I second Sam's comments. You have joined a bunch of old farts that can speak without any filters. Regardless of what we say, we honestly enjoy your company! Plus, you have to keep in mind how easy it is to misunderstand things said in text. In person, one has body language, facial expressions, and tones of voice to help read comments the way they are meant. Conversations online lose all that, and easily get going sideways, when that never would have happened in person.

Haven't seen that one before, however, we have one in seal script that we think is of the same shop:

That's simply incredible.

No, it was exactly the same mon as the one I’ve posted. It might have been on one of the other forums, like Warrelics or Wehrmacht-awards.

Yes, I understand. But that is characteristic of many of the late-war mei. Like Mal said, we have 7 others with this mei, that's just how they look.

Comparing the 2 certificates:

Exciting News! A second souvenir has showed up with PX cert.! A Hiratoshi blade with large circled-anchor, in standard souvenir fittings. Comes with 8th Army PX certificate and shipping box from 1950. At this Mileston Auction. Starting price is $1,000USD. I'd go for it, and would love to have it but I'm in some pretty deep debt already and would have to buy it on credit. I hope one of us could get it from the auction! Interesting note, that this is the first Hiratoshi we have in souvenir fittings. I have several of his blades on file, but none of them are souvenir. They are all kaigunto.

Thanks for the video, Dee! They had me at "Samurai Swords" - looking at 13 gunto. Only 2 waki were likely old blades. In spite of the inaccuracies, I couldn't stop watching. Heck, there were 15 swords to drool over for 18 minutes! What's not to like!

Thanks Mal! The reason I pinged you on it, if you are tracking them anymore, is it is the earliest "NA" stamp I have now on file, and the second earliest double inspector-on-mune (earliest being a 1935 KO HO on mune).

I understand the "2600" year, but the last 2 kanji mean something, right? On a Kanenobu blade with "NA HO" on the mune @mecox

Thanks Alex, good video! He cracks me up how he makes of point of pouring the whiskey every video!

I know I've seen one of these lately but cannot find the discussion. Here is an old blade in WWII fittings. Mumei, but with the Tokugawa mark. Found at this Collectors Armory California sale site. Odd that it's mumei and odd placement on nakago

Bingo! Thanks guys! Here's one from Japaneseswordindex.com:

A 1941, large Seki stamped blade

A mumei duplicate #36 on this http://Collectors Armory California site: