Bruce Pennington

Gerry, Was yours a Winter 1942 blade, too? I have this and another on file, both signed as "Takanobu quenched".

Yes, the all-leather covered wooden tsuka/saya look seems to be common in the island swords. I don't know S.E. Asian styles, but the fuchi/koiguchi art strikes me as Thailand'ish.

Well, you know my default setting is to assume the best unless it's obvious, like some of the fakes truly are. But you may be right. But for a fake, it's an odd one. They must have used some real parts, like the koiguchi (perfect) and tsuka wooden parts (ever see workman's writing on the end of a fake tsuka?). The ito looks new, yet most metal parts appear heavily worn. The same' looks new. The undrilled sarute ana doesn't bother me, by itself as we've seen this on other legit gunto. The blade and kissaki are better than most fakes, but the nakago, while much better than most fakes, is still off. Drew, it's your sword. Guess you'll have to decide what you want to call it.

Posting the nakago from the sale:

Hi Steve, welcome! Ian is right. Yours originally came with a leather saya (scabbard) cover) and a belt loop hanger. They often go missing after the war. You can see how it would have looked on this page on Ohmura's site: Type 98 Informal Mounts, Sesko listed two Kaneshige working during the war, so don't know which was your guy: "KANESHIGE (兼重), Shōwa (昭和, 1926-1989), Ise – “Fujiwara Kaneshige” (藤原兼重), he lived in Kuwana (桑名) KANESHIGE (兼重), Shōwa (昭和, 1926-1989), Kumamoto – “Higo-jū Kaneshige” (肥後住兼重), “Kaneshige” (兼重), family name Kimura (木村) but it is said that Kaneshige had been his first name too, he lived in Yatsushiro (八代), the Kimura had been smiths in the service of Higo’s Hitoyoshi fief (人吉藩) since the Edo period, Kaneshige studied from 1942 under Kurihara Akihide (栗原昭秀) and worked then as a guntō smith until the end of World War II (see picture right)" Care and Cleaning: Japanese Sword Care.

Andrew, I can't add anything about the tag that hasn't already been said, but would love to see more of the kaigunto, fittings, blade, and nakago! There are guys on a couple other forums that know how to look up WWII personnel. Try Warrelics - Japanese Militaria and Wehrmacht-awards - Japanese Military Forum

John, What do you think of this one? The angled hand guard makes me think 25. But I think there are two lines of wire wrap visible. But then the angled hand guard wouldn't make sense for a 19 or kyu. Posted on this Warrelics thread.

Edokko just posted this thought: "The Sgt. Maj. would have used the blue/brown tassel as his rank would be qualified as a 准士官 ("sort of" translates to warrant officer) by 1940."

Thanks Steve! So, Drew, a real Japanese sword, WWII fittings, with gimei signature. Are you familiar with the practice of gimei?

Here are some shots from Perry's link. Nicer fittings, but lost the field grade tassel!

Hi Perry, welcome! Yes, that finish is an upgrade to the standard contingency model (Type 3, etc). You'll almost always see a gendaito, and quite often RJT star-stamped blade in them. This one is made by an RJT smith Akihisa, Jan 1943, with the Matsu 607 serial number. I have that one on file already from Oct of 2024 sold by St. Croix blades. Interesting, though, someone has switched the fittings.

Hi Drew, welcome to NMB! I see no problem with the fittings. My guess is that someone tried to bring out the hamon with an acid wash. Doesn't mean it's a fake blade, though. Let's see what the translators say about that mei. @SteveM @Nobody

John, We don't know. All we could do is make a systematic survey of naval swords to see if there is a timeline difference in use. Not even sure if one could identify location differences as most of these are mumei.

That's a new one, thanks! I've written to the seller to see if he'll give us a full nakago shot. The belt is an unknown, as to whether the sword shop added it, or the G.I., or a post-war owner.

I think we have a couple photos showing NCOs with officer gunto. If anyone knows where they are, please add to the thread. But what I found today is an officer gunto with a wrapped surrender cloth of a Sergeant Major. Found on this Gunboards Thread. The cloth says: ""243rd Infantry Reg., 5th Co., Army Sgt Maj. Nishikawa Yataro" with the flip side reading "One Nihonto sword including leather scabbard cover and handle cover" - translation by Edokko, Gunboards. The blade is an undated, large Seki stamp, Kanemasa. I mention that because later in the war, the uniform regulations were amended to allow NCOs to carry civil swords. This one is in a leather covered wooden saya, but there's nothing about the blade nor fittings that says "civilian sword refitted for war." The company grade tassel could easily have been added by an owner over the past 80 years, but if original, would be another one of those mysteries. Was the Sgt Major being promoted to officer rank? Who knows. My Army son-in-law said "Sgt Majors are at the top of the food chain, like a General or Admiral. They do whatever the fxxx they want to do."

Yes, you can see on the zoom: It looks to me as if the habaki is just misaligned, shifted upward too much.

Excellent, Tom, thanks! Looks like the kabutogane also has the North China Railway emblem?

Wonder what the thinking or purpose would be for a country-wide attack? What are they trying to achieve?

Brian, Just wondering what happened yesterday afternoon (USA Mountain Time). Tried a couple times, "Server Not Found" message kept popping up.

I don't know the Chinese sword world, but the Chinese fakers love Damascus pattern steel. I have seen a few Japanese swords that had vibrant hada which might be what the Chinese are trying to emulate with the Damascus. Here is one I filed for just such discussions:

I hate to say, but I've not been following their prices lately. I'm thinking they run at the higher end of Type 98 market value, say around $1,900, but that's just a guess.

Haven't seen a kaigunto with canvas cover, so here we are: Found on this Ebay sale page.

Saw this one today. Saya signed by David Carradine, supposedly. How many swords have we seen for sale from the Kill Bill movie? Somebody needs to track these! Ha! Kill Bill's Bride's Rampage Sword - ebay

Interesting, thanks!

Thanks John, enjoyed reading about your investigation!