Bruce Pennington

Yes, that is actually what first caught my eye in the original post. But it's the same color as the haikan so I just assumed it came with the saya. Iryna, any chance of getting a clear, closer shot of the end of the saya?

A correction to the above. I realized the curve is normal, but everything else is as stated. Here's a legit one. See the difference?

@Nicholas Sorry no one has responded. I lost track of this one, too. I have a variety of yasurime on Kanefusa 23rd gen. Here are 2 taka-no-ha The others are higaki, though, like you say.

Peter, The imitators can put out some quality blades. Some are obvious, poor quality fakes, but others can be pretty well done. You have to know the real ones well enough to recognize the imitation when it pops up. Summary of signs: 1. Nakago (tang) finished poorly 2. I'm not sure but I don't think I've ever seen a blade with just the owner's name on it 3. The body of the blade has no hada, or texture, which is a sign of a blade made from bar stock, not hammered and folded in the traditional manner 4. The blade tip has errors not seen in good Japanese workmanship: Curved line should be straight. Bohi (fuller groove) extends into the kissaki, when it shouldn't A view of the whole blade should give more clues.

I see what you mean, guys. There is evidence of faint blue in the fringe strings and that bend in the strap just above the slider. I normally take a closer look, but didn't this time. Oh well, it was good to get the topic up for a refresher.

I know, John! You have to zoom in on the picture of the whole sword. You will see the white writing along the bottom of the scabbard. I didn’t see it until Thomas pointed it out.

Dang, good eye, Thomas!

I'm adding this one to this thread, but I think there is a dedicated one to the cream/brown railway police topic. I just can't find it. Don't know if this is one of them, or just a really faded army tassel, or a bad fake. But the colors are similar enough, I thought I'd post it. It's currently found on this White's Auctions page Civilian sword, no railway markings, just the tassel

Interesting side by side arrangement!

As Conway pointed out, we have seen a number of RJT, star-stamped blades with a combination of small Seki and Na stamps. On non-star blades, we take this as a sign of showato, but on RJT blades, it seems to simply be the approval stamps of acceptance inspectors.

Marcin, We are seeing more and more wartime blades that have registration papers, even Type 95s, so this paper does not mean the blade is traditionally made. Blades with the large Seki stamp, in my opinion, are usually quality-made, and some have signs they were folded and water quenched. However, it is my opinion that they are quality showato, not gendaito. They likely were made by something other than tamahagane, and/or were oil quenched. If you read the discussion in my Stamps Doc about the large Seki stamp, you will see that there is only 2 pieces of documentation about the stamp, and they are in conflict with each other. I personally believe the survey statement posted by Ohmura that shows the number of blades inspected by the Seki Cutlery Manufacturers association, and in a side note, states that the survey number does not include traditionally made blades as "they were not inspected."

Thanks, Steve! That is now in my "Translation" folder.

I want to say Kanemune, but the rest of the mei doesn't match the Kanemune on file. Little help, please?

Someone offered him the gunto and he said they are the only pictures he had received, so I think the owner must have printed out photos for the guy.

Hi Iryna! Your sword style is the Type 98 Japanese officers gunto (army sword). The saya (scabbard) was made for a leather cover, but it's gone missing over the last 80 years. It would look like these, originally: You can read all about these swords on Ohmura's excellent site: Military Swords of Imperial Japan Here is a good page for care and cleaning: Japanese Sword Care

Conway, This is the first example I've seen with both the shop logo and the small star on fittings. Paul's example in the OP doesn't have the star on the fittings and all the other examples I have of the star didn't show the koiguchi. It would fit since the logo has a small star in the center, but we'll have to find another example or 2 with them both. The example I have from Tony A of Wehrmacht-awards has the star between the 2 numbers, like Nicholas' seppa, but he didn't post the koiguchi in his thread from 2023. WW2 Shingunto For Sale - Tony A

John, The leather seems to be custom fit for the saya. How would it have been cut down?

Shin Gunto? - Wehrmacht-awards

Guy, Wehrmacht-awards, pointed out I missed the vertical stroke on the left side, so updated stroke on the website, it's first recommendation was "naga", so Kanenaga

Jon, Occasionally, you can find tsuka and tsuba/seppa sets available online, mostly ebay, for sale. Most of the WWII tsuka ana (the hole in the handle for the bamboo peg) seem fairly standard, but it can be a hit or miss kind of thing as fittings were custom made to fit each blade. I bought replacement tsuba/seppa for my dad's Mantetsu. The hole for the nakago was too narrow, but using small files, I was able to open them up for a proper fit.

Thought I'd try a hand-written kanji I.D. page I got a while back from Guy Powers over on Warrelics. It recommended "hisa" Kanji.sljfaq.org So, Kanehisa? 兼久 (Kanehisa)

It's one of the worst mei I've ever seen. Other ideas: 菊秀 (Kikuhide) 藤房 (Katsufusa @SteveM - stop hiding, buddy!

I got confused. Is the thicker one also longer of the two? Usually, Takayama-to are shorter than the norm.

Marcel, Thank you very much for bringing this to our attention! I got a big education today from this. We have been aware for some time, now, that swords were made "in the islands" for collaboration forces, and the Java sword making operation was fairly well known. Sumaran Sword - Java. But I had no real idea of the operations in Sumatra. I found this in-depth article written on the creation of the Giyugun. Here is a quote about the 2 forces: "After successfully occupying various regions, the next strategy carried out by the Japanese military government was by holding military training to support Japan in the war against allies. The army to be made by Japan is included in the master plan (Tairikhushi) issued by Supreme Army Headquarters in Tokyo. In early 1943, Japanese military forces suffered a setback. Japan's position in the occupied area experienced various threats. So that the plan for the formation of a reserve army cannot be delayed anymore. Japan then recruited military and semi-military personnel who were indigenous people who would help Japan in the war against allies [8]. Japan then recruited thousands of indigenous youth to become semi-military soldiers. The first military force was formed, heiho (auxiliary soldier), which began in mid-May 1943. The young man who was a member of Heiho was a single young man from the ages of 16 to 20 years. Another Japanese military army formation project is Giyugun which means, giyu = voluntary, gun = army corps. Giyugun is a Voluntary Army Corps. In Java, the term used is Defender of the Motherland (PETA). Giyugun in Sumatra and PETA in Java, although they are the same military command but have no organizational links at all. In some residencies in Sumatra almost had their military training centre [9]." As for the writing on your sword, I'm no Japanese language guy, but it doesn't look like Japanese to my eye. Is there anyone in your area that might recognize this as Sumatran writing from the war? For reference, for those of us that don't know the area and history: Attached article below: Sumatra Giyugun Creation.pdf