Bruce Pennington

John is selling a second/removable haikan (belt loop), if you are thinking of adding one

One thing that you learn after hanging around World War II swords is the phrase “never say never, never say always with World War II swords“.

Crimson missed military has some army menugi for sale: Miscellaneous parts

Ohmura’s site is free and has over 65 pages of fabulous examples of all the versions and types of WWII Japanese swords: Military Swords of Imperial Japan another great site: Japanese Sword Index you will find a page on the care and cleaning of your sword on that side as well.

I've had someone on Warrelics ask me what a fair market value is for these. I realize it likely depends on style, age, condition, etc. but I don't follow them and was hoping someone could give me a range of pricing for the guy. Thanks!

Isn't it as simple as the blade was re-fitted along the way?

An interesting one posted by @Francis Wick HERE. Waiting for translators, but it seems the officer might have written his surrender info on the cavas cover:

Francis, Can't help with the writing, but just wanted to say that blade would be quite stunning with a professional polish!

That was a really good refresher, thank you, Thomas! Marcel, You nailed it. See Thomas' observation from the discussion in the other thread (click on the photo and it will be clear to read):

Really nice sword, Eric! Are you going to have the tsuka re-wrapped? Curious what causes you to call your fittings Type 94? I see the centered chuso. Are there other indications? Not arguing, just curious.

John, don’t know if this is what you were looking for an artificial leather . It’s on an ersatz sword Don’t know if it’s imitation or not

Thanks, Ed! Looks like that is our third one, now. How about checking that leather to see if you think it is real leather or imitation leather. We have another conversation going on looking for examples of the late war imitation leather. The nakago is surprisingly well made! Even has the feather file marks. Interesting that it has to holes as if it was made for an RS model.

Where did you find that one, Marcel? Here is one I have on file. Found on what Fuller called an "ersatz sword." "The tsuba of an “ersatz” sword possibly made in Manchuria in the last months of the war. 造 could be short for 造兵 which in Japanese apparently translates to "Arsenal."

Oooo, could be

It would be an interesting thing to find if the Tokyo RJT smiths blades had the stamped numbers, especially with the katakana combination, and then Nagoya RJT smiths had painted the numbers like John has shown. John, have you seen any other letters other than “A“?

Sorry buddy, but David is correct. This is a fake.

Good question John. Any of your ideas might be the right one. They might have all been part of a batch order given to a particular sword shop to outfit and the numbering system might have been done by the sword shop. But anything is possible. Interesting that you identified a particular system on multiple blades!

I have seen quite a few, and several where the tsuka was just plain wood, covered tightly in leather. The tsuba might be a civil one.

Marcin, The black army saya is fairly common. At first glance, I often think "Aha! Another souvenir.", when it's really just another army saya. The metal fittings aren't gold gilded.

Yes. He, and/or his forge, had his own kokuin that is seen on his blades, but also on 4 other smiths that must have worked at the forge - Kanemune, Kunimoto, Hidetoshi, and Masafusa And yet, we also have one of his blades with an unknown stamp: And a couple blades with his Retired Servicemen's group, Koa Token Sha, kokuin: All this added to these stamped-mei blades!

Marcin, A mon is a crest, kamon is family crest. We usually just say mon for short. No, the railway emblem is not what we mean when discussing mon. See here: https://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/29606-help-identity-our-mon/?do=getNewComment

Thanks, Mal! That one seems to be making the rounds. Found it back in 2022 for sale, then again in Sept '24. Always appreciate the tips, though! Autumn '42 Koa Isshin

Martin, Help me understand your question - Are you asking if presenting swords in high quality cases was a normal practice? Or are you asking if presenting swords to officials, in general, was a normal practice? I personally have not seen them in elaborate cases, but have seen them in plain wooden boxes. I have seen several presentation swords. One in our files was made by the South Manchurian Railway (Mantetsu) and presented to city officials of 3 small towns. Others are found in fancy tachi fittings and were given to railway employees when they reached 25 years of service. Looking forward to seeing the sword and box of your post.