PNSSHOGUN

We're all eagerly awaiting seeing the dagger in a fresh polish....

The patches on the shinogi appear to be muneyaki.

Look forward to pictures of the sword, sounds like an excellent example.

Was under the impression that supporting information would be old Honami papers, historical records, Daimyo inventory tags, Sayagaki, and other evidence in that realm.

It was a Mumei Gendai:

Agree with Nathaniel, uma-ha came to mind immediately. Compare to a Gendai I used to own:

In honour of this achievement can we at least update the title to spell his name right....

Certainly an impressive Sugata, as others have mentioned the deki is rather uninspiring. The more you study good swords, the more you'll start to appreciate why there are many undesirable features in this sword.

Before you get too carried away with vivid notions of generations of Samurai charging into battle on this, it very much appears to be a pack saddle: https://www.thelongridersguild.com/oriental-wonder.htm https://auctionet.com/en/2897564-pack-saddle-konida-gura-Japan-edo-period

Well you can be safe in the knowledge that it's a real Japanese sword, whether or not it was actually made by the smith on the Nakago is a completely different matter. As one of the most faked smiths in history, the chances of it being authentic are perishingly small.

Good mounts can be an indicator of a decent blade, but never a guarantee.

The more examples that are shown it would appear it was simply a nicer version, hence why often seen on better than average mounts.

If memory serves me correctly, large swords were popular in that period among certain sword schools.

There was a recent period where items could be submitted in tandem for Hozon & Tokubetsu Hozon, which made it appear that they were handing out TH papers like candy. They have since reverted this, and I wonder if the stricter Juyo & TBJ sessions are a product of an attempt to restore the status of these attributions. There has been many discussion and opinions on certain Juyo sessions being "weak" (i.e. large numbers of swords passing, with some being questionable), given the absolute faith the market has in the NBTHK it would make sense they stamp out any perceptions that the value has been watered down. Who knows, maybe in thirty years all of these NBTHK papers will be obsolete and 'worthless' like the previous papers.....

Hi Jared, if you share some pictures of the mounts that would help narrow down what branch the Japanese officer was. If you know where your father served you could potentially narrow down the Japanese units, but as Sam mentioned it's difficult unless there is a name or surrender tag associated with the sword.