Mister Gunto

Thanks Grey. The blade is polished, but has a few small scuffs about halfway down on one side. I'd assumed it just hadn't been handled very carefully by previous owners, and the saya-gaki had gotten rubbed by repeated handling. It came without papers from a dealer in Japan (just got a photocopy of the registration card). Regardless of who made it, I'm curious if the blade appears to actually be from the Muromachi period or not?

Ray, would that be the name of the man who polished it? I'm not familiar with what is normally written on Shirasaya.

Some shots of the koshirae. Looks old to me. And the saya has a odd little upturn at the end that I haven't seen before. I do like the colors. Random red on black splatters. The Tsuba looks old. It's unsigned and unmarked. The plugs in the two little holes are made of wood. I found out when I washed the oil and gunk off it, and it actually gave me a splinter. The Kami spirits are alive in this one. The Menugi is a Dragon swimming (or flying in the clouds) past what I assume is Mt. Fuji. One of them has the tip of the Dragon's tail broken off, so I could remove it from the damaged wrapping. Handle is in bad shape. But it still holds together.

The Shirasaya

More photos:

Hi Guys, I've been lurking far too long here, so time to start posting something hopefully worthwhile. So here are some photos of what was sold to me as a Mumei Muromachi era katana. Came to me in a Shirasaya mount with the original Koshirae included. (Apologies in advance for any terminology screw-ups or misspellings. I'm still learning.) The blade's been polished a few times, I'm guessing it's Suriage by now, perhaps O-suriage? About 65.3 cm in length now. Three holes in the tang. The blade still seems quite nice to me, although the kissai seems a bit narrow, and perhaps was re-made during one of the polishings? There's some ware in it, but nothing that (to me) seems extreme. No cracks in the blade. The hamon doesn't run off the edge anywhere that I can see. No signature, or perhaps it was lost when the blade was shortened? Obviosuly this isn't a premium piece, but for my budget, I'm really happy with it. Plus it's my first Muromachi (I hope), I've been wanting to get a sword from that era for some time now. I'm not sure if the kanji written on the shirasaya contains any useful information? I'm unable to read it. Any assitance would be greatyly appreciated.

That new link worked for me, thank you! Very nice collection! I especially like #5 there. Beautiful blade.

The link doesn't work for me, I get a 403 error.

Like we say in the gun collecting world: "Buy the Gun; Not the Story."

Looks good! It's in typical Type 98 Shin-Gunto mounts, and early to mid war at that. Not the later type. From the photos, it appears to be a non-traditionally made blade, but better pics would help determine that. Once you remove the bamboo mekugi pin and can get the tuska (handle) off, chanes are there will be some writing engraved on the nakago (hilt). Possibly the smith's name and a date. Some good photos of that would be more helpful.

Beautiful collection! I especially like the second one from the top.

Nice blade! Very beautiful steel. Like your artwork too! Good inking, with lots of detail. And yes, these things do bite. My Shin-Gunto Kanesada gave me a nasty poke in the pinkie once to let me know it's still not cool with the whole V-J thing. Or careless handling.

Really nice blade, I like it!

The quality looks too good for late war production. The "Pierced" gunto tsubas seem to have been earlier make, or possibly a more expensive variant, than the "Solid" types, which I see far more often. Just guessing, but possibly by making two holes for the scabbard locking pin, the tsuba maker was giving the buyer the option of mounting the locking pin in two different positions? Maybe they were unsure of which type of scabbard or locking pin would ultimately be installed on the sword? The koshirae were sometimes made by different makers, and then fitted to the blade in yet another location.

I haven't seen one like this before. Looks too well detailed to be a recent Chinese copy. As mentioned above, could be a civilian military employee pattern. Nice.

I just read that thread, very interesting!

Thanks Bruce!

Thank you, Grey! I think I'm at least starting to be able to dechiper a few kanji. And thanks for the link! Any ideas on the surrender labels writing though?

Hi everyone! I recently picked up this late war Shin-gunto in Type 44 mounts. The wrap was already loose at one end, so I unwrapped it in order to remove the handle. Turns out to be a Nagoya Arsenal marked mass-production blade. So while not an ancient lost masterpiece, it fits well into my WW2 collection. I tried to translate the kanji using Mr. Yumoto's book. I believe the swordsmith is "Kanenori", and the date is December 1944. However, I'd appreciate someone else taking a look at it and letting me know if that's correct or not? Also, there is a surrender label attached to the saya. Any help in translating that would be greatly appreciated. It may be a little hard to see, but to the right of the 4 darkly inked characters, there are at least 3 faintly visible other kanji. I think there may have been others, but they are obscured by the grease stains. The vet who brought it home seems to have slathered the blade in cosmoline. Fortunately, some CLP and patience got it all off the metal. Don't think I can safely remove it from the paper though. I am looking for someone who can re-wrap the handle. Also, there is a very slight bend in the middle of the blade, barely noticeable, but there. I'm in Northern Calfornia, so if anyone knows someone in the area who can re-wrap the handle, and take the bend out of the blade, please let me know. Anyway, here's the photos:

Beautiful blade!

A nice condition Type 32 Ko is definately on my "to get" list. My understanding is that the leather finger loops were often removed during arsenal refurbishment, with even the attchment hole in the guard being filled in sometimes. Guess they decided at some point the strap wasn't really neccessary.

Very nice sword. I like that hamon pattern.

Very nice example.