David Flynn

G'day Joe, get your missus involved as well. She can collect Kodogu!

The numbers are assembly numbers. It is very hard to track down who owned the sword unless, there is some document, or surrender tag with it. Also many of the old Veterans have passed away.

All Aussies are crims. We're born with chain marks around our ankles

Nic, I'm in Sydney PM me

I vote Tan means traditionaly forged. ie Gendaito

wasn't there a shinto smith who had hamon done like that?

Sorry Jean, I don't follow what you mean. EMS is through the Post office.

I didn't even notice the other Kanji till you pointed them out George.

Nagamura?

I was told there was not more EMS of swords from Japan. Whilst in Japan in Nov. I purchased a sword. I recieved it in Dec. Via EMS

Wrong shape for Mantetsu. Possibly unsigned Gendaito. As far as I know, one can't get papers on an unsigned Gendai. Because of this point, unsigned Gendai never reach a decent price. The best option would be to go through Fred lohman if restoration is required.

Generally they were about 26" however some were smaller and some much bigger.

G'day Marek, Welcome from Oz(Australia). :D

As a Gendai collector, John Sloughs' book is my bible(well one of them anyway ).

May your "Wa," discover, "Mushin. " Best regards to Both of you.

They're called Slouch hats George.

In Sydney, there are a few schools of Kenjustsu and Battojutsu which practice with live blades. The only schools in Sydney that practice with Iaito, are Iaido. I saw a Tameshigiri competition which was held in Australia. A first dan from Battojutsu beat a 4th dan from Iaido. Infact the Iaido practioners, where made look, amateurish altogether. Maybe (guessing) the Iaido practioners, 1: Aren't comfortable with a live blade. 2: Don't practice cutting very often? Not trying to be contentious, just observations.

g'day Darren and welcome

If you want a traditionaly made Japanese sword for martial arts, then lower end WW11 gendaito would be my suggestion. You can pick these up at shows and even ebay for $2500-$3000 US in good condition. However, these swords will probably be in Army/Navy mounts. These mounts are fine for Tameshigiri but not Iado. Another option would be to buy a Showato/gunto and have Fred Lohman convert them to "civilian" mounts for a very reasonable fee. Showato are good for Tameshigiri(I would rather use one of these than a Shinken) and Iado.

Most smiths who had either a showa or seki stamp were not fully qualified smiths and never took it back up post war.

Life itself is impermanent!

welcome to all the latest newcomers.

Waiting for mine. Anxious anticipation

G'day Steven and welcome aboard. I'm in Sydney and there are a few other Aussies posting on this forum as well.

I believe the W stamp refers to Nagoya Arsenal. Much more I can't help with except that I have seen what I believe to be a Gendai by Yoshiharu with a W stamp. This particular sword looked very much like another Yoshiharu I saw without any stamp.