Tensho

Translation help and meaning please if I'm right? Thank you.

Photo was purchased from a vintage Photograph seller. Mainly bought for Gunto mounting references. The writing was a complete surprise to me. I agree with you, it would be nice to know about the pilot. One would have to be fluent in Japanese to find out anything I'm sure.

Awesome, thank you Matt! If anyone is interested in the photo:

Help please on this writing on back of photo. Didn’t realize it was there originally. Cleaned the glue and black backing off to reveal the below. Thank you.

Seems like it could be used for anything. You can buy modern ones.

JFK is the worst one to be sent to. Good luck complaining to USPS. USPS has no control over customs, completely different entity..

Use the tracking on USPS and see what it says. EMS is Priority mail express international once it gets over here. I've never checked mine via ems site. Might not say much more though.

What does the USPS tracking say? It shouldn't take that long at all to clear customs.

Not mine, an example of a zohei-to blade I found in kyu gunto mounts. Pretty sure ita just the photos making it look like that.

As to what PNSSHOGUN said, its probably Murata-to. I have seen similar nakago on them and zohei-to.

Continuation to saya.

Not sure if this is of any interest, but I just picked this up, 133 on all parts.. Army Gunto, older blade. Everything is in pretty rough shape..

I would keep the blade with it. Good tsunagi for displaying the koshirae.

Thanks for that info, was not aware of that. I checked early this morning with a UV flashlight and I didn't notice anything strange.

I thought someone would have insight. Maybe to hard to judge in photos. For what its worth, I came across one that was off a gunto, its torn up and ratty but the stitching matches mine completely. I'm not an authority on these though. The brown tassel is on a Wakizashi bruce. It's a Mumei shinto or shin shinto blade.

I thought for sure the blue/brown tassel was going to be fake. Condition is way to good. But now I'm questioning my brown tassel that was on a mint condition koshirae. They are both silk(I did a burn test on some loose thread) they both came from Japan(which I guess means nothing either) On the blue/brown tassel I have seen the same pattern on ohmura site. I just don't know enough to judge.

To answer a few things. The samegawa is real and not the plastic type. The blade is razor sharp and not a tsunagi. The habaki is a perfect fit, the tsuka was definitely cut out for this nakago and the saya fits everything perfectly as well. The seppa and tsuba are the only questionable things to me. The star stamp on the blade above is interesting.

Bruce, I don't think this was ever mounted for WWII. I dont know the whole regulations for them, but the fittings on the ones carried by Gunzoku seem to be pretty lack luster(at least what I have seen) and have a way of attaching a tassel on the tsuka(usually a leather "cap")here's one of mine.

Wow, crazy John. I was curious so, dismantled it again and the habaki has something on it, but doesn't match the rest? It was pretty dirty but wiped it with alcohol and got this. Not sure what it means. BTW, those "numbers" show up on the fuchi, tsuba, all seppa, and end of nakago(its partially rusty and hard to make out)

Thanks for the reply. Murata-to makes sense, and it crossed my mind as well. It has rust pitting in spots, but is flawless besides that. It's a very lightweight blade also. The fittings are what made me question if it was pieced together, as like you said I always thought the pierced tsuba was an earlier design. And why the seppa, fuchi and tsuba nakago ana are all a match, but are larger than the tsuka and nakago threw me off. I would have assumed they would be fitted to the blade The tsuka is definitely fit for the blade. If it didn't have sekigane applied to the tsuba I would have immediately thought postwar replacement. Edit: When putting the tsuka back on after taken the above photo I noticed the end of the nakago is scratched with the same kanji. Hard to see, but is there. So, I don't know what to think?

I picked up this gunto. I have owned several in the past, currently own just this one. The silver foiled cat scratch habaki made me think it was going to be a "decent" i.e signed blade. Well, I was wrong. Mumei, showato blade with what "looks" like a FAKE polished in hamon. And a weird "star" punch mark under the habaki. The Tsuba has sekigane to fit the nakago. I have never seen this on a gunto. The remaining seppa(one missing) are all scratched with kanji that matches the tsuba and fuchi. Seppa are NOT for this nakago as well, but match the original nakago-ana of the tsuba(before sekigane) Not pictured is a wood saya that is missing leather cover, has single hanger and metal collar with "tab" for locking chuso.

Grey is spot on. Probably turned in or acquired other ways(by a U.S soldier) but not taken from a Japanese soldier. As a side note, I have a 18" wakizashi resting in leather "combat" saya and tsuka with army menuki(gunto) and brown tassel. Carried by gunzoku.

Thanks for the replies. I'm not a collector of tsuba. I got it with 2 other tsuba and seppa from Japan. Didn't think anything of the "circle" shape of the seppa dai as I have seen others like that. But compared to the other two the color seems off. And I agree with the crudeness of the nakago ana and overall design. The first photo i cleaned it with ivory and washed it with soap and dried it off. The below photo is after applying oil and wiping off.