John C

The second pic is the date = showa 19 (1944). John C.

Steven: I think the mei is legit. Here is a pic of mine for comparison (not very good, but you can make out some kanji). And just to emphasize, this is the son Shuji Kanenobu (his father went by Niwa) John C.

Just to second Grey's suggestion. I had the same thought. John C.

Probably doesn't mean anything, however there aren't any assembly marks or numbers on the parts we can see. I would expect to see something - a shop stamp maybe? John C.

This may sound silly, but if the stuck sandpaper is the issue, have you tried a strong vacuum cleaner (hose) to suck it out? John C.

Bruce beat me to it - it is indeed a stamp as we would expect to find. John C.

Yes. WW2 showato. Are there any stamps? You may find a seki or gifu stamp on the tang. John C.

Lance: Kanemune was the smith who made the sword. And I agree with Conway that the blade is not worthless. At the very least, it has historical value as a war relic. The small bits of paper (newspaper, flyers, etc.) were used to align the ito as they wrapped the tsuka. John C.

At some point, when your N is large enough, I think you will be able to cross-reference all of your charts and make a decent guess at which workshops used which methods and had which smiths working for them. This would make for an interesting and valuable booklet in terms of gunto research. John C.

@Bruce Pennington Not sure if you have seen this one yet. A kai gunto with mei, stamped numbers, and a mini-kao. https://www.ebay.com/itm/186415047172? John C

As a leather worker, I think it was probably formed at that time. But maybe a repaired gunzoku sword? The leaf design reminds me of the leaf gunzoku tsuba. John C.

Brian: The small seki stamp is correct for this blade. If you look closely, you should also find one on the nakago mune. John C.

Travis: Hello! Some additional information. The stamp above the mei is the Sho stamp and indicates the blade is most likely an oil quenched showato. It also appears the tang may be bent at the machi?? Could be the camera angle. Fittings seem nice, however. John C.

Victor: To answer this part of your question, yes. This is common and would not necessarily be an indicator of blade quality. I have seen everything from soldier blades to a Gassan Sadakatsu with wood habaki. John C

@Bruce Pennington Bruce - did you notice the hand painted "kao" on the nakago jiri? Looks like a hand or headdress. John C.

I would also take his "zero" feedback into consideration. John C.

Family mon on the menuki as well. John C.

One more consideration - it appears in these pics that the hamon runs off the edge (the boshi does not turn back). If this is the case, it would be a fatal flaw and would not be worth the two grand, in my opinion. But as is often the case, I could be wrong. Added up, I would pass. John C.

Roger that. John C.

@Bruce Pennington Not sure if you have these: #61 here: https://www.ebay.com/itm/355626335708?itmmeta=01HWDZ4SM3J35D7WBAK1TN4ZFY&hash=item52ccfb3ddc:g:PbUAAOSwY6FmGDa4&itmprp=enc%3AAQAJAAAAwGUqlbhW2iGXAVOW0M%2B6%2BLPRYzYfiJ9W1XDD96PQBSCm8vQmlkXKhMb818%2FXpZ0qbEMdFxTZrA76gFeDR869ZA23oPnk1fZFopoVgm5oFlvoC9Vo9%2BB24EEBnhsZGAJM%2BLcWmukBHFvGYur%2F2B1jcndRFjAAMRkZzAMFLFhgG4UcUxRpmKKjrMeY%2BZE85nD6P2ctkMCqNVko3Paqt1fyViiRQEGbMG6TYYXKGo%2FM7PlgvT5F4TbHZ8evJmjykV%2BZrQ%3D%3D|tkp%3ABk9SR5Sak7_jYw ...and #68 here: https://www.ebay.com/itm/126447386646?itmmeta=01HWDZ4SM3JZSCKZA90DXW7KZS&hash=item1d70da0016:g:JIgAAOSwZ4BmKErL&itmprp=enc%3AAQAJAAAAwNZohbQjHWexkFFHeCFQoifhS0qz%2FFoYCVc0Cj5hlDK9He3P%2B2Fs2q6SdX6Q71IeKdsfl8wEuL1yUCqbkMBxW9fUjd5mddcmjWp8zClx2Wgj52%2F5%2BcvLEqgB9DWr96YGbqOlvi7wZ70dY7qj%2F1Pfiz7C4TuLR5ZnF394pX%2FEhFs21Np8pkkMsSDBYlenYLtDNQlHA291wYBr0kw4%2FlG4evQDcs5FhvqokAndMThqKyUFyqmp8yZdvcp5WH7BTjaSdg%3D%3D|tkp%3ABk9SR5Sak7_jYw John C.

Curious that the screw slot has been hand punched. John C.

Hello: I'm hoping for a confirmation on the "Taka" in Takamichi. The character does not appear to have the "leg" strokes so I'm not sure. Thank you, John C.

Phill: Are there any similar notches on the end of the habaki? Sometimes we see this as roman numeral assembly marks. John C.

My wife recently bought me a 4" miniature sword keychain as a gag gift. It too was held up in customs for a month. John C.

Wow! John C.