John C

This may only help with the origami in hand, however you can examine the one you have to determine if the entire origami is a forgery or if the original was altered. http://www.nihontocr...se_sword_papers.html Also, I too believe you should aggressively pursue legal action. If not criminal action, then at least civil remedies. I think you have plenty of evidence. John C.

Ron: I'm pretty sure this part says pray for good luck in battle. These are pretty standard and are usually signed by school kids or co-workers. John C.

Another all brown tassel on a type 98, however no way to tell if it's original. John C.

There is another possibility. Firstly, tamahagane comes in grades based on carbon content. But this should not make much difference in weight. But it's possible the shorter one has a denser core steel and would therefore weigh as much as a longer sword without a core. It's far more likely, however, it is simply a matter of the amount of steel used. Exact measurements (width, thickness, length) of the entire blade would need to be taken. Blades are not consistent. Every inch can vary somewhat. The shorter blade may be just slightly thicker on more of its length making it the same weight as the longer one. John C.

Steve: You can probably rule out these two right away. The density of different steels would be negligible. Also, a sword starts with X amount of ounces in a billet. So the number of folds will not make a difference. What could be happening is the profile. Even if the swords were exactly the same width at the mune (back spine), if one has a thinner profile moving toward the ha (edge) or has been polished more, there could be a reduction in steel and therefore weigh less. In addition, the width along the entire sword may not be exactly the same. Sometimes the nakago thins out toward the end. John C.

You're not alone, Brian. I feel your pain - literally. Just had aquablation surgery 3 weeks ago and currently take Dapagliflozin (Farxiga in the US) for type 2 diabetes. There's light at the end of the tunnel - an oncoming train in my case, but you'll get better. Hang in there. John C.

Looks a bit like a police superintendent short sword (police badge and sakura on the backstrap). But I'm not 100 percent sure because the guard is a bit different. John C.

@Bruce Pennington Bruce: Take a look at this one. Fake or possible souvenir? Blade looks like cheap chrome; tsuba looks terrible; same' looks like celluloid. https://shopgoodwill.com/item/217693625 John C.

I know some colors were personal choice, however I think other color changes could have to do with theater of operation. John C.

James: Since the blade may be a copy, there is one thing you can try. Acetone (nail polish remover) is good at stripping old oil and varnish. This may remove the stains. Then clean the residue and finish with a light coat of mineral oil. John C.

Another one being sold by Raymo-Ya (Raymond Yan) here with just the sarute and tassel: https://www.ebay.com/itm/267073370378 John C.

I could not find a reference for "Saito" in Sesko's Sword smiths of Japan." Maybe listed somewhere else? John C.

Jeff: I think the vast majority of swords provided for the Japanese military were purpose made for the war effort by various entities. Although there were some who took family blades into battle and others who donated family blades (primarily if they did not have a son to go to war), these were not the majority. The biggest impact would have been the law to disarm the civilian population after the war and make them turn in their weapons. But MacArthur understood the cultural significance of the sword and made allowances in certain cases. This law, therefore, was tempered somewhat by efforts to declare certain blades as national treasures or important to Japanese culture. Many examples of petitions exist where citizens are trying to get their family heirlooms declared as important to the Japanese culture in order to keep them. Were some national treasures destroyed? Most likely. The most telling pic is probably the one shown below. How many national treasures are in that pile? We will never know. It is also important to note that we relinquished military rule in 1952, allowing the Japanese to keep their swords as long as they were registered (torokusho). Many of the sword smiths were still alive and were able to teach sword making once again. John C.

Would the hotstamp be worth forging? John C.

Jeff: The saya is probably black lacquer with a texturing layer underneath (think orange peel paint texture on your walls - same concept), though metal saya were painted. The same' could be ray skin or celluloid, which was used as materials became scarce. Painted burlap was even used toward the end of the war. The tsuka wrap is shiny because it would have a thick coating of lacquer on it. John C.

Bruce: As a holster, belt, and wallet maker, I would carefully cut the stitching along the side then remove it. The saya cover can then be re-stitched using a blind stitch or a saddle stitch if you want it to stick out. I mention this method because the other method would be to wet the leather to soften it then work it off. Much more difficult and could cause shrinking and cracking once dry again. You could also try a leather conditioner to see if it becomes pliable enough, but I don't think it would. Not many options to do it safely. There may be some saddle makers in your area that could do it. John C.

Jeff: Type 3 is sometimes referred to as type 100 and refers to the style of mounts. See Ray's link for details. The star stamp identifies the sword as a "gendaito", meaning a traditionally made blade as opposed to a mass-produced or machine made blade. So yes, a more desirable blade. It looks as if the blade has some condition issues, however still a nice piece of history and a good find. John C.

Here's one document that mentions minimum blade length for donated blades. John C.

Since we know that swords were repaired frequently, could these just be very late war replacements? John C.

Dale: You probably have this already, however here's a link just in case. https://www.ebay.com/itm/226236745067? John C.

That could be. We may never know without definitive documentation. Hot cutting the nakago of pre-existing blades makes sense because the limited time they had to fill the orders after the red tape would have necessitated the need-for-speed. John C.

These are a bit like hens teeth. They're out there, but you'll pay up for them. You may want to buy replacement copies for now until you come across a reasonably priced real one. You could also use a bamboo mekugi in the mean time. John C.

John: You might be able to answer this - are the handles on the souvenirs slightly shorter than a regular gunto? I was thinking that if so, it could explain why the nakago on the blades were so abruptly cut in order to fit the souvenir. John C.

I'll probably get corrected on this, however I think most parade / dress swords did not have habaki. There were some type 8 kyu-gunto riding swords and artillery swords that had serial numbers and other stamps on the ricasso. There were also general grade swords that had the rising sun on the habaki. Maybe someone else can find a more specific example. John C.

Mike: Here is a partial translation for the hotstamp area from Bruce's Stamp document. John C.