Conway S

If Rob pulled this out of hidden duct in a house and it came with the bring-back box, isn't it safe to assume this came direct from a veteran and hence there would have been no attempt to remove a star stamp? Conway

Brian, Hattori Masahiro. Sometimes the late war kai gunto lack the rising sun seppa and the fittings resemble the set up found on the souvenir swords. Conway

Just search Nagoya side latch and you will see Bruce posts a few in the 202+ range.

Sam, I am sure Thomas or others may know the high end, but I believe Nagoya produced aluminum at least to the 202,XXX range. Somewhere on the forum, I recall this figure is discussed in relation to side-latch production. Maybe use that as a search term. Conway

Nice find! The early pattern aluminum handles are hard to find. I like that wrap job on the scabbard. Conway

Craig, This one is original. If the measurements in the listing are to be trusted, it’s an Otsu variant. Dated Taisho 3 or 1914. More details at the following website. http://ohmura-study.net/802.html Conway

Hello John, If you are looking for an Army Type 98, then that is not the right sword for you. This one is a Navy Type 97. The sword is original and the blade is made of an anti-rust steel commonly found of WW2 naval swords. The black paint are sub-assembly numbers correlating to the numbers on the fittings and the little anchor stamp is an inspection mark. It has been on eBay for over a year, so that should tell you it’s probably not a good price. Conway

See below. Volker was selling some reproductions. Maybe they are still available. It’s still worth it to look for the small one if you can find it.

Did the screw look like this? Can you post a picture of your sword?

I’d start digging through the garbage if I were you… If they are the correct screws for the koshirae then you will be hard pressed to find another one. In fact, members on this forum usually inquire where to find reproduction screws, because both original and nice quality reproductions are hard to find and expensive. Conway

Hello Frank, You will get more responses if you post this in the Military Swords thread. I see that this paint has age to it, however, this is not the hue of red normally found on period correct pieces. Looks like Bubba painted it in his garage sometime post-war. The traces of red paint on the saya fittings indicate this was not done with care and thus probably not original. See the below link for often encountered period saya colors. Conway http://ohmura-study.net/904.html

Mason, Search " Sako Nobumitsu" and you will find many results pertaining to this smith, but not much information. Conway

Mason, The nakago is signed Seki (location) Sakou Nobumitsu (sword smith name) Saku (made). Probably a Sho stamp. Conway

Steve, I don’t think that is the original liner. Do you notice how this one is cloth as opposed to leather and the rivet is added to the front? Looks like a post-war reissue job. Conway

Hi Cody, There is nothing to learn from looking at the tang on this particular variant of parade saber. It’s going to be bare metal with no markings and you risk not being able to put it back together nicely. As John points out, this one has a plated blade. Once the very thin layer of plating is damaged, it has a tendency to peel and flake off. Your sword looks to be in okay shape. As @Deiro points out sometimes these style of parade swords have mounted nihonto, but not this one. Conway