Conway

Hector, Based on the pictures provided, the blade does not exhibit any of the characteristics I have seen in swords and dirks made with WW2 era anti-rust steel. I think you need not worry about that possibility. It looks to be a very nice piece. And even if it was made from anti-rust steel it would be worth far more than what you paid for it.

Ian, Sorry for the delayed response. I am not 100% sure, but I did find that the following smith, who was registered in Seki. Please see the below reference from Markus Sesko’s Swordsmiths of Japan: KUNIHIRO (国広), Shōwa (昭和, 1926-1989), Gifu – “Kunihiro” (国広), real name Kataoka Itoshi (片岡愛), born am April 1st 1895, he worked as rikugun-jumei-tōshō and died December 2nd 1965, ryōkō no retsu (Akihide). There were a few smiths who used the swordsmith name Kunihiro during WW2.

I agree with the makeover assessment. The late war Type 3 had artificially applied “Suguha.” This looks like a post-war job on the hamon.

@Bruce Pennington Looks like a 一 to me. Otherwise it’s a real poorly executed 八。

The smith is Kunihiro. Can you post additional photos of the blade?

The scabbard looks like it has been painted silver. Likely done because the finish on nickel and chrome plated scabbards are prone to damage. Aside from that, the sword looks genuine to me. Mon are far more common on dress swords than Type 94/98, so the presence of one would not automatically cause concerns of authenticity.

Adrian, Looks legit to me. I saw the auction pics too. Did you get confirmation they can ship international? PS - There’s discussion whether this variant of sword should be classified as an “NCO sword/ Type 95."

@Itomagoi What type of blade is with this koshirae? Or do you only have the fittings?

Reference Here

Thought I would share this Type 32 Otsu with leather cover. I wonder if covers on NCO swords were issued by the unit or personal additions. I’ve seen a few examples in photographs and will share one below.

Not to get off track and disrupt this thread, but there are sellers in Japan selling showato all the time on eBay (unless the location cannot be trusted)… For example: Masayuki

I think the things I would be concerned with on this sword are the tsuba and the scabbard. If it has the correct 11mm tsuba, that would make me more comfortable with it being a repair. I say this since from examining other Type 95 serial number ranges, it seems like repairs added the black steel tsuba with 2a seppa. With regard to the scabbard, Sam mentioned the unserialized throat not being an issue. I agree with that. I would want to see the correct early scabbard without drag however. I say this because without those key pieces, you have what some may view as a Frankenstein sword, that would be hard to sell later on. WW2 story aside, never discount the person selling the sword didn’t learn after the fact that they bought a pieced together sword. I wouldn’t take a gamble on this one if the seller was asking the going rate of a copper Type 95. That’s coming from someone who went down this road before with a copper and decided to offload it after more research. Please share additional pics if you receive them.

I wouldn’t waste my time trying to educate this person, since they are so off the mark on most things they put in that page- "Your grandfather's WW2 Japanese sword is either a $200 showato (machine-made) or a $5,000+ gendaito (traditionally forged). Knowing the difference changes everything.” I’d love to know how they came up with their valuation chart. Since you won’t even find showato being sold from Japan at the price points they list..

@James L Any stamps under the habaki? Given the date, and patination on nakago, this looks like a late-war showato (non-traditionally made, oil-quenched). A lot of WW2 navy swords had blades made of a corrosion resistant anti-rust steel. But this does not look like the case given the pics provided. Nice looking sword though!

I believe this is a variation called the four swords (四つ剣) - Yotsuken. Maybe others will have a better opinion. https://irohakamon.com/kamon/ken/yotsuken.html