Conway S

Hello All, I have looked through a few reference books (Dawson, Plimpton and Fuller) and haven't found much information on the usage of the Type 19 Cavalry Officer swords in WW2. I am wondering if they were still being produced into the 1940s. Dawson writes that they were "superseded in 1934 by the shin-guntō" on page 101 of the Cyclopedia Edition. Would they still have been purchased and used by officers in the dress/parade sword capacity during WW2? Any information would be appreciated. Thanks. Conway

Thanks for taking a look and offering your opinion, John. I'll probably just continue to keep my eye out at shows. Conway

I am looking for a Tsuka for a late war army sword ( Feb 1945) in "Type 3" mounts. I found a candidate on eBay and I am wondering if anyone can confirm whether the wrap looks original. I know it's a bit of a gamble on whether the Tsuka will actually fit properly with the nakago (returns accepted). Based on the measurements the seller provided, the Tsuka is about 1 mm wider across the mune and 1 mm wider top to bottom than my sword's nakago. I just dropped a different sword off to have the Tsuka re-wrapped in Chicago so I know there are skilled individuals that can make custom Tsuka replacements. I want to keep it original if possible. Please let me know your thoughts. Thanks. Conway https://www.ebay.com/itm/374652152941?hash=item573b022c6d:g:Ks0AAOSwo0RkRZh6

Very interesting! I see from other posts on the forum they made fittings (ex. scabbard drags). Any thoughts on what specifically they were patenting here? Conway

I could see "patent" clearly too once I looked at the picture referenced in the link. Thanks! The reverse side of the lower hilt area has the patent numbers. Conway

Does anyone know what this mark says? Hard for me to make out the characters. As a student of Chinese, I usually take the characters I can read and paste them in a Japanese translator. Conway

Thomas, Ah! So there's a difference between "W" and stamps that resemble "w." I was going to ask if this other stamp was the maker mark, but I guess you answered my question. Aside from some of the braided wire missing, the sword is in overall nice shape. Here are some more pictures of the hilt. Conway

Recently picked up this Type 19. Thought I would post because it has the "W" in a place I have not seen yet (and bordered too). Conway

Garrett, Have you searched the Swordsmith Index on the Nihonto Club site? @uwe mentioned a smith during the Keiō era whose Mei reads 備州長船住横山祐久作. https://nihontoclub.com/view/smiths/meisearch?page=12&type=All&mei_op=starts&mei=備州長 Conway

Here is the link from eBay. https://www.ebay.com/itm/115766136876?hash=item1af433102c%3Ag%3AhWIAAOSwr4FkNJtg&amdata=enc%3AAQAIAAAA4AHSX1qK3PjxhgGCKF2Cv5cMnXj%2Fqz3ok9o4mjVBhqESEJxCJngrOBEfeDY%2BCPlFO1wd%2FLDqrrFZr9b59G8pedy3YF8JnSHb1IGqEhO8H7zpRsxRSn9f0K7Gi%2BQtD1R92ftiMKZS92ahyOG%2BIqEdzLOYcNN65HCADQyUD0vL7in9Hb%2FtEzpu0fWjS2u1qf5dclr%2FwvHqd1pPDnGTFCjl4fo%2BOD1b3CLR24sar1k%2BN6q4UjZPz6i3wfIUeNpNSIsozDOD9ePIr4OwgVZr6xZf9Cg9YHW32OnjUMzDU%2FtYyfjB|tkp%3ABk9SR8jho8ryYQ&nma=true&si=PyW4jKex2dfJuouxgkaqKW5Tp%2Fk%3D&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557 Conway

The last character is probably just the sword inspector's name. Glad the link was useful. In the link, did you see the pictures of the tang to satisfy your curiosity? If the sword was dated it would be just above the other stamps. Conway

Hello Grady, Your sword looks fine from the photos you posted. The scabbard originally would have been blackened steel. Maybe take a better picture of the stampings on outside of the bowl so someone can tell you if it is dated. There are two variants of this sword. They look similar but are of different lengths. Not advisable to disassemble the handle to view the tang. Nothing of importance to see as it is a machine-made blade. It might not go back together nicely either. See the below link for more information. Conway http://ohmura-study.net/962.html

Found this sword previously for sale on IMA. https://www.ima-usa.com/products/original-wwii-Japanese-army-officer-katana-samurai-sword-late-war?variant=26171058309 And Matt, the poor placement of the tang hole was the first thing I noticed when I had the sword in hand. I learned an important lesson and won't roll the dice again on any possible crude late war/island swords. Conway

Bill, I just happened to find this piece on IMA USA. Thought I'd share. Don't pay too much attention to the price. They definitely ask for some lofty sums, but someone will buy it. https://www.ima-usa.com/collections/swords/products/original-Japanese-wwii-era-tanto-dagger-in-shirasaya-resting-scabbard-traditional-handmade-blade Conway

I am still not convinced this was not made in a modern day Chinese workshop right next to the Type 95s... Conway

Thomas, Very interesting find. There are quite a few similarities. Too bad there were no pictures of the blade or nakago. I will keep looking for other examples like these. I saw in the referenced post that late war swords were sometimes machine made. I wonder if this would explain the lack of a temper line on the sword I posted... Conway

Thomas, Those two pictures are very interesting. The amount of uncertainty in the collecting world definitely makes the hobby exciting. You start to realize how each item is a small piece in solving a much larger puzzle. I like reading all the differing opinions on these swords too. I am glad the post spawned further discussion on this topic. Conway

Here is a photo of the leather scabbard. It looks fairly identical to the one in the other post regarding @AlphaRaider's sword. Note the orange thread which was used to sew the leather together. That is another oddity that stuck out to me when I first had the sword in hand.

Here is another picture of the handle.

With great difficulty, I was able to remove the habaki. No markings found. Does the picture provide any further indication of what this sword might be (Chinese fake or some other non-Japanese made period sword)? There was a blue/green gunk under the habaki.

It has an unmarked blade.