Njbrez

You guys have all been too good to me, your knowledge is unreal Stephen, good spot! I didnt even see the stamp under all that rust. I have tried my best to get a legible photo without trying to remove/clean up any of the rust There doesnt seem to be a huge amount of info on Matsuda Kanetaka, do we know how he made his blades/ is there a better way to find more info than just googling him / are there any books I can buy to help me?

Hey Ray, thanks heaps for the translation. I'll see what I can dig up about that name, knowing the smith now lets me find out so much more about this Shin Gunto And John, I had no idea that cloth was called a surrender tag..... I wrongly assumed it was just a sale tag from the a shop where the sword was purchased or something similar Its kind of hard to see the ink/writing and couldnt get a very good single photo of it. @Ray Singer, can you make anything from my photos of the surrender tag?

Hi guys, I recently inherited a Japanese WW2 era Shin Gunto from my Grandfather after he passed away. I have been doing my research online and there seems to be alot of variations that can change the story. From what I have found online, I have a Type 98 (that is in pretty poor condition). I pulled of the tsuka and have found an engraving on the handle. Im fairly certain the blade is mass produced and nothing special, but i'd probably like confirmation of this before i do any work cleaning it up incase I ruin something worth restoring properly. There are no marking or stampings in the blade above the tsuba, theres only a single Mekugi pin in the tsuka (which is made of wood) and the scabbard has a flat end. If anyone is able to direct me to a table of Japanese characters that I should start with to cross reference with the ones on the hilt, or if anyone has the knowledge to do it easily themselves that would be greatly appreciated. But i see alot of people make identification posts like this and just expect others to do all the work for them, and thats what i would like to try not to do, you guys have a passion and niche skillset and I would love to get to know this sword better and share that passion. Even just some confirmation of what kind of sword / if it is a type 98...... If any additional photos would help, let me know Thanks in advance