Polaria

This doesn't look right at all. Just one look at the blade should tell you all you need to know about it.

Nice looking sword. Five mekugi-ana is pretty rare. I wonder how many times the blade has been remounted.

I would call 6 definitely, just by how the links look and 2 by how the color is different. Also in at least one of the photos both 2 and 6 look a shade too bright.

I think the situation as it stand now is purely a question of time. Showato were produced for the war in huge numbers and it wasn't THAT long ago. As long as there is plenty to go around and with fakes flooding the market it is easy to dismiss them categorically. The fact that you CAN get a non-traditional gunto papered is a good indication that times will change and someday these last examples of Japanese sword made for actual combat will get the recognition they deserve.

It looks like a sageo and probably tied like that on purpose, but it isn't too long to be from a tassel.

This all-brown "remains of a tassel" came with a type 98 sword tied to the saya as shown.

This one also came with the sword and yet again the loop end was cut. This one was attached as shown and I've never removed it from the sword. However it is much too good looking compared to the sword so I assume it might not be original to the sword, or at least not the one with which it came from the factory.

This gunto tassel came with a sword that has very good provenance and considering how everything was I think it is original to the sword. It came with the loop cut and frayed attached as shown in the picture. I did take it off and retied it once at which point it started to come apart and I lost maybe a quarter of an inch / half centimeter from the frayed part.

My notes: Koshirae doesn't look right at all, even for late war production. Tsuba is decorated, but the decorations are wrong in style and subject. Saya fittings do not look right at all. The wood hilt has wrong cross hatching. I cannot say about the blade and there are better experts for that here, but nothing in the koshirae looks genuine.

I agree. Everyone has their own priorities and interests. I know a lot of people who dismiss all Japanese military swords as "trash". I, on the other hand, am very interested in them because they are the last military swords intended to be used in battle in the era of modern mechanized war. Which alone makes them very interesting in the history of swords and other bladed weapons. These "official souvenirs" seem to be actually commissioned by 8th Army very soon after the war and thus have their own very interesting tale in the big picture.

This must have been a huge work. I am so glad you decided to share it with us. Very much thank you.

Of course it is a souvenir. It says so on the certificate.

At least he started with "things I don't collect and know nothing about" so any factual mistakes can be forgiven. But, they said there were more navy officer swords produced during WWII than army officer swords... Do we have any numbers on this or was it just guesswork?

My notes: Looks like shin gunto koshirae Saya is non-standard for shin gunto Fuchi is non-standard and looks cheap Black same and black paint on mekugi head look suspect Tsuka ito looks off Without seeing the tsuba, seppa and kabuto-gane in detail it's hard to say, but my guess is that this might be pieced together from authentic and after-war parts. Have you disassembled the sword yet?

How long is the nakago?