tater134

Thank you everyone for the replies and information! And thank you to Bruce for directing me to the forum. I agree it's a real shame that this blade is such bad shape, especially now that you've given me a rough idea of its age. Since I'm not in it for very much I'll add it to my collection of wartime Japanese items. Being that the whole piece is a bit of a Frankenstein is it possible that it was assembled as souvenir for occupying US forces? The cover on the saya really has me stumped. I'm assuming it doesn't match up with the style of the "combat cover" we see on Type 95 and Type 98 swords? Someone on another forum suggested it was made from the outer casing of a firehose but I don't agree with that based on how tightly stitched and well fitting it is. If I'm feeling brave I may slip the cover off to get a better look at the saya.

Some additional photos. Apologies for the quality. My phone camera has a scratch on the lens and it's giving me trouble.

Tsuba side facing away from the blade Tsuba side facing blade Edges

Opposite side.

Some additional photos were requested I'll add them below. I was able to carefully remove the majority of the glue from the tang. No signature that I can see.

I had originally posted photos of this Wakizashi over on a WW2 Japanese collectors page and it was suggested that I post photos here for more information. I acquired it as part of the estate of a militaria collector who's father served in the Pacific during WW2. I suspect this Wakizashi was one of his bringbacks but it could have been acquired later. The blade condition is unfortunately poor as it's been abused in the past but I'm curious if anyone can tell me more about it. I was able to disassemble it with some effort as someone had glued the Tsuka back together which in turn glued it to the tang as you can see from the glue residue The piece actually holding the Tsuka to the blade was the small square mekugi and upon further examination the round mekugi were just fillers in both sides of the handle. The hole in the tang only barely lines up enough for the small square peg to fit through. Where the filler round mekugi were is about a 1/4" off or more from the tang hole so they were hiding a mis-drilled hole. Here are some pics of everything taken apart. I'm really stumped by the wide gap in quality between certain parts of the sword and I'm not sure when it was put together and by whom. I'm also curious about how old the parts are as the Tsuba appears to have some age to it. Any information you can provide would be greatly appreciated!