oneshot onekill

Here are more pics...

OK... 8 days after my birthday. Still in the same Month. When he said he bought it "years ago" I didn't think it was that many years.

Interesting. That's 2 days before my second Birthday. Awesome!

I just acquired this sword from a person in Hawaii. He said he bought it years ago at a sword shop in Japan. I already posted the TOROKUSHO in the "Translation" section here. He told me it was from the Muromachi Period but it's Mumei and I have no way of confirming that without letting you all see it. It looks a little tired to me but I'm no expert. I didn't get pictures of the Nakago yet because it's a little hard to get the Tsuka off. The pictures are a little hard to see for two reasons. First, the lighting here is terrible. Second, the blade has oil on it. These are the specs the PO gave me: Length 38.6'' or 98 cm, Blade length 24.8'' or 63 cm, curve 0.6'' or 1.6 cm, Blade width 1.1'' or 2.7 cm.

I just received a sword from someone in Hawaii. He's a Marine and said he got the sword years ago in a Sword Shop in Japan. He only sent the TOROKUSHO as far as paperwork goes. That's all he had. My question is obviously what the translation is but also, can you tell how long ago the sword was registered for export? Maybe by the registration number? He didn't define "years ago" and I hate to ask. I asked him so many questions already. Here's a picture of the registration... Thanks in advance!

Thank you for the replies! These seem larger than the Menuki I've seen. They don't appear to have any "overspill" from being crudely glued to the Saya. I think they were attached when the Saya was made but who knows. The rest of the Koshirae and the Tsuba are pretty nice but I can't tell what the Menuki are. I'll try to get a picture of the Menuki as well. I'll be asking for lots of help with this sword so thank you all in advance!

I just received a nice Muromachi era (I think) Katana. I'm just getting into figuring it out. Its Mumei so there's a LOT to figure out. First thing I noticed are 2 pieces of artwork mounted on opposite sides of Saya. What are they? What would the significance of them be? Here's a close-up picture of one of them. They are both the same but in different places on the Saya. Appears to be a sword, Helmet and other things.

1983... About 760yds. With an M40A1.

I will say that knowledge about Japanese Swords is by far the hardest knowledge I've been able to gain... And I'll be the FIRST to tell you that I haven't even begun to scratch the surface when it comes to these Wonderfully Elegant Pieces of Military History! The fine members here deserve almost all of the credit for what I do know... I just wanted to thank you all. John

Hi George, It's really no big deal and I'm not upset or offended. Hell, I've made out myself scrounging for deals in areas that I have more than average knowledge. I think Ebay is one of the hardest places to score a deal because so many people look at Ebay and no matter what you know, there's Ten-Thousand people watching Ebay that know as much or more than you do! I have, on many occasions, emailed a seller that was misrepresenting an item (not on ebay or any other "auction" site) and trying to sell it for MORE than it was worth. Believe it or not, I've received more positive responses than negative ones. You only get a negative response from someone who is knowingly trying to deceive potential buyers. Honest sellers are more inclined to thank you for the information and pass it along to potential buyers as an "opinion" they feel obligated to share in the interest of "No surprises"... or research what you've told them and adjust their price accordingly.

The forum I was referring to is called "Snipers Hide". It's a forum dedicated to "long-range Precision Tactical Shooting" (mostly bolt action rifles). There is a "for sale" section where members sell or trade items (not just guns). That's where the sword was for sale. If someone on this forum was selling something other than a sword and I knew they were incorrect about it, I would do the same thing. Oh, one other thing. My information was PM'd (Private Message) to the seller. Not blurted out on the open forum. John

Let me make sure this is clear also. On the original post I never mentioned auctions. Only other sites that had Japanese sword "for sale". There's a huge difference!

All I can say is...WOW!!! First, it wasn't an Ebay auction. It was a member of a Sniper forum that was posting things for sale. Not an auction at all. The seller wanted $350 for something that wasn't worth that much because it was fake. I was trying to keep a fellow forum member from making a mistake that would damage his reputation. Second, I believe in sharing information if I have correct information on something incorrectly represented. I have only EVER done this on OVER-PRICED items. On under-priced items I have the same attitude as the rest of you... BUY IT!!! Or bid on it. But don't ruin it for someone else! Just thought I needed to clear that up...

I'd like opinions from the REAL experts here on this... Any time I see a Japanese sword on another site or for sale somewhere I always like to look at it and express my opinions whether I'm interested or not. Today I was looking on Snipers Hide for a new stock for one of my rifles. Someone there was selling his Damascus Bowie collection and a Japanese Sword. Of course, I had to take a look at the sword. Based on what I've seen and learned the sword is most likely a Chinese reproduction. I'm including 2 of the pictures from the ad to get opinions from... If I'm wrong in determining this is a fake can someone enlighten me? I PM'd the seller to tell him he may be misrepresenting the sword and of course, he got mad... Explained to me in no uncertain terms that I didn't know what I was talking about and he had several "experts" authenticate it for him before he sold it. Why do I even bother...

Well Happy Days! The guy from Belgium just paid me! His sword is shipping tomorrow! But to answer your question Grey... I'm just not comfortable with the Customs paperwork and the laws regarding what you can and can't ship to foreign countries. I end up having to do the research after the sale which postpones shipping. Besides, tanto-katana2008 put a bad taste in my mouth about it. Anyway, all is well! Thanks for the input guys!

OK... Nothing against the guys from countries other than the U.S. here on NMB, because I've had nothing but great experiences... but what goes with Ebay! I've listed the same WWII sword twice now and I'm running into a recurring problem. These guys from other countries are winning auctions in which I had plainly stated: "No Foreign Bidders"! The first guy was from Taiwan and his ebay name is "tanto-katana2008" (just so you'll all know to block him). He won the auction and then stopped emailing or responding to my emails... Never paid! The second winner just won it last night so I'll at least give him a chance to email me and pay for it before I get too upset. He's from Belgium. I did have one bidder from France at least ask if it was OK to bid. There's no way of knowing where a bidder is from until the end of the auction when a "ship-to" address gets emailed to you. What do you do? I guess I'm just venting here but it's pretty frustrating. Anybody else had this problem? Is there a "fix"... besides not using ebay? Thanks in advance! John

Sorry if the title is offensive but I'm hoping for a little help here... Or to be put in my place. There's an auction on Ebay #250534769641. The seller is claiming it's a Shin-Shinto Blade with a Military Acceptance Stamp (Showa). I tried to inform the seller that if it has a Showa Stamp it couldn't possibly be a Shin-Shinto Blade because they only put a Showa Stamp on a "Showa-to" blade. His claim is that they stamped older blades that were re-mounted and accepted by the military for use during the War. My research indicates that's wrong. What's the real story. This guy is starting to tick me off because he's basically called me "stupid". I thought I was just trying to help someone who was mis-informed.... OR am I wrong. Thanks in advance... John

Granted... I'm not one of the knowledgeable people here but I've looked at "tired" blades and I don't think the actual blade has an issue unless it's extremely thin in the area in question. In which case it may be Shintetsu, And if it runs to the edge considered a Fatal Flaw. I think it has been polished improperly and therefore the Hamon has been obscured by someone just "shining" the blade. The reason I say this... and someone please correct me if I'm wrong... is because the width of the blade looks good. Not like it's been polished down. You just can't see how "thick" it is in the area in question. My $0.02... FWIW John

Hi, Got your PM. That looks nicer than anything I have! What, if any, kind of mountings was it in? I see you have a Tsuba, Habaki and Fuchi. Do you have the rest? If you need mountings I know a guy named Wally Hostetter (you can look him up online by his name) that does a pretty good job with mounting Swords. I've personally seen his work and it looks Great to me but I'm very new at all this so my opinion is just that... my opinion! My swords have all been found for under $1000 but keep in mind, yours is A LOT nicer from what I see in your pics. Congrats! John

Once again, thank you for the quick translation Grey... and John Interesting that the number painted on the blade is "862" because on the Fuchi and the Lock on this sword is stamped the number "1862". I guess that's how they knew what parts go with what blade. I can't find numbers on any other parts. Thanks again! John

This is a WWII Sword I just got and I'm still not able to read the Kanji on these things! I'd really appreciate someone translating it for me. The pics are out of focus because I'm still having trouble with my camera but I think you can see it well enough. If not, I'll try to take better pics. The Sword appears to be a Machine-Made Blade but I can't tell. I just know I can't see a Hamon. In one of the pics you can see a very small (Seki?) Stamp above and to the left. There is also painted Kanji. I'm sorry I'm such a knuckle-head! Thanks! John

I'm a Newb but I have read quite a bit about WWII Swords and I'd have to agree "fake". Here's why: From what I've read the Tsubas that were cut-out like yours were a more expensive "upgrade" so it would be logical to assume they would be of a little better quality and finish. Yours looks to be of lower quality and lesser finish (no offense). Also, I had a sword with a Tsuba that was cut-out and as I recall it was very nicely made. The Sword had a Muromachi Era "Family" blade and a nice Mon on the Menuki. FWIW

Hi everyone, I'm relatively new to Japanese swords but I'm learning as much as I can. I've recently acquired a couple of WWII Swords and I'm curious about the polish on them. Did the WWII Swordsmiths do the type of polish job on them that brings out the Hada and Hamon? It appears that they polished some of them to just a bright shine throughout. Perhaps this is an indication of a non-folded blade. I'd like to know for sure and there's a lot of conflicting information out there about these swords for 2 reasons: First, They're not considered all that collectable by the Japanese Sword "Elite" (with good reason), and second, because the Japanese consider them "weapons" so there's little information coming out of Japan (from what I've read). One of mine has a nice active Hamon but Muji-Hada. The other also has Muji-Hada but the Hamon is... "different". Instead of looking "milky", like and "art-sword" or my other WWII sword, it looks more glossy or shiney near the edge (Actually like I would expect a harder steel to look if it were polished the same as the rest of the blade). I already have pics of one of them posted on an earlier post of mine. I just got the other so pics are coming. Also, the most recent one has some staining and a very light layer of surface rust near the Kissaki. Is there a way to clean it?... Without ruining it?... and without having someone put a $1500 polish job on a $500 sword?! As always thanks in advance!!! John

All Great information! Many thanks again for helping out a Newbie! John

That's Great information! Thanks! An earlier response stated the sword was made in Mino. Are Seki and Mino the same place? Or is one possibly a... for lack of a better term... "suburb" of the other? I'm trying to learn as much as I can about the WWII blades because there seems to be TONS of information out there!