Eiichi

Tom, Yes, I found it strange that the name on the bag has the name Tashiro Masao, but on the box it says Matsuoka, and the rail card has the name Nakayama Toshiro. It would be interesting to investigate those names, and if I'm lucky, I could find out who this sword originally belonged to. On a side note, despite this sword being a showato and not a true gendaito or nihonto, I would eventually like to have it polished. It has a lot of sentimental value, and I would like to pass it down in the family. Are there any good sword polishers that would entertain the idea of polishing a showato blade?

Here are pictures of the rest of the sword and some of the things that came with it. The last three photos show the box it was shipped in and the sword bag it was stored in. I also have 3 tags the sword came with. They appear to be rail destination cards and baggage claim cards. The baggage claim card reads: "Grandmas translation" Mr. Nakayama Toshiro 1401 Tamachi Mishima City Shizuoka Ken Japan

Thank you, John. I appreciate your quick response.

Hello John, What is the translation in English, and do you know what the stamp means as well? Made by Amahide?

Hello, I'm new to the forum, and I have a gunto that my Grandfather brought back after WWII. I did a bit of research by reading Fuller and Gregory's Military Swords Of Japan and I got a lot of useful information, but not enough to know the back round of my particular sword. I had my Grandmother read the mei on the nakago, and she was able to read it in Japanese, but not translate it into English. I'm nisei, and I don't speak much Japanese. The nakago has a showa stamp at the top portion and a unidentified stamp at the bottom portion. The mei reads: No Myo Seki Ten Shu Saku First 2 characters 3rd and 4th characters 5th and 6th characters unidentified stamp at the bottom of the nakago Please excuse my poor pictures. Thank you in advance for your replies!