Help With Identifying My Sword. Ww2 Souvenir. Restore?

[Pyropugs]

Hello,

   My grandfather was in Japan in WW2 and was sold a sword by a local, he bought the sword, his buddy bought a Namboo Pistol. My grandfather after returning to California from the war disassembled the sword and seems to have lost all but the blade. We are still searching trough boxes looking for the handle and such. I have attached pictures of the marking on the tang. It does not seem to be WW2 era and my grandfather thinks he remembers something about edo period being mentioned. My grandfather has since died but my grandmother want to know more about it and was recommended to this forum by a member, Dr. Les Dorfman.     Thanks you for any input 

[SteveM]

The kanji in the far right picture read 越前 - Echizen - which is a province in Japan, corresponding to present day Fukui prefecture.  (The picture is displayed upside-down. The orientation should be rotated 180°). Normally there would be the smith's name underneath his location, but in this sword the smith's name has been lost due to corrosion.

 

The sword has been shortened from its original length, as you can tell by the shortened tang, and the addition of an extra hole above the original hole (mekugi-ana). But it kind of looks like it was already a short sword (wakizashi) to begin with. The writing has the choppy style that is often seen on WW2 blades, but there is not enough for me to say definitively what period this is from. The fact that it was shortened at some point, and the use of the old province name could point to an Edo (or older) blade, but those two things by themselves are insufficient to say for sure, and the choppy writing gives me some doubt. Usually you'd also look at the temper line (hamon), and the hamon area of the tip...so maybe some close ups of these areas would help. 

[Grey Doffin]

Hi Ryan,

This looks like the business end of a broken sword; I think it's too short to have been a wakizashi that was shortened an inch or so.  This is nothing you would want to have restored; it is worth far less than what restoration would cost.

Grey

[Pyropugs]

SteveM Thanks for the info. This what happens when a sword sits in a shed for 50 years. I am happy to have even a small amount of information to build on. The semi restoration of this sword is basically to stop further degradation or simply to make it look a bit better since my Grandmother keeps in in one of her many antique filled glass cases, perhaps just a shirasaya  or something. I dont care about value as it has family history.  Thanks again

[Caleb Mok]

Grey, I totally agree with you, but i'm curious about the funbari, both in the hasaki and the mune.  I suppose that people who convert broken pieces of swords into "ko-wakizashi" are smart enough to fake funbari into them to?

 

Ryan, sorry i'm totally ignorant of US geography and climate, but here in Hong Kong if you don't oil your sword it WILL RUST.  I strongly recommend this regiment:

 

1) wipe the blade with mineral oil and either facial tissue or 3-ply or more toilet paper

2) wait one week

3) wipe again:

-If there's any orange at all, even the slightest, this means that during this period of the year you need to wipe it every week

-if not, go to 4)

4) wait 2 weeks

5) repeat 2), only if there's no orange at all, wait a month this time

6) repeat bi-monthly, quarterly, etc... until you determine how often your blade actually rusts in your region.  

 

***THE GOOD NEWS IS*** in fifty years (lol) if your level of humidity is like that of Japan, your sword will get darker and might enhance the hamon, that is, the ji will patinate and darken more than the ha.  This is basically controlled rusting, and is the working principle of the classic (not modern) sashikomi styled polishing which "takes 50 years to look best".  If your climate is like that in Vancouver where my stuff basically never rusted....it'll take ~longer~

 

My point is, there IS something you can do.  You might not even need the shirasaya.  The beauty of national treasure blades, after all, is uncovered by shirasaya for extended periods.  If you take time to frequently look at this object, (and keep it rust-free) it may add to its value more effectively than a shirasaya

[Grey Doffin]

Caleb,

The type of funbari you're referring to (as oposed to funbari to mean tapering along the length of the blade) never existed on small wakizashi.  What you're seeing is a crude attempt to shape the blade or a rotten polish job.  This would be an excellent sword to walk away from.  Sell it for what you can get and find something much better to appreciate.

Grey