Help Identify Sword

[mpjbay]

Hello, 

 

My brother gave me a sword to identify. I have no idea if it is a military sword or some other kind of sword. Can someone please help me identify it?

 

All photos are here http://www.ravepreservationproject.com/SSE/Sword

 

[Bruce Pennington]

Mpjbay,

 

It usually doesn't take this long to get replies on swords. I've waited a bit myself because I'm not really sure what to think about this item.

 

The blade, at first glance, looks like something really old. But when I zoom in on the old patina on the tang, it has the appearance of something baked on, with bubble-holes. The blade shape seems right, but I'm bothered by the multiple diagonal file-like lines along the blade. There are spots on the blades where there are swirls, like Damascus steel. Damascus steel is popular with the Chinese reproductions, and was never used in Japan for war blades. It almost seems as if the manufacturere intentionally filed and sanded and scraped the surface to hide/mask the Damascus swirls. I will say that I'm not expert on the old swords prior to WWII, so I COULD be wrong, and wouldn't mind finding out that this is a really old sword!

 

However, the scabbard is, shall I say Freaky! The metal fittings seem quite new, and they are on a bare wooden scabbard - no paint, no finish, and even some factory assembly-style markings on the outside.

 

The crest on the metal fittings is a legitimate Japanese crest that can be found on websites dedicated to family crests, and seem to be well done.

 

Sorry I can't do more for you, but I'm flummoxed by this baby.

[PNSSHOGUN]

Hard to say with that blade so scuffed up and sanded. I do see what looks like Kirikome battle scars. My guess is a late Edo or pre Showa era tourist piece.

 

Or chinese fake. Either way it's pretty beat up.

 

I'd also advise uploading some of the pictures in a post, click on the "More Reply Options" and use the inbuilt uploader.

[vajo]

Looks like a genuine wakizashi blade with a bad history in a strange "not coming from Japan" saya.

Btw. this could by a wartime wakizashi with a leather saya. The mounts are under the leather.

But the saya didn't really fit to the blade. I think this "foreign" made saya is only a protection for the waki blade.

 

I try: 守定作  morisada saku ??

[Brian]

Pointy nakago jiri like that make me think Chinese. But I really don't know on this one. Patina etc looks ok. May just be a poor late Meiji piece. Think it might be real though.
 

[Geraint]

Gentlemen.

 

I suggest that this is a perfectly genuine wakizashi, albeit in poor shape.  The nakago jiri is not uncommon in some schools and the geometry of the nakago, machi etc are all fine.  The koshirae is, I think, one of those late Meiji ones covered in stamped brass plates and smothered in Tokugawa mon, the plates have become detahced and so we are left with the wood saya and some of the fittings.

 

Perhaps Morishige saku?  (Got the last one wrong so don't bank on it.)

 

All the best.

[paul griff]

Hello,

Battered wakizashi blade....albeit genuine... made up as a late Meiji tourist piece would be my guess...!

Regards,

Paul..

[Bruce Pennington]

Thanks guys, glad I was wrong about the blade!