A mei, a very odd/questionable Nakago, a weird mark and katakana writing.

[waljamada]

Came across this strange nakago. Figured I'd share it here and see what people think. So it has a Mei I can't read (tomo something?) that looks crude, the Nakano shape seems a bit off but not totally wrong, someone wrote something in katakana and there is a strange mark. What do people think? As far as I see the katakana reads "Skyaka Suran" maybe "Suraso" which I have no idea what that means.

[PNSSHOGUN]

Katakana like that are often associated with "Island swords" so perhaps this was made on one of the occupied islands for an officer needing a replacement. The fact it seems to have normal issue Type 98 parts is unusual for these Island Swords as they often are found with theater made Koshirae.

[uwe]

Last two maybe “友広” (Tomohiro)....

[ROKUJURO]

The NAKAGO (Nakano?) does indeed not look like those of standard Japanese production.

[Guido]

  On 5/8/2020 at 8:23 AM, ROKUJURO said:

NAGAGO (Nakano?)

 

Let‘s settle for nakago.

[ROKUJURO]

Sorry!

[waljamada]

My bad, my new phones auto correct fights me when it comes to Japanese words. Had it spelled right 2 outta 3, not the best, not the worst.

 

Interesting about the island swords having katakana on them. I'll see what I can pull up on the history. Another thing with this blade is you can tell the saya is much too long for the blade itself. So could be a post war put together job or like you mentioned a possible mid war emergency replacement by a soldier.

 

Also the punches in the seppa seem a bit crude as well.

[raaay]

Hi Adam

 

from memory an island sword from Sumatra ?

[waljamada]

Raay,

 

Something about that sounds ancient and mystical.

[Bruce Pennington]

Not certain of all these, but my stab at the kana:

 

Shi Ya Fu Ku

Su Fu Ra N

[Kiipu]

Upper Left Column

スマラン = Sumaran = Semarang.  Semarang can refer either to the city 市 or the province 州 in Central Java.

 

Upper Right Column

シャワ ? = shawa ? = Java ?.

 

Works Consulted

Fuller, Richard, and Ron Gregory. Military Swords of Japan, 1868–1945. London, GB: Arms and Armour, 1986. See page 123 for an oshigata.

 

Fuller, Richard, and Ron Gregory. Japanese Military and Civil Swords and Dirks. Charlottesville, Va.: Howell Press, 1997. Page 266.
 

[Kiipu]

Another translation can be found at the link below.

"An Appraisal on Some Japanese Swords Please Sword Number 3"

http://www.warrelics.eu/forum/f216/appraisal-some-Japanese-swords-please-sword-number-3-a-398208-post1117951/#post1117951

[Kiipu]

I am starting to think the last character after Java could be the kanji character 刀 and not the katakana character カ.  Thoughts anyone?

 

"Well, greetings from Indonesia"

http://www.warrelics.eu/forum/f216/well-greetings-indonesia-727429-post1949335/#post1949335

 

"A Javan Second World War Katana"

http://andrewhartleyfinearts.co.uk/hartleys/lot/view/id/276487/

 

Edit: Added a second link to the Hartleys sword.

Edited May 10, 2020 by Kiipu

[SteveM]

Thomas I think you are right. I agree it is intended to be ジャワ刀. The sword cross-linked in post #12 clearly has the dakuten, which make the entire inscription make sense. Adam's sword in the original post in this thread should also be read the same way ジャワ刀　スマラン. The problem with the sword posted by Adam, is that the inscription is so crude (and missing the dakuten) that it feels like it was not carved by a Japanese person. I would be very dubious of the inscription. The sword itself may be a war relic, but the inscription feels like it was intended to deceive. 

 

Side note, the sword cross-linked in post #13 has the exact same inscription, but the poster misidentified the ジャワ刀 as well. 

[Dave R]

  On 5/8/2020 at 12:40 PM, waljamada said:

My bad, my new phones auto correct fights me when it comes to Japanese words. Had it spelled right 2 outta 3, not the best, not the worst.

 

Interesting about the island swords having katakana on them. I'll see what I can pull up on the history. Another thing with this blade is you can tell the saya is much too long for the blade itself. So could be a post war put together job or like you mentioned a possible mid war emergency replacement by a soldier.

 

Also the punches in the seppa seem a bit crude as well.

 

 Can you post a pic' of the kissaki, I think this might be a field O-suriage on a genuine Shin-Gunto.

[waljamada]

Dave,

 

Here is a picture of the kissaki.

[Ganko]

The boshi is not a typical showa period shape, perhaps it is as Dave says, field shortened.

[Dave R]

 Looks better than you usually see on "Island blades", my guess is a quick and dirty Suriage on a genuine blade for one reason or another.