What can you tell me about this sword?

[Steve1761]

Hello.  I was wondering what you could tell me about this sword.  I bought it many years ago but know nothing about it.  Many thanks in advance.

[Ganko]

It appears to be a Chinese copy to me.

[vajo]

Its a fake sword. Sorry.

[16k]

I’ll go with my friends there. Looks like a Chinese fake.

[JH Lee]

How to tell the difference between a Chinese fake and a JP fake for tourists?  I only ask bc the carvings of the woman and child are actually aesthetically pleasing to my eye.

[16k]

I think you could hesitate between a tourist piece and a fake, but the numbered habaki is usually a dead giveaway.

[JH Lee]

1 hour ago, 16k said:

I think you could hesitate between a tourist piece and a fake, but the numbered habaki is usually a dead giveaway.

 

Good point.  And I just also noticed the vomit-inducing "hada" next to it.  Ugh.

[16k]

2 hours ago, JH Lee said:

 

Good point.  And I just also noticed the vomit-inducing "hada" next to it.  Ugh.

spotted the number but had missed the acid etched Hada!

[Bruce Pennington]

On 4/24/2021 at 5:32 AM, JH Lee said:

the carvings of the woman and child are actually aesthetically pleasing to my eye.

John,

I agree the art in the carving is really pleasant.  I'm attaching some poor pics of another sword with Damascus steel.  If yours has this steel, like the guys said, it's Chinese.  Some of these are nice enough that I've begun wondering if they weren't made for the tourist market, in China or elsewhere.  Japan had their own tourist pieces in the 1800s.  Also, some of these don't seem to be trying outright to be Japanese.  The ones that are imitating WWII gunto are obviously intended to deceive, but others like this, I wonder if they were simply Chinese tourist pieces that, post-war, get pushed around by dealers and sellers as Japanese.

They are clearly not Japanese at any rate.