Wakizashi with very interesting provenance - seeking translation and information

[dsp]

Hello, this sword is not for sale and any information provided will not be used for commercial purposes. 

 

This sword is the property of my cousin who is the granddaughter of Lt. Col. Paul V. Davis (https://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?/topic/163362-paul-v-davis-us-army-1stsgt-to-lt-col-ww1-kw/)

 

Lt. Col. Davis served in WWI, WWII and Korea.  He served under Gen. MacArthur (post WWII) in occupied Japan.  During the Japanese occupation, he and his wife actually had occasional interaction with the Emperor and the Emperor's wife.

 

At some point during his service in occupied Japan, Lt. Col. Davis had a Japanese official help him select a sword.  This sword was recommended to Lt. Col. Davis with the comment that "it had the blood of a young samurai still on its blade".

 

Based upon Lt. Col. Davis' position and rank in occupied Japan and his association with high ranking Japanese officials, I suspect that he would have had access to some very high end swords.

I have a fascination with Japanese swords and when my cousin showed this sword to me, I asked her permission to post photos and seek any information that can be provided regarding its age, rarity and....is it really possible that the blade has samurai blood on it?

 

My cousin is not interested in selling this sword but has agreed to allow me to post photos and obtain any information that can be provided by the members here.

 

I assumed that this sword and its provenance would be of interest to the members here who have been quite helpful and informative when I posted my first inquiry regarding a Shin Gunto

 

These photos are not the highest quality. If there is interest in seeing higher quality photos, I could make arrangements to get better photos.

 

Thanks in advance for any information, translation, and opinions that anyone can provide.

[dsp]

[dsp]

[dsp]

[Rivkin]

Its signed Echizen Yasutsugu. I am one of the worst when it comes to reading Japanese, but the way the signature carved looks very suspicious to me - its not like a stylish signature of this group. And big enough name to be faked.

[PNSSHOGUN]

If he had a large choice of good swords.....he may have got a dud!

[Brian]

Pretty sure you can disregard the story about Samurai blood being on it. That has never been a desirable thing, even in Japan, and would not have been kept that way as it isn't a plus. Also, blood will eat a hole right through steel fairly fast. Given a few years, that blade would have been pitted to hell. And it wouldn't add anythig nowadays too...so the advice would be to clean it off.
Looks to me like old oil or cosmolene. Sword looks nice, but not a treasure. Big names without papers usually indicate gimei. That said, it would be a genuine sword and they probably thought it suitable for him.
I can't see if it's a katana or long wakizashi, try and get that measured.

[Dave R]

Looks like old cosmolene to me as well, G'd knows where these stories originate from!