A bit of help on this Katana please

[Chriso]

G'day all, I had a call he other day from a woman who mentioned that her father had brought back a Japanese sword from Timor after the last war and it had been in the garage and untouched since then. I've posted some pics over this and the next post and I would value an opinion. Please excuse the quality of the pics as I only had one shot at them.

 

Up front my thoughts are that it may be a sword that found its way to the native population, and as such has been substantially repaired as it has possibly been used as a work tool.

 

I was unable to remove the Tsuka as I couldn't drive out the Mekugi and was not in a position to force the issue with the owner present.

 

The sword is of average length and the blade is quite rusty. There is no sign of a Hamon or any forging floors that i could see.

 

The Tsuka has a snake skin strip along either side, with no additional covering. While the binding looks professionally done and the Menuki seem to be home made from brass.

 

The Saya is wood, in reasonable condition and is covered in leather which looks to be original and the same as many Gunto.

 

As you can see from the pics there is no Fuchi and the Kashira is definitely an add on.

 

The Tsuba seems to have had a number of small holes which have been filled.

 

That is about all the info that i have at the moment.

 

Many thanks

 

Chris O

[Chriso]

Just some additional photo's

 

Chris O

[nagamaki - Franco]

Hi,

 

Purely guessing here that it's a 'Timor special' all right! Partial kidding aside, it looks (to me) like something someone may have put together in the field from scrounged bits and pieces I'm afraid.

[zuiho]

In Fuller and Gregory's book on Japanese Military swords the existence of "ersatz" swords during WW2

is mentioned. These were described as having machine made blades often glued into the tsuka. Possibly for emergency use late in the war, the poor workmanship untypical of the Japanese makes it as likely they were native-made souvenirs to be sold to unsuspecting Allied servicemen.

 

Bill G.

[Chriso]

Franco and Bill,

Thanks for your reply. I agree totally with your appraisal, there are a lot of less than interesting swords, knives and even guns that have come from Timor over the years and I guess this is just another one of them.

 

best wishes and thanks

 

Chris O

[Hermes]

Looks Chinese to me, if it was mine i would use a brass rod on the Mekugi and then a wood steak to drive out the blade, then we can be sure if it was made in China or not IMO.

[Chriso]

Thanks for the input James, I've emailed the owner suggesting that we take the Mekugi out and see if the tsuka will come off without effort. I'm reluctant to force the issue in case I do damage to a piece that the owner cherishes. The other option is to leave it altogether but I don't think I could bare not knowing????

 

Chris O