Type 32 Gunto

[Grady Younkin]

Hello I have what I believe is a Type 32 Gunto and I bought it at an auction. Wanted to have some different perspectives on it as I don't know what to think if it's real or not. The scabbard makes me think it's not WW2 but not sure. I was told it was an artillery officer's sword even though it's a calvary sword. Also there is symbols on the hand guard and the serial numbers match. Haven't looked at the tang yet. If I should, what would the process of me looking at the tang be?

[Conway S]

Hello Grady, 

 

Your sword looks fine from the photos you posted. The scabbard originally would have been blackened steel. Maybe take a better picture of the stampings on outside of the bowl so someone can tell you if it is dated. There are two variants of this sword. They look similar but are of different lengths. Not advisable to disassemble the handle to view the tang. Nothing of importance to see as it is a machine-made blade. It might not go back together nicely either. See the below link for more information. 

 

Conway 

 

http://ohmura-study.net/962.html

[Grady Younkin]

48 minutes ago, Conway S said:

Hello Grady, 

 

Your sword looks fine from the photos you posted. The scabbard originally would have been blackened steel. Maybe take a better picture of the stampings on outside of the bowl so someone can tell you if it is dated. There are two variants of this sword. They look similar but are of different lengths. Not advisable to disassemble the handle to view the tang. Nothing of importance to see as it is a machine-made blade. It might not go back together nicely either. See the below link for more information. 

 

Conway 

 

http://ohmura-study.net/962.html

Thank you for getting back to me. My blade is 32 3/4 so it should be a Ko but this seems to be the best picture I can get it. Looks like I have the four cannonball arsenal stamp from the tokyo arsenal factory (former artillery factory) or kokura arsenal. I'm leaning more towards kokura arsenal as the second stamp on the left looks like 小 (ko) for the kokura army arsenal supervisory section. The second one I have no idea. Thanks for responding. Hope to hear back. 

[John C]

I think Noah @Bridges may be able to help you identify this.

John C.

[Conway S]

The last character is probably just the sword inspector's name. Glad the link was useful. In the link, did you see the pictures of the tang to satisfy your curiosity? If the sword was dated it would be just above the other stamps. 

 

Conway

[Bruce Pennington]

The Type 32 began in 1899, so they clearly were a pre-WWII sword.  However they were still manufactured until 1935 (working from memory), and carried throughout the war.

 

2 models

Ko - Cavalry, 39" long overall with scabbard

Otsu - Artillery, etc, 36" long

 

Looks legit from the pics.

[Kiipu]

19 hours ago, Conway S said:

The scabbard originally would have been blackened steel.

 

The scabbards left the factory in the white.  It was not until much later that they started blueing them during overhauls.  The sword in the OP was made during the Meiji era by Tōkyō Artillery Arsenal.

 

Grady, is the scabbard bare metal or is it chromed/nickeled?

[Grady Younkin]

Yes, the scabbard is chrome nickel plated. 

 

Grady

[Grady Younkin]

On 4/2/2023 at 4:47 PM, Kiipu said:

 

The scabbards left the factory in the white.  It was not until much later that they started blueing them during overhauls.  The sword in the OP was made during the Meiji era by Tōkyō Artillery Arsenal.

 

Grady, is the scabbard bare metal or is it chromed/nickeled?

Sorry it didn't reply for some reason. Yes the scabbard is a chrome nickel plating. 

 

Grady