WW2 Type 97 Kai-Gunto

[Marcus von W]

Thanks to Bruce Pennington, who identified this sword for me on another site we are members of.

 

An old friend of mine inherited this from her father.  As I remember this sword when it was at her parent's house back in the early 1980's, it had the scabbard, but that seems to have been lost  at some point between then and now.

 

It appears to have a stainless steel blade,  and I believe is very late war manufacture as the mechanism to lock the sword in the scabbard has been deleted, which I recall reading was something that happened around 1945.  

 

 

Looking at this sword, other than the missing scabbard, the main issues I see are the missing Fuchi and the way the Ito is pushed up.

 

Not being experienced with these swords and not wanting to make things worse,  what are options on replacing the missing Fuchi, and  spacing the Ito back where it should be?   The little folded paper Hishigami seem to be mostly present, and I wouldn't want to lose those if possible.

 

Would it be better/economically feasible to have the Ito re-wrapped and tied by someone who knows what they are doing, or would that be more or less a waste of time and money on a lower end sword like this?

 

Is there any possibility of finding a correct scabbard?  Again, with the concern of cost vs. actual value (whatever it is) of the sword?

 

Being a practitioner of Japanese Sanbo Zen Buddhism,   the history and sword culture of Japan has always interested me, as well as my general interest in historical artifacts, militaria, and weaponry that I have had since I was a child.

 

My daughter and I run a small, in-home, no-kill rescue for medium and large dogs, and wolfdogs.  We were recently hit with some very tragic expenses and some unexpected medical bills,  so my friend, who has always been supportive of our rescue,  told me to sell the sword and apply the proceeds to our rescue.

 

So anything I could do to reasonably and honestly preserve  this sword and whatever value it has, including restoring it as closely to it's original/correct configuration if possible, desirable, or acceptable, would be a potential course of action.

 

Please forgive the very poor quality of the photographs, but it's the best I can do with my old and marginal little camera. 

 

 

[Marcus von W]

A few more photos.  There are no markings of any kind on the tang that I could see.

 

 

[Bruce Pennington]

Welcome Marcus!  Crimson Mist Militaria has a Navy fuchi for sale here:  Crimson Mist Military Antiques - SWORD FITTINGS FUCHI KASHIRA - sf307 ww2 Japanese officers sword fuchi (sf307) (cmmilitaryantiques.com)  I don't know how standardized these were, so you might be taking a chance on exact fit.

 

Here's one on ebay: WW2 Japanese Sword, Kai Gunto, Fuchi, Tsuka Fitting, Locking #0101 | eBay

 

A saya will be harder to find, although, occasionally, I see kaigunto koshirae, full set, for sale on ebay.

 

The cost to have your tsuka re-wrapped is about $300.  So, with a wrap, a $50 fuchi, and maybe a $200 saya, you're already into the sword for $550.  Then there's the time to make all that happen.  You might want to consider selling it as-is.

 

Other guys might have some better advice, though, that sell swords regularly like @matthewbrice or @mdiddy.

 

 

[John C]

Marcus:

I don't sell swords, however I buy a lot! I think Bruce is correct. You may consider selling the sword as is since the profit margin after repairs would be about the same.

 

John C.

[Marcus von W]

Yes, thanks,  I agree that it would be best to sell the sword as is to someone better able to restore it, rather than put a bunch of money into it.  

 

It kind of reminds me of when I used to collect Type 99 Arisaka rifles. 

 

Besides all the nice original ones that used to be available at very reasonable prices, I used to encounter a lot of  sporterized or "Bubba" damaged ones, some of which had restoration potential, but  even returning one to shooter/re-enactor grade, much less with correct parts for that manufacturer and series, exceeded the value of the finished piece or a correct original one.  It was not uncommon to see people breaking up nice rifles  to sell the parts on Ebay, as the value of those parts exceeded the value of the intact rifle.

 

 

[Marcus von W]

On 9/24/2023 at 8:04 PM, John C said:

Marcus:

I don't sell swords, however I buy a lot! I think Bruce is correct. You may consider selling the sword as is since the profit margin after repairs would be about the same.

 

John C.

 

Considering condition,  any idea of what would be a reasonable price to ask for this sword?

 

[John C]

PM sent.

 

John C.