Blade Length saya length ?

[karatekutya]

Hi All !

just have question about ww2 gunto swords, met several times   that the sword itself was much smaller than the saya, for example 19 *inch nagasa in a much longer saya, what was the reason? , keep a wakizashi size blade in a big katana size saya ? all of this blades was family blades? cause arsenal blades was "normal" sizes 

[Bruce Pennington]

Part of our close culture here at NMB involves talking to real people.  Site rules require a real first name in your profile.  Forgive me if your real name is Karatekutya, though!  Ha!

[karatekutya]

2 hours ago, Bruce Pennington said:

Part of our close culture here at NMB involves talking to real people.  Site rules require a real first name in your profile.  Forgive me if your real name is Karatekutya, though!  Ha!

Thank You  Bruce! 

 

my profile is edited 👌🏻

 

Regards

[Bruce Pennington]

Hi Christopher!

 

Sounds like you are looking at a particular sword?  Or are you talking of that style in general?

 

I have seen a couple like what you describe.  They are not common.  I think what you suggested is likely the reason - a guy has a family sword and he puts it in a standard set of fittings, either doing it himself or having a shop do it for him.  Probably cheaper than paying for custom fittings.  But I'm just speculating as I've never read anything official on the practice.

 

Others may have more ideas.

[Brian]

Most I have seen have had an antique wakizashi blade in a full length standard Gunto saya. More chance it will fit, and much cheaper...plus you get to look like you are carrying a full Shin Gunto.

[GeorgeLuucas]

I have a prime example of what you’re describing. A technically wakizashi sized blade, in a katana size saya. It’s likely a muromachi blade, in type 98 fittings. It’s also been speculated that the saya may not be original to the blade

 

(Not my photo, photo from the seller I got it from) Id get a better photo, but I’m at work right now. 
 

[karatekutya]

Thanks all of you , as i know was three variant ?! 

1 Arsenal Machine blade 

2 Military Swordsmith

3 and Family blade taken to the war 

 

actually now im talking about a blade ( saw online store but its gone now) 19inch Wakizashi blade in a 24-25 inch Saya 

32 minutes ago, Brian said:

Most I have seen have had an antique wakizashi blade in a full length standard Gunto saya. More chance it will fit, and much cheaper...plus you get to look like you are carrying a full Shin Gunto.

 

1 hour ago, Bruce Pennington said:

Hi Wertheim!

 

Sounds like you are looking at a particular sword?  Or are you talking of that style in general?

 

I have seen a couple like what you describe.  They are not common.  I think what you suggested is likely the reason - a guy has a family sword and he puts it in a standard set of fittings, either doing it himself or having a shop do it for him.  Probably cheaper than paying for custom fittings.  But I'm just speculating as I've never read anything official on the practice.

 

Others may have more ideas.

 

1 hour ago, Bruce Pennington said:

Hi Wertheim!

 

Sounds like you are looking at a particular sword?  Or are you talking of that style in general?

 

I have seen a couple like what you describe.  They are not common.  I think what you suggested is likely the reason - a guy has a family sword and he puts it in a standard set of fittings, either doing it himself or having a shop do it for him.  Probably cheaper than paying for custom fittings.  But I'm just speculating as I've never read anything official on the practice.

 

Others may have more ideas.

 

[Bruce Pennington]

2 hours ago, karatekutya said:

Thanks all of you , as i know was three variant ?! 

1 Arsenal Machine blade 

2 Military Swordsmith

3 and Family blade taken to the war 

That is a very condensed way to summarize it.  But it's more complicated than that.

 

1. Arsenal Machine blade: These were NCO Type 95s that didn't have a named smith making them.  Also in this category were the zoheito, similar in manufactuing process and Murata-to; but even with zoheito, I have several on file made, and signed, by Kanemasa

2.  Military Swordsmith:  Some smiths worked directly for Arsenal-run shops, but most did not.  Most Officer swords were made by swordsmiths all over the country, who sold their swords to Arsenals, but also sold them to the private market.  In this category you also have two types of blade - the traditionally-made blade and the non-traditionally made.  There are roughly 9 different ways those were made:

 

 

3. Family swords taken to war:  Not much extra on this one, except to say that private/old swords were sometimes brought to war by the family member; private swords were bought by the commercial sword industry and fitted for sale in military fittings; private swords were donated and sold directly to the military during big drives to gather family swords due to shortages in production.

[karatekutya]

Thank You Bruce !

 

Very informative