Interesting type 98 from reddit

[ribendao]

This sword popped up on Reddit today.

Looks like a type 98 but with a traditional Chinese inscription on the blade.

 

Never really seen anything like it before. Does it look significant to any of you all?

 

[GeorgeLuucas]

Unfortunately this looks like a Chinese fake to me

Edited October 18, 2023 by GeorgeLuucas
Looks like*

[ribendao]

10 minutes ago, GeorgeLuucas said:

Unfortunately this looks like a Chinese fake to me

Thought it looked questionable but the inscription seemed so specific.

[John C]

Agree with it being unauthentic. Acid etched hamon; civil tsuka.

 

John C,

[Bruce Pennington]

maybe @xiayang or @BANGBANGSAN can confirm, but I doubt it's Japanese.

[xiayang]

The inscription is indeed Chinese.

 

河北省燕京道尹李少微持赠 = presented by Li Shaowei, Daoyin (title of an official in the Republic of China) at Yanjing (an old name for Beijing) in Hebei province.

 

This reddit thread has more details。

[BANGBANGSAN]

7 hours ago, Bruce Pennington said:

maybe @xiayang or @BANGBANGSAN can confirm, but I doubt it's Japanese.

It should be a sword given to the Chinese police by a puppet government official. However, the sword fittings don't resemble those of a typical Chinese collaboration sword. It's an interesting one.

縣警備隊幹部訓練所畢業第一名獎品  First Place Award for County Police Reserve Officer Training School Graduates

@xiayang covered the other inscription already.

Here is the bio about Lishaowei

李滂(Li Pang)，近代藏書家、學者(modern bibliophile and scholar.)。字少微(Courtesy name-Shao wei)。江西九江人，李盛鐸第十子。幼年承父家教，“性嗜縹緗，舊刻名抄尤所心契”，遇到古籍即喜藏庋，並通讀其父所藏曆代經籍志錄，對歷代藏書故實頗感興趣，早年曾隨父在外購藏、鑑定古籍。精於目錄版本之學，曾著有《千元考》，又應邵瑞彭之聘，在開封主講《近世藏書家概略》，曾説“治校勘目錄之學者，不能不仰資於版本，版本之學重，則藏書家之歷史有不可不知矣”。1934年，任北平國民大學教授，主講《目錄學》課程。1937年，日寇侵華，曾在天津任日偽官員(In 1937, during the Japanese invasion of China, he served as a Japanese puppet official in Tianjin.)其家藏書處曰“鄴亭”，延其父藏書樓名有“木犀軒”。1939年底，不堪日寇炮火及日軍文化販子之侵擾，將“木犀軒”藏書以40萬元出售，由北京大學文學院購藏，部分藏書印有“李滂少微”朱方印。主編有《鄴亭瞥觀錄》稿本，未刊。