Looking for information about a Japanese WWII sword

[mike123456]

Hello everyone.  This is my first time visiting your site, so if I'm posting in the wrong spot or doing anything incorrectly, I apologize in advance! 

 

My Aunt passed away recently and we found this katana along with a good luck flag. They were given to her in the 1940's by her godfather when he returned from serving in the Pacific.
It's about 3 feet long. (12 in ruler for scale) The blade is still in very good shape (sharp, not rusted), and has been greased up with something, I assume to help preserve it.

The handle itself is starting to fall apart and the little piece that keeps it attached has disappeared, even since the pics were taken. There appears to be writing on the tang. It's very difficult to see. I took the best pic I could.

The sheath is not marked in any way.

If anyone has any information about it, it would be most appreciated. My uncle is very curious about it. Can we tell if it was an officer's sword or did it belong to a 'regular' soldier? Is it one of a million made in a factory, or does the writing on the tang suggest something different? Is it worth anything--to a collector or to a museum? Any info at all. I do have access to it, and could provide more pictures if needed.

Thanks very much

[Ray Singer]

Inshu ju Toshizane 

 

https://nihontoclub.com/smiths/TOS353

[Bruce Pennington]

Hello Mike!

Wow, that's a blade made in the mid-1500s brought to the war, re-fitted in Type 94 fittings.  @PNSSHOGUN might correct me on that.  It was a fairly common practice.  Many family blades were brought, or donated, or sold to the military for the war effort.  The brown/blue tassel was used by Company grade officers, Lt's and Capt's.  

 

You can read up on the war swords, with plenty of great examples here:

Army commissioned officers Shin-Guntō 1934 (Type 94 Guntō) (ohmura-study.net)

 

And read about the effort to get family swords for the war here:

https://www.warrelic...blades-gunto-688110/

 

Ray, and others, could give you a more precise value range, but these tend to run $2,400 USD or more, depending on the reputation of the smith.

[mike123456]

Great help! Thanks so much

[Tensho]

The tsuka does not appear to be for this sword. It is not cut out for a Chuso, but the saya and fittings look to be. 

 

How is the tassel attached? I have several civilian mounted tsuka and they're either drilled for a sarute to mount or have a leather "cap" in which a tassel can be attached. 

[Grey Doffin]

Hi Mike,

Here you will find care and handling: https://nbthk-ab2.or...ord-characteristics/

Do not try to fix anything; restoration is best left to those with proper training.

And don't give it to a museum. With rare exceptions, museums are death to Japanese swords.

Have a bunch of questions? feel free to call sometime. Cheers, Grey 218-340-1001 central time

[Michaelr]

Mike J, welcome. You will find many Great People here always ready to help and share. It looks to me that you have a very nice sword that you can be proud of and with some family background. Take your time and , learn ( starting here was a great start)   Read the information provided above by Grey, but DONT attempt to do anything else. Don’t be in any hurry to sell it, in less you just need the money. If it interest you and your uncle start to do some research and enjoy. Just remember Japanese Swords are addictive. Thank you for sharing. Nice sword, enjoy. 
 MikeR

[mike123456]

16 hours ago, Tensho said:

The tsuka does not appear to be for this sword. It is not cut out for a Chuso, but the saya and fittings look to be. 

 

How is the tassel attached? I have several civilian mounted tsuka and they're either drilled for a sarute to mount or have a leather "cap" in which a tassel can be attached. 

 

There is a cap. But it seems to be metal. Definitely not leather.  It looks like the handle's wrapping goes through the cap to keep it on. The tassel is just tied to the wrapping and doesn't go through the cap. 

[mike123456]

Thanks @Grey Doffin and @Michaelr  I appreciate the advice.  We definitely know NOT to do any sort of fixing or restoration!  I will take a look at the links and continue researching.  It's definitely very interesting already!

[Tensho]

Do you have pictures of it all disassembled? Mostly the handle and other parts? It looks completely pieced together to me. 

 

The handle is not for this. The seppa(spacers) have been filed out on one side(picture below)

 

 

 

the "square" holes in the tsuba, seppa and saya are for a Chuso(locking retainer) this fits inside the Tsuka(handle) and locks it to the Saya(scabbard) and the handle should be cutout for this. 

 

I'm not trying to crap all over your sword, just stating that it is not "correct" Its not unheard of for these to have pieced together handles, etc..

[mike123456]

Not taking it as you crapping on the sword at all.  I'm just looking for info, be it good bad or ugly!

 

Here are a couple of pictures of the assembly.  The first one shows the 5 parts that make it up.  The second pic shows it back on the sword.  There must have been spacers in there at some point. The handle is on as far as it can go, and you can see there is a pretty good sized gap in which the assembly just slides up & down freely

[Tensho]

5 hours ago, mike123456 said:

Not taking it as you crapping on the sword at all.  I'm just looking for info, be it good bad or ugly!

Your blade is missing the habaki, I'm positive the tsuba and seppa are not for your blade. They're filed way to far back to fit your blade and you can see the awkward fit once mounted. 

 

The handle may very well be for your blade, but that would make the scabbard not for this either. Chances are he acquired the gunto mounts after the war. 

 

This is what a Gunto tsuka, tsuba and seppa should resemble. 

[mike123456]

Interesting.  Thank you.  This is all good to know.
So let me ask you.  Since it appears that the blade was made in the 16th century, doesn't it make sense that the other pieces do not fit exactly right?  Wouldn't they have to retro-fit contemporary parts to an older blade?

[Bruce Pennington]

First, with a habaki installed, the rest of your fittings will probably fit better.

 

Secondly, I have seen quite a range of fittings on older blades brought to the war. From fully decked out, Type 98, classy fittings, to a variety of mixed civil and military fittings. There are a couple of possibilities with yours. One, is that possibly late in the war a shop with limited fittings, put this together. Another option, as we have all seen, as swords passed through collectors hands over the decades, some pieces are added, or rearranged. A lot of blades came to the United States and other allied countries with parts missing. So collectors will simply add  parts to replace the missing ones. No intent to deceive.  Usually there is no way to know.

[Tensho]

13 hours ago, mike123456 said:

Interesting.  Thank you.  This is all good to know.
So let me ask you.  Since it appears that the blade was made in the 16th century, doesn't it make sense that the other pieces do not fit exactly right?  Wouldn't they have to retro-fit contemporary parts to an older blade?

You aren't wrong.. The problem is in the way the "fitting" of the parts was carried out. Whomever did it did not seem to understand how they're fitted to the nakago(tang). The back of the seppa and tsuba is the only part that was filed. This "pushes" the pieces to far forward and you can see how awkward they look when fully mounted compared to my gunto above. Bothe the front and back should have been filed to fit centered when mounted. 

 

These do come in all sorts of mounts(crude and beautiful)as Bruce has stated, but I have never seen an original bringback completely thrown together like this. Also, the habaki may be gone because the blade wouldn't fit in the saya(sheath) when mounted and got lost at some point? 

 

Actually, here is a tsuba off one of mine, notice the copper inserts(called sekigane) these were added because this tsuba was not intended for the blade its on. Probably what they had on hand at the time and adjusted it fit for the blade.