Durability of Showato/ Gunto blade

[Emil]

I'm trying to find information on how durable the Showa era blades are. I recently bought one that was recommended by the Japanese dealer for tameshigiri, especially due to the thickness of the blade which I was told would prevent bending.

 

After reading a lot online I understand there are many different manufacturing methods used. The Manchurian Railway swords are said to be of excellent quality along with the spring steel blades. The other methods I haven't really found any good sources on their durability.

 

According to the best source I found (ohmura-study.net) 70% of the damages in war were on the handles due to the Gunto fittings. Which I don't really care about since my Showa-to has Uchigatana Koshirae.

 

Interesting to note is that author of Omura-study criticizes the "shinshintō" swords from the late Edo period. Saying that despite their appearance as powerful swords, they were not truly durable or reliable in actual combat. Edo period swords are notoriously corrupt in the way they favored beauty's over practicality in the peaceful Edo period.

 

Either way I don't think I want to scratch my blade with tameshigiri, but there is some psychological satisfaction in knowing if you have a high quality blade or not.

 

[oli]

Nakayama Hakodu (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nakayama_Hakudō) did test and research in Showa Time. He did some Tameshigiri on Yoshichika Blades (some has a stamp). 

Maybe this article http://www.nihontocr...tameshi_Nihonto.html is intressting for you

 

Regards

Oli

[John C]

EL:

This guy here made a world senbongiri record with a WW2 Kanehide.

https://www.facebook...rd/1622327351145714/

 

John C.