hapchristensen Posted December 3 Report Posted December 3 My grandfather was a Marine during WWII, and he took this off an officer that he defeated. Any help identifying it would be greatly appreciated! The tang is engraved "Take/Taka Hisa" according to an exchange student that translated it for me years ago. I would prefer not to have to take the pommel off again, for fear of damaging it, but if someone thinks that it would help narrow down the results, then I will give it a shot. Thanks in advance! 1 Quote
PNSSHOGUN Posted December 3 Report Posted December 3 Welcome to the forum, Hap. You have a standard Type 98 Shin Gunto, Takehisa generally made non-traditional swords for the war effort. Was there any further detail to where your grandfather was fighting when he acquired it? Quote
Polaria Posted December 3 Report Posted December 3 Standard army officer sword (shin gunto). The blade looks to be in quite a good condition, which is good. Keep the blade lightly oiled and don't touch it with bare hands. All the other parts seem to be there. Did you find the sword tassel somewhere with the sword or maybe tucked away in your grandfathers other stuff? If you find a tassel, even a broken one, it's likely from this sword and you want to keep it with the sword. Also, tassel colors can tell what was the rank of the officer that carried this gunto. Quote
Stephen Posted December 3 Report Posted December 3 Always good to see another Christensen join the fray. Clean shingunto good on Gpa for taking care of it to be passed down. The tsuka is made to come off and on for maintenance, so once you learn the proper procedure you'll have no worries about doing it again. Welcome aboard looking forward to seeing what you have. Quote
Bruce Pennington Posted December 3 Report Posted December 3 Sword Care guide: Japanese Sword Care; Japaneseswordindex.com Removing the tsuka (which is quite easy): How to Remove Tsuka of Japanese Sword Quote
hapchristensen Posted December 4 Author Report Posted December 4 Thank you all for the responses! He was at Saipan & Tinian, then became part of the occupation in Japan. There is not a tassel, unfortunately. I do notice some scratches consistent with repetitive slashing, so it may have been used in actual combat, or possibly as a machete (not sure if that would have actually happened, just a theory), but there aren't any chips, rolls or nicks along the edge. Again, thank you all! Quote
Bruce Pennington Posted December 4 Report Posted December 4 A great place to become familiar with your sword is Ohmura's excellent website. Tons of high quality photos and plenty of history about the WWII sword development. http://ohmura-study.net/900.html 1 Quote
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