Gunto by Kanesada- Translation on Saya please

[BRUNROX]

Greetings ! I have had this Gunto by Okada Kanesada for a while now, with an inscription on the Saya that I would like to ask your help with. According to a tag that came with the sword it was supposedly given to a high ranking officer in Korea in

1954. I would like to verify this info. and at the same time , if it is in fact correct , what would a WWII Gunto be doing in Korea at that time frame ? As always your thoughts and help are much appreciated. Regards, Mario P.

[k morita]

Hi,

The Kanji characters are Chinese.

I guess that it is a sword that a Chinese/Korean presented to a Chinese/Korean.

[Mark]

one part seems to read May 1954 (but not written as a Japanese would)

[cabowen]

one part seems to read May 1954 (but not written as a Japanese would)

 

Actually the date of presentation is September 4, 1954....

[W K Clifford]

the carvings are absolutely Chinese, does not seem to have anything to do with Korea. the sword was most likely confiscated from surrendered Japanese soldiers at the end of the war. In the Revolution Museum in Beijing I have heard that there is a large amount of such swords. I'd like to get my hands on those. No doubt some of them would make Juyo or even higher.

 

白起 (a chinese name) 少校 (major) 留念 (for you as a memorabilia)

 

空軍 （air force）上校 (colonel) 張新亞 (a chinese name) 敬贈 (from me with respect) 一九五四年九月四日 (09/04/1954)

 

so why would a colonel give a major a sword, and with respect! intriguing...

 

can we see the blade please?

[BRUNROX]

Thank you all for your input, I will add pictures of blade later in the evening. If I'm understanding the transalation correctly

the Colonel would be the one who gave the sword , and not the one who received it ?? Pics comming soon. Regards, Mario P.

[W K Clifford]

yeah, perhaps the major saved the life of the colonel or something like that.

[moss]

My 2 cents worth,

 

Without photos of the blade we are only looking at a section of saya that has a very chinese Knockoff colour and some very fresh chinese scratchings

 

Nice clean surrender tag ..... That in itself is priceless

 

Cheers

Moss

[BRUNROX]

Here you go Moss, not sure about your "Surrender tag" comment or the , but here are some more pics. Mario P.

[moss]

Mario,

 

I was playing devils advocate,the tag and scratchings all look so clean.

Is the saya aluminium?

 

My point is that it is impossible to determine much without a full spread of reasonable pictures.

I'm by no means an expert but I've owned a quite a few gunto over the years both showato and nihonto.

 

The cleanliness and style of tag would sound alarm bells thats all I'm getting at.

 

Not having a go at you personally.

 

Cheers

Moss

[BRUNROX]

Hi Moss, the Saya is Aluminum, and very light in weight. Regards, Mario P.