Does this civilian waki belong in this naval saya?

[Cuirassier]

Hi

Hopefully Geraint will see this (he commented on the subject a while back).

 

I have bought a civilian waki in a naval kai gunto saya. I am trying to figure out if it was worn like this by an Imperial Japanese naval officer, or if it is a more recent "marriage" (polite term for "composite"). The blade clearly is much shorter than the saya will take, though the says seems much thinner than I would normally expect, so maybe it was made for the blade plus a bit to conform to naval dress codes. There is a tiny amount of movement of the blade within the saya, but rally not much and, as I say, the saya is much slimmer than normal; it certainly appears not to have been made for a full length katana.

 

Trying to get information out of the auction house I bought it from is like blood from a stone, but I bought it as a punt because I liked the fittings / furniture very much, and thought I could always split them if it were a later marriage. At first I thought it was a later marriage, but now (because of the blade throat size of the saya) I am leaning towards it being authentic WW2.

 

Any votes either way?

Cheers

Mark

 

 

 

 

 

[Mark]

i vote for it being put together. I have seen a number of swords like this and have heard from some vets that there would be a pile of swords and a pile of scabbards (why they were spearated i have no idea), and the vet would select a sword and find a scabbard that fit.

 

Try taking a wire (like coat hanger) and slide it down the scabbard and measure how deep it goes, compare that with the blade length, i will bet you find the scabbard was made for a longer blade

[Geraint]

Hi Mark.

 

Mark's tip about the coat hanger wire is a good one but the other is to see if the tsuka and saya line up well when the sword is mounted. Good clean lines here are a clue as mix and match often don't achieve that. If the sword seems right here and the fit is good then chances are it is just what it looks like, a mounted wakizashi fitted with a gunto mount for war. I will attach an image of two swords that both have civilian wakizashi blades in gunto mounts and as you will see both are considerably shorter than the koshirae. I can assure you that both these swords were mounted in this way for war. Neither one has civil mounts as yours does. Whatever the outcome it's a nice find. Enjoy.

 

Cheers.

[nagamaki - Franco]

Comment: keep in mind that when preparing for war the likelyhood of customizing versus standard issue is going to come down on the side of standards. A few years ago I purchased a naval mounted sword that had a just katana length o-suriage Koto sword that was certainly shorter than its saya.

[Cuirassier]

Hi Guys

Thank you very much. The saya is for a longer blade; I do not need a coat hanger to know that. So I am going with my suspicions and will separate them for use elsewhere. The waki I will have a plain saya made. The WW2 naval saya I will keep for when I need one next, or I may sell it on.