Signed Japanese officer's sword

[mvmhm]

One of the local cops told me last week he had a Japanese sword he'd bring in, and true to his word, brought this in first thing this morning. He said his Grandmother had had it since WWII (maybe his uncles bring back)...it sat on top of a bookshelf for as long as he can remember. At some point in time, he said his Dad painted the scabbard black because it had some rust on it. The overall length of the sword is 37 1/2 inches. Upon closer inspection, the fittings on the handle and scabbard appear to have originally been black( or blackened on the sword). The tsuba and menuki are plain as is the pommel cap. The scabbard has a tiny chip near the bottom that shows it had a mustard brown/green finish to the body. I scaped a small flake off with my thumbnail to see if maybe the original finish was there, but no joy in Mudville...looks like it was sanded prior to repainting. The blade was pretty grimy, but after I wiped it down I could see a uniform width temper line the length of the blade..always an indicator there's more than meets the eye. I took the handle off and sure enough, it's signed on both sides, along with a small stamped character and some others painted with red paint. Also the grip wrappings haven't been dorked with.

 

 

Mark sends

[mvmhm]

...fittings....

[mvmhm]

One side of the tang....I think this might have been cut down because the front "peg" has been replaced with a blackened machine screw that closely matches the fittings...the rear peg hole had a piece of bamboo in it, bit it doesn't go all the way through because it doesn't have a corresponding hole in the tang.

[mvmhm]

The other side of the tang...note the small stamped character. If anyone has a lead to someone who can translate or date this blade, that would be groovy! Bruce said he also has a German sword of some type and a 1918 dated Luger he wants to bring in, so there might be some mroe goodies coming....

 

 

Mark sends

[Torch03]

Japanese pattern Type 3 (Type 43/44) IJA Army Officers Shin Gunto Sword. Machine screw is correct on this sword.

[KASTAUFFER]

Very late war sword, with a very lade war blade.

 

Kurt

[mvmhm]

Learn something new every day! I always assumed that the signed blades were old ones....

 

 

Mark sends

[automatic]

That thing is bada$$! Thanks for posting!

[mvmhm]

If I'm reading the date correctly, it looks like it was made in March 1945....having a heck of a time trying to find the sword smith though.

 

 

 

Mark sends

[tank destroyer]

Mark, sad that the scabbard was painted, but it is a late time blade. The plus side is that the very late war blades/sword are sought after buy military collectors and the blade is the good condition, that is a plus. Marty

[mvmhm]

Oh, it's a nice looking sword when you see it in person...I might be able to find a scabbard on the loose at some point in time, and the donor said I could repaint it if I wanted to, but I'll just leave it as is for now. I haven't been able to decipher the swordsmith yet, but I'm beginning to see Kanji in my sleep.....

 

 

Mark sends

[hardheaded]

Nice sword! I don't know anything about them but was wondering if using paint remover would be a good option before finding another scabbard? Just an idea.

[mvmhm]

I scraped a small flake of paint off and it was bare metal underneath, so I think he sanded it before repainting..I'm going to leave it as-is for now.

 

 

Mark sends

[Ronny67]

If you ever have the desire (or money) you could have the blade professionally polished.