Japanese WWII Army Samurai Sword

[BBeann08]

I know a little about it from the research I have done. But have no clue how to read the Tang. Pretty cool little piece! With a bullet hole in it!

 

[nhbenz]

Welcome to TreasureNet!
I'm no expert at all, but have researched a fair amount on account of having one of these as well.
That being said my thoughts could be all wrong! To me though, the blade looks like a late war example at best, although I would have expected to see serial number on it in that case. I don't see a discernible temper line, and wonder about the construction of the blade that resulted in the evident damage, where a highly tempered blade would split more along the grain of the metal. There are a few other oddities about just how it is worn...I almost wonder if this was a reproduction that got beaten up to appear battle worn
I hope that isn't the case, and that I am wrong, so hopefully someone more knowledgable will chime in.
There are of course sites that specialize in these if no certain answer arrives here.

 

[BBeann08]

Welcome to TreasureNet!
I'm no expert at all, but have researched a fair amount on account of having one of these as well.
That being said my thoughts could be all wrong! To me though, the blade looks like a late war example at best, although I would have expected to see serial number on it in that case. I don't see a discernible temper line, and wonder about the construction of the blade that resulted in the evident damage, where a highly tempered blade would split more along the grain of the metal. There are a few other oddities about just how it is worn...I almost wonder if this was a reproduction that got beaten up to appear battle worn
I hope that isn't the case, and that I am wrong, so hopefully someone more knowledgable will chime in.
There are of course sites that specialize in these if no certain answer arrives here.

I was looking on another site and they say the reproduction models usually had a aluminum blade? And this one is steel from what I can tell.

 

[johnnyi]

Interesting observations Benz. I have three swords also, but mine are much earlier and I too am no expert on this later stuff. While waiting for a translation of the tang (I refused to spring for the $30 bucks this morning!) , as a generalization I wouldn't be too concerned about lack of visible hamon, as it is sometimes as hard to polish up as it is easy to lose, expecially on something this terribly abused. The way the sword chipped at the point of impact is worth some more detailed pictures though (also ones of the habaki, and the blade edge as it aproaches the habaki). It could be wrapped/folded (layered) and that's what we are seeing, as chipping looks fairly normal on the very edge below. The "bullet hole is very small which is interesting.

 

[nhbenz]

On the pitting shown near the bullet/bite mark; it almost appears that there is plating peeling off, is this so?

 

[SkaBa]

It looks like artificial stress and damage to the blade.

 

[Jason in Enid]

It looks authentic to me. Interesting wall-hanger, but the serious damage makes it pretty worthless as a collectible sword.

 

[bulrush]

Doesn't look like a "real" Samurai sword as those had handles usually wrapped in shagreen (skin of the ray). The handle wrapping looks like cotton. And look at those parallel "wear marks" going across the short way on the blade. That's not normal for use or storage. It looks faked whatever it is.

Also that's a modern machine screw from at least 1940 or later.

 

[BBeann08]

On the pitting shown near the bullet/bite mark; it almost appears that there is plating peeling off, is this so?

I will do a little cleaning on it today and see what I can get out of it.

 

[Jason in Enid]

Doesn't look like a "real" Samurai sword as those had handles usually wrapped in shagreen (skin of the ray). The handle wrapping looks like cotton. And look at those parallel "wear marks" going across the short way on the blade. That's not normal for use or storage. It looks faked whatever it is.

Also that's a modern machine screw from at least 1940 or later.

It does have have the SAME underneath the ITO. You are also assuming that this was cared for by someone who understands blades? This looks like a WW2 war souvenir that probably wasn't well cared for by the soldier who brought it back. A modern machine screw would be understandable on a WW2 issued sword.

 

[NOLA_Ken]

While I am by no means an expert on Japanese swords, I did collect WW2 relics for quite a while. I mainly collected German and American items, but I did get Japanese items occasionally, mainly guns and bayonets..... So, based off of what I know of late war Japanese edged weapons, the sword looks good to me. As the war went on the quality of their weapons went from bad to worse. These swords weren't made by master makers any more, and are really lower quality steel than a lot of the modern flea market souvenir swords out there.

"By 1945, there were numerous "desperation" end of war varieties of shin-gunto being produced both in Japan and in the areas of Japanese occupation. These swords have plain copper, brass or iron mounts, simple wire tassel loops, low grade brown/tan/green ito, and poorly constructed black painted wood saya, some with leather scabbard covers. Swords of this type are all of the poorest quality, made from low grade materials. None have traditionally made blades. They are swords in form only and of interest only as historical artifacts" JAPANESE MILITARY SWORDS - I


Send pics into this site... MilitaryItems.com

They should be able to positively id your sword and give you all the info about it

 

[johnnyi]

I emailed a shot of this tang to my mother in law last night (she is issei) and spoke to her today. She didn't recognize the characters, nor did several of her elderly Japanese friends who looked at this also. It doesn't necessarily mean that these are not legitimate characters on your tang however; as for instance although they are not romanji or hiragana, they could be kanji where the same character can mean different things in Japan or China. Good luck

 

[Red James Cash]

Thats one sad and hurt looking sword.It looks like it staged the Saipan banzai charge by itself

 

[Builds.The.Fire]

The main issue I see with this, is it doesn't look like any of the known 6 Japanese Shin-Gunto swords from WW2, either in the handle, or the scabbard.

Found on this page, these are what Japanese swords manufactured for the Imperial Japanese forces look like:

So I would say, based on that, this is not a WW2 sword whatsoever. Unless you can get it authenticated, it's safe to say it's likely not genuine.

 

[nhbenz]

Those are the varieties of NCO swords, does not include commissioned officer's swords.

 

[Jason in Enid]

Those are the varieties of NCO swords, does not include commissioned officer's swords.

Also does not include family swords which were shortened in either handle, blade, or both to be able to conform to regulations.