My bil has a sword that his father brought back from WWII and he is trying to identify its history. Can anyone help with this or point me in the right direction. Thanks.

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Looks like a WW2 era mass produced blade but I am far form an expert. My knowledge comes from the research I did trying to date my own WW2 bring backs. One of them was a 1920s sword that looks very much like yours, the other dated from the early 1500s and had makers marks under the hand. Google "Nihonto" and look for nihonto collectors in your area. I must have had a half dozen dealers tell me my 16th century wakazashi was "only worth about $800" then try to buy it from me. Finally a japanese blade expert allied with the Walters Art Gallery gave me an accurate date and an insurance value of $12k.

Be very careful and get multiple opinions.

Thanks

check out
http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/

same place as nihontomessageboard.com/

Or try swordforum

You may also try and ask Fred Lohman at http://japanese-swords.com/ if he can point you in the right direction for a translation.

Furthermore, You can look and see when the next NBTHK  grading will be conducted in an area near you.  Some on this forum have had this done. DK-Prof comes to mind, IIRC.

This is what I came up with in my fledgling attempt.

From the first picture.
first two kanji
http://jisho.org/search/%E5%85%83%E6%B2%BB
Genji Era (1864 - 1865)


from second picture:

http://jisho.org/search/%E5%A4%A7%E6%9D%91
O mura

looks like http://jisho.org/search/%E5%A4%A7%E6%9D%91%E8%97%A9
Omura Domain

(although the third character doesn't look like the one for "domain" it is fairly close.)


the Genji Era of 1864, in the month... of the Omura domain...  

ETA: had some more details, dubious at best.  Fairly certain about the time period.  Have it checked out. It has some inherent value as it is not a new blade (no armory stamp, no serial numbers). Definitely an "antique."