This thing has been in my family since the war. Somewhat distant relative brought it back and the story was always that it was presented to him by a surrendering Japanese man.

He unfortunately never documented anything and it was also stored poorly, like in his garage. That part of the family never documented his history unlike my closer part of my family, which is very sad.

I apologize for the potato pictures.

Its been safely stored in my uncle's safe the last ten years or so after we found it after his death.

The pin comes out easily but the handle does not want to budge. Ive watched a bunch of videos on it and am still afraid to try any harder.

What do you guys think?

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I hope this one goes better than the last one did.

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I honestly expect it to be a replica sold to GIs. But, you never know.

More upset that the side of family never cared about his service. I never met him.

Tagged because these threads can be awesome

Two pins, you need to remove the second one before the grip will move.

ill pull it out and look again but I didnt think I saw one? at least not wood like that one

Bump

Put a teaser in GD and you may bring the guys who know about this stuff out of the woodwork.

Looks legit to me.  Remove handle and look for signature of maker.  Guessing wartime manufacture. Oil tempered blade.  Standard officers fittings for WWII.  Sometimes you will come across older family heirlooms than were refitted into those mounts.  Look at the edge right before it it enters the handle (tsuka) if the last inch or so is not sharpened before it enters the brass piece in front of the guard (tsuba) it indicates that it is probably modern manufacture 1920-1950.

@DK-Prof
He maybe able to help

Japanese swords are attached to the handles with one or two bamboo pins.  After removing the pins the handle can be removed. If handmade, the tang will be usually be singed with 5 or 7 Japanese characters. A stamp such as a star or anchor also would indicate wartime manufacture.

thanks!

I picked this up at a house sale not far from my house. I know the owner was a USMC Officer and a Veteran of WWII and that he did bring it home. I never took the handle off to see if it was signed or not. What I like about mine is the hanging hardware and it has two layers of leather wrapped around the lower end of it. I did show these pictures to an older gentleman at the Allentown Pa Gun Show who had written several books on Samurai Swords. He said it was a Good One!

Sorry about the poor pictures.

Late to this party! Sorry!

So you guys need to take off the handle completely (remove the little wood peg, and dislodge the handle)...and take clear photos of the steel TANG, and any markings on the tang. Remember - The tang is supposed to be dark and unfinished looking. DO NOT TRY TO CLEAN ANYTHING. A light coat of mineral oil to prevent rust is fine. No rust removal!!!

That is really the only way to ID these swords properly.

Oh and if the handle won't budge, even after removing the peg...smack on your wrist harder! It needs a good swift smack to dislodge it, especially if it's stuck on there and has never been removed.

It WILL come off. And it needs to, so you can properly take care of everything in the future.

I love these threads.

@DK_Prof

If the blade is tight in the handle (tsuka), the standard practice to get it out without cutting yourself to ribbons is to hold the sword in your hand, blade up, and make a fist with the other hand and beat on your fist that holds the sword.  That will usually move it.

Sometimes you have to lever it out by inserting a steel pin into one of the peg (mekugi) holes and using a little leverage.

If your story is truthful there's no reason to suspect this blade is a Chinese copy.

It's in pretty good shape but could of course use a polish.

Not much else can be determined until the nakago (tang) is visible.

Rule refresher:  Never clean the tang.  Especially never attempt to remove any rust from it.   Only very loose stuff that would come off anyway should be removed.   If you can't get it off with your toothbrush (nylon bristles) then leave it be.

Same goes for the blade.  Eliminate any thought of wire brushes, files, sandpaper, sharpening stones, etc. from your mind.    Leave it alone.  Leave it for the professionals to address the rust issues.

Put some oil on a cloth and oil that blade.  You probably don't have any clove oil but for purely preservative purposes motor oil is better than nothing.

Now make a decision:  Either you are willing to invest some time and effort in maintaining the sword  (a matter of half an hour every three months is fine if it's stored in an air conditioned environment)  or you are not willing to make that maintenance investment,  in which case you should sell it to someone who will.

If you want to keep it and preserve it to its best possible state,  you'll want to get the blade professionally polished.    David Hohfine (www.swordpolish.com) is one of the best US based polishers and does fine work.

I'm not going to attempt to pass any judgement on the blade itself.  There's just not enough information to go on yet.

It could be anything from a cheap gunto that's not worth much to a valuable ancestral blade mounted in military mounts.

The menuki appears to be standard pattern shingunto menuki.

Playing the odds, you have a gunto which is a mass produced sword that's not worth a lot but even they are getting a little bit more valuable as the rate of sword (re) discoveries has slowed down over recent years.  With a smaller supply, the rule of supply and demand means ANY Japanese sword, even a gunto,  is becoming a bit more valuable.

A few years ago a nice gunto was a 300 dollar sword.    Today, a good example might bring 1000.

it MIGHT be a better blade than that.   But no guarantee.  Let's see the tang.  Both sides, clear pictures, take the time to make sure they're well focused.

While you're at it, make good photos of all parts of the sword including the menuki.  Well focused photos are the only ones  that are useful.

Very interesting thread.  I'm tempted to dig out my Grandpa's 2 bring backs and do a little research.  I've got a mint Arisaka (that he also brought back ) that I'm trying to get into the WWII museum

Digging out grandpa's bringbacks and "doing a little research" is not likely to be very productive.

The practice of Japanese sword recognition, appraisal, attribution, and understanding the related history is something that takes many years to acquire to a level of mere competence.

Rather than try to do a little research,  photograph and describe what you have and present that information to subject matter experts instead.

I'm not one of them.  I know enough to be able to refer you to someone who DOES know more.

I’ve seen a fair amount of cautions in dealing with museums.  Artifacts even just loaned ones have a way of disappearing from storage by employee theft, unauthorized sale by the museums without your knowledge.    Even if you merely plan to loan it to them they sell them out the back door to their buddies.

Have one from my grandfather that is nearly identical.
Unsigned, zero rust on the blade.

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I'm sure that one is an older blade and has been shortened. (suriage.)   It has a fair amount of activity in the hamon and is certainly not junk!

I'd suggest getting that one professionally appraised.

If it appraises well it'd be appropriate to have a new set of (non-military) fittings made for it.

In your last photo, the top sword appears to have the cast aluminum handle (tsuka) that was indicative of "last ditch" production efforts late in the war.  If the blade matches to the tsuka, that one would most likely be of low quality and collectibility.

I've considered having the "real" one examined, but most houses want it shipped and this one belongs to my father who is hesitant to do so
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The other is a standard issued NCO sword, nothing very special about it other than it looks to have seen some use.

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Hmmm...

Could you please post a clear photo of the tsuba (guard) on the NCO sword?

Those are the best I've got right now, it's blank.
What are you looking for?

I have a tsuba that's similar, black iron, fairly crudely made,  with a fine inscribed pattern in it that resembles checkering more than anything else.

I wanted to see if yours is more or less the same.