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Post by texasnorton on Jan 2, 2013 1:25:48 GMT
Hello I acquired an estate sword at which they reported this to be a captured sword, well what I found out is that if it was captured it was 2 years after the war ended according to the dates of the person who supposedly captured it. But on top of that I don't know anything about samurai swords so below is a link to the sword and the marking on it. I'd appreciate any help I can get. s1072.beta.photobucket.com/user/ ... sort=3&o=0 Thanks Scott
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SanMarc
Senior Forumite
Posts: 3,193
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Post by SanMarc on Jan 2, 2013 1:58:56 GMT
Wellcome to the Board!!
First thing, oil the blade but Do Not Touch the rust on the tang, Some one on here will translate the mei or signature, nice Hamon, Looks like a Late Edo blade in Gunto fittings.....
...Nice Find!!!
....SanMarc.
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Post by RolandDeBalinhard on Jan 2, 2013 23:21:27 GMT
Welcome to the forum. Yeah, I would guess something similar. Some bugger marked up the habaki though, may need fixing up to restore it to its original beauty.
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Post by ineffableone on Jan 3, 2013 3:20:14 GMT
My guess is the tsuka is not original, it looks way to good condition compared to the rest, so I suspect it was rewraped or completely replaced. the ito and same just look too good condition in comparison with the rest, so I suspect this part at least was redone. but this is not necessarily bad.
The rest however looks very good, and likely is what is claimed. Very nice find.
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Post by walkingwolf on Jan 3, 2013 3:21:36 GMT
the marking on the Habaki TRUK (pronounced Chook) is probily a referance to the battle of Truk lagoon Operation Hailstone (known in Japan as トラック島空襲 Torakku-tō Kūshū, lit. "the airstrike on Truk Island") this was a massive naval air and surface attack launched on February 17–18, 1944 so not sure how that matches the 1946 date? maybe the guy was a member of J-force that occupied Japan from 1946-48 that would make the 1946 date make sense.. PS I really like the sword
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Post by Lee Bray on Jan 3, 2013 4:10:12 GMT
I couldn't do much with the translation - Seki Ju something something something Saku. Meaning a resident of Seki city(in Mino province) made this. But I can't read the chippy style of carving for the smith's name. The smith's name is the second to last two; it could read ToshiHaru or ToshiNobu but I'm very unsure of that, and it could quite easily read something else. The third kanji could be a title. The chippy carving style and that the signature starts with Seki could mean that is a non-traditionally made blade made in the war time era. Not necessarily, but it points that way. The sharp peaks in the hamon with no apparent nie suggest an oil quench, but again that's a pointer, not necessarily the case. Are there any stamps punched into the tang above and to the right of the signature? Impossible to see from the pics. Your best bet for a translation is this site: www.nihontomessageboard.com/
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Post by aussie-rabbit on Jan 3, 2013 16:25:57 GMT
Very nice find indeed - I'd hedge towards a naval officers fittings perhaps on a family or personal blade, although the seki stamp is regional rather than a "showato" mark in my opinion.
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Post by ninjedi on Jan 3, 2013 19:06:54 GMT
extremely impressive!
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Post by william m on Jan 3, 2013 22:29:00 GMT
Hey, This is a KAI gunto sword. Not "samurai" but a naval officers sword. Pretty easy to ID as they pretty much all had the Japanese flag style sunburst tsuba and a tsuka with black same. An example: www.japanesesword.com/Images/Swo ... _by_ma.htm
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Post by texasnorton on Jan 6, 2013 13:39:15 GMT
No other markings other than those pictured. What kind of oil do you use on these? I do not want to mess anything up.
Thanks Scott
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SanMarc
Senior Forumite
Posts: 3,193
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Post by SanMarc on Jan 8, 2013 20:37:32 GMT
Minaral oil is fine or three in one sewing machine oil...
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