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Post by tador on Sept 10, 2015 12:17:23 GMT
I recently found this WWII era Katana at an antique shop and was curious about the inscriptions on the Habaki. I'm no expert but I don't see a lot of characters engraved into other Habakis. A Japanese-speaking friend says the one with the flag says "emperor" and the other is a name but he wasn't familiar with all the characters in the name. Can anyone here read the characters? Along with that, I'm curious about the quality/rarity of this sword. Do you experts see any indication that the sword is anything other than mass-produced? The kid at the shop didn't know anything about the sword and would not allow me to remove the handle to take photos of the tang. I plan to return later in hopes another employee will be there. Thank you for your help!
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Post by tador on Sept 10, 2015 12:18:39 GMT
Sorry for the poor quality and upside down photos.
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Post by MessengerofDarkness on Sept 10, 2015 12:40:13 GMT
Most likely a Chinese-made copy of a shin-gunto - habaki rarely had any engravings on them, and when they did, they were a lot more clean than that. From what I can see of the rest of the sword as well, I doubt is authentic, sorry.
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Post by danmasamori on Sept 10, 2015 14:46:08 GMT
Welcome, this is a pretty standard Chinese fake, the tsuba and fittings are poorly cast, the patina looks forced, in addition, that mei (signature) on the habaki is very poorly done as well.
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Post by Robert in California on Sept 10, 2015 16:30:39 GMT
I have had Japanese guntos....have since sold them when I needed money bad. But somehow I seem to recall the tsukaito (handle wrap) was brown...pics look like black. Also real Japanese guntos tuskaito tended to look tighter wrapped and more worn (more dirt and skin oil soiling) Other than that, hard to tell. RinC
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Post by Robert in California on Sept 10, 2015 16:34:52 GMT
the traditional gunto brass tsuba looks spray painted or otherwise darkened. The seppa looks wrong size for the sword. Can't tell anything about the blade. More blade picks would help. Not a very good example of a Japanese gunto if it is a real Japanese gunto. Hope it is real cheap. I really can not tell if China copy or read Japanese gunto. Sorry...will say though, it is the first gunto I have seen with writing on habaki. RinC
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Post by MOK on Sept 10, 2015 17:24:19 GMT
I too think it's a fake. The proportions are off, the details are off, the materials are off, the patina is off - put short, it has all the hallmarks of an "antiqued" Chinese knockoff as far as I can see.
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Post by LG Martial Arts on Sept 10, 2015 22:28:23 GMT
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