Anyone know anything about this sword?

[Ben@HI]

First before I start I rewraped the handle, when I got it the original wrapping was gone as was much of the skin and the wood was broken in several places and held together with tape with a large piece missing as well as a small piece. I repaired the wood and to keep it from braking again I wrapped it up. I did a very crappy job of wrapping it and am fully aware of this. If this turns out to be something worth fixing I will probably pay a professional to do it right but for the time being it's got a junk handle. On to the sword, the blade is not machine made or at least not just a stampede out blade. I can see a pattern in the blade as well as some delamination on the tang. So it's definitely folded. The sheath and other parts are numbered and match each other. No markings on the blade at all. The sheath is strange, it's nickel plated steel with a wooden insert. From the handle and hardware I would say it's army. Can anyone tell me anything about it? Thanks

[daskrieg]

Looks like my police parade sword. Although my blade tang is marked.

[Ben@HI]

I saw that in the book but it said they have the police flower on them and this one doesn't. I actually couldn't find anything in Dawson's book that matches it.

[SARGE]

From what I can see this sword appears to be a composite assembled from parts. The scabbard is of the style used for the Kyu-gunto. Specifically, the larger early Type 8 and Type 19 Kyu-gunto with the larger (and longer) D guard hilt. Look in Chapter 6 of Dawson's book for examples of these swords and scabbards. Some will be seen with heavier traditional style blades with elongated D guard hilts. One such sword is shown in a 1942 photo of Army Major KASAI Tomejiro as Plate 6-54 on page 81.

 

So, this sword could simply be an Army Shin-gunto that is stuck in an incorrect Kyu-gunto scabbard or they could have been mated during the time of use. Since you have told us that you refurbished the hilt it is hard to tell what is going on. If all these hilt parts have the same assembly number as the scabbard parts I would say the sword may have been refurbished as a composite during the war. But only if the assembly numbers all match.

 

The sword is not a textbook example of either style sword. I don't know how much you have into this sword but without a maker name on the tang or a better blade in better polish I would not personally spend much more on it. IMHO you would wind up with a non-standard sword that you would have to explain to any future buyer.

 

I hope this is helpful.