Any help with this blade

[Andrew S]

I recently visited Australia and an aquaintance showed me three Japanese blades captured in WWII. Two were clearly gunto, and in quite poor condition.

This blade has what appears to be a maker's signature on the tang. The fittings and saya seemed more consitant with a gunto, but I was wondering if maybe they were fitted to a Meiji era blade.

Can anyone help me here?

http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h40/strewthbruce/P1060044.jpg

http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h40/strewthbruce/P1060047.jpg

[Andrew S]

A bit of a thread bump, but also a question out of curiosity: is there any quick method for distinguishing a gunto blade from a nihonto blade?

[pgsmith]

Hey Andrew,
To get a translation and some information on the sword in question, I would suggest posting this over on the Nihonto message board (http://www.nihontomessageboard.com/) A number of experienced Japanese sword collectors hang out there and can help you out.

To answer your second question, there are a number of things to look for to distinguish a machine made gunto from a traditionally made nihonto. Rich Stein has a list of things to look for here ... Is It Real? Is It Old? (http://www.japaneseswordindex.com/realold.htm) If you have any interest in Nihonto, his Japanese Sword Guide is a treasure trove of good information ... Dr. Stein's Japanese Sword Guide (http://www.japaneseswordindex.com/nihonto.htm).

[Andrew S]

Many thanks, Paul.

[chris franklin]

Above the signature is a 'Sho' stamp,the first of the two characters that form 'Showa',used on blades that are not traditionally made,this one appears to be signed 'Seki ju Kanesada',made by Kanesada living in Seki and is a product of the Seki gunto workshops.
Swords with a star stamp are traditionally made,forged and water tempered blades by Rikugun Jumei Tosho who were approved swordsmiths,blades with either Seki or Sho stamps are not classed as 'nihonto'.

[Andrew S]

Thanks Chris.
That was helpful.