Japanese Sword or is it?

[Tombak]

Look how the shinogi-ji changes in photo #3 and #4. Even with a reshaped kissaki the shinogi line wouldn't be half the mihaba at the yokote.
Also, how many Nihonto have you seen in a rattan wrap like this? Also, no mekugi hole in the tsuka?
And yes the kissaki could be reshaped but in my eyes the kissaki looks exactly like the thousands of other Chinese fakes that I have seen.

But please don't take my word for it, post it at the following forum and see what those who are much more knowledgable about these matters say.

Nihonto Message Board:
http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/index.php

P.S. I do apologise for my short and perhaps rude message I previously posted, it was not meant to be that way. Sorry.

Very Well Stated

[Bob Coleman]

Sorry guys but this is a Japanese blade. It is a reshaped polearm known as nagamaki naoshi or naginata naoshi. At some point, it had a poor reshaping of the point. This form of reshaped polearm balde is uaually not found with a yakote. In the early 1600's, many masterless samurai who fought against the Tokugawa left japan as mercenaries to the Philipines working for the Spanish. Of course, they also brought their weaponry with them. The rattan work appears to be Philipino. Likely done there to keep the shirasaya intact.

[Brian Robinson]

Sorry, but I really don't think there is enough info/pics presented to confidently say if this is a fake or not. Unfortunately the one thing that could settle it is the nakago, and that is going to remain a mystery with that rattan binding.
I can see where both James and Bob are coming from. I have seen genuine Nihonto bound during WW2 and after in rattan like that. And I have seen fakes with that kind of kissaki. In the absence of a hamon and hada to examine, no definite conclusion can be made.
My personal feeling is that I don't see either a nagamaki-naoshi or a naginata naoshi here. The convergence at the kissaki is too sharp, and if we assume the kissaki was badly reshaped at some point, then why not assume a fake with the kissaki badly made originally? The tip is unconvincing to me. If it is genuine, then the reshaping was badly done. Geometry is very off, including the shinogo as presented. Even shobuzukuri would have a gentler taper to the tip and in the shinogi line. The remains of a badly polished in yokote is also not correct.
I still think it has a chance of being a badly treated Nihonto, but can't make any real assumptions without seeing hada/hamon/nakago etc.
Btw...that rattan would likely be over a shirasaya, and in that case, the shape is wrong. Too flattened and wide.
It's a mystery, and sorry to add further uncertainty.

Brian