unusual sword question

[john mack]

I took a look at a late war nco sword with wood carved wood grips black hardware today , ive owned 2 in the past but never looked at one like this , it was the same but the tsuba had two half crecsent moon shapes in the tsuba and there was a bit more grinding on the scabbard and hardware then ive seen before , the fellow had capture papers with it , i did not have me camera with me but i will get back to him tomorrow , so my question is i thought i recall seeing one of these on the forum here a couple of years ago but cannot find the thread , it may be a rare varient of the late war ... does my description ring any bells ???

[Stu W]

Hi John,

Might you be referring to something along the line of those at the bottom of this page...

http://www.h4.dion.ne.jp/~t-ohmura/gunto_070.htm


Regards,
Stu

[Stu W]

As to the tsuba...it may have been a replacement civilian version? Just a guess.

Regards,
Stu

[john mack]

Sword

IVE NEER SEEN A REPO OF THIS TYPE , BUT IT MAY BE RARE OR MAY BE FAKE , I AM GOING TO GET A PHOTO OF IT TODAY AND POST IT UP HERE . I APPRECIATE THE HELP SO FAR ON IT GUYS .

[john mack]

Pics 1

Here are pics of the sword , of course late war but ive never owned one like this but i recall seeing the tsuba style like it .

[john mack]

2

2

[john mack]

3

Matching #s

[Stu W]

Hi John,

Thank you for the extra pics. A late war NCO for sure. Those crescent shapes in the tsuba are not anything I've seen before. I wonder if they might have been mis-strikes for where the scabbard lock latch was to go through the tsuba? I can't tell from the photos but if you can rule that in or out we can proceed from there.

Regards,
Stu

[gunto]

That looks like it was done with purpose. But never seen that before.

[Stu W]

I agree, they don't appear to be random shapes and are probably not associated to the latch but it was all I could think of at the time. I wonder if a crescent moon shape has some significance in sword history or possibly one of the religions of the day?

Regards,
Stu

[gunto]

It has been taken apart ,but the "menuki" screws are mounted opposite. Look at the markings on the wood.

[Stu W]

It has been taken apart ,but the "menuki" screws are mounted opposite. Look at the markings on the wood.

Yes, I noticed that. Maybe it was simply to replace a broken tsuba?

Regards,
Stu

[gunto]

Someone has blunt the edge

[john mack]

blade

Thanks for the input guys , the edge is really not as bas as the small area that you are looking at , most of the edge is perfectly fine , the screws appear to be in the standard place that most of these swords seem to have the mounts in the order shown , i do agree that it looks like that one was removed or messed with .Also ive not seen these with black scabbard , and this sword shows little use and wear . it does have bring back papers with it as well . i have a thought that you mentioned about the crecent moon being significant to some thought of belief by the soldier and in my opinion was added by the soldier as a personal piece maybe i am wrong but if we agree it is not a post war rig then i must draw a guessing conclusion .

[john mack]

paperwork

paperwork .