Japanese sword translation and question

[Bruv]

I picked this up, plus a factory (metal) one, and a mint 3-45 date Nambu type 14 pistol from the son of the bring back vet. I wondered what the tang says. It is only on one side, the other side is blank. I worked for an hour on trying to translate it and only got " made by" recognized. I give up. Also, is it unusual for the wrap not to go all the way to the tang? It looks like it is made that way, no loose dangling ends of the wrap, and is it a basic army sword or what exact kind of sword is it. The metal factory made on has both numbers matching.These may be dumb questions, but I am not that great with Japanese swords. Thanks in advance for any help.
Dave

[Bruv]

next 1

[GHP]

宮口國護作之
Miyaguchi Kunimori saku kore

According to this source, the blade would have been made by Miyaguchi Toshihiro “if the sword contained Western steel or made by one of his students”; in those instances he signed with the pseudonym
國護 Kunimori link

“Miyaguchi Toshihiro” (宮口寿広), real
name Miyaguchi Shigeru (宮口繁), he was born in April 1897 as son of Yonezawa Kanjirō Masatoshi
(米沢勘治郎正寿) in Tōkyō, he and his father were both adopted into the Miyaguchi family, after
the death of his father he continued his studies under Kasama Shigetsugu (笠間繁継), he used the gō
Ikkansai (一貫斎) from August 1916 onwards, in 1934 he entered the Yasukuni forge, special-order blades were signed by him with the name Toshihiro, the larger numbers of blades he made for the Yasukuni forge were signed with his Yasukuni-name Yasuhiro (靖広), blades made with western steel and some made by his students were signed by him with the pseudonym Kunimori (国護),...

—Guy

[BruceP]

Bruy,

Your sword is a Type 97, Navy "Kaigunto" sword. The wrapping has been damaged at some point and re-wrapped. You're right that it should go all the way down. I like the Navy gunto with their gold-gilded (not really gold) fittings and black scabbards and handles (bumpy material is actually stingray skin, laquered black).

Your other sword is a Type 95, NCO gunto. If you post pics of the stamps at the base of the handle, we can tell you the arsenal and maker of the sword.

Always good to see pics of the serial number and blade tip, and while we're at it, pics of the Navy blade as well (some of us have serious addictions to satisfy!!!)

[Bruv]

Thank you both so much for that information. I will take some more pictures and hopefully post later tonight.

[Bruv]

Here are some pictures of the blade and tip. Also, I took a picture of the grip cloth. This shows signs of sweat stains from a person's grip, doesn't it? It isn't a bad job if the grip was rewrapped, is it?

[Bruv]

Factory sword

[Staldion]

Wow, you did very well.

The NCO sword was made by Ijima factory under Tokyo arsenal supervision. And it looks quite l'intérieur like your late nambu. Nice.

Rewarp happends. Each item have it's story. And you cant score mint Japanese item all the time if you don't want us to get mad ! It's no big deal. At least the wrap material is original. You can have a new one made if you want it won't lower the value to much, considering it's light restoration. We have seen worse believe me ... Or just enjoy it this way !

Cheers !

[Luis22]

great swords!

[Luis22]

great swords!

[Stu W]

Nice Type 97 Navy Officer Kai gunto and Type 95 Army NCO Shin gunto swords.

With respect I suggest that is shark skin not ray. Those nodules look very small and uniform in size to me. Anyone else have a thought on that aspect? My eyes are not as young as they once were!

Regards,
Stu

[Stu W]

Just FYI, sometimes wrapping will become compressed and shift laterally. What was once a nicely wrapped section ends up being an inch or more short of it's original length with a corresponding amount of bare wood showing. I've come across several Shin gunto where I was able to work the wrap back into position.

Regards,
Stu

[Bruv]

Thanks Stu for the info and help.

[GHP]

With respect I suggest that is shark skin not ray. Those nodules look very small and uniform in size to me. Anyone else have a thought on that aspect? My eyes are not as young as they once were!

Stu, it looks like the less expensive part of the rayskin to me. When I enlarge the images, the nodules are rayskin- type.

—Guy

[BruceP]

Bruv,

Staldion got you most of the info on your Type 95. The stacked cannon ball stamp is easily confused (Ohmura's site adds to the confusion!). It's the stamp of the Kokura Arsenal, which ran the administration of production for both Tokyo and Nagoya arsenals for several years.

Yours is a Variant 2 or 2a. You can tell by looking at the seppa (spacer) in front of the handguard (tsuba), closest to the scabbard (saya). If it has a hole that the locking clip goes through, it's a version 2. If the hole is open at the top, it's a 2a.

You can read 5 pages about these here:http://ohmura-study.net/957.html