My new Japanese NCO Sword

[TNcollector]

Thanks Tom, Scout, Steve, Jason and Andrew. Tom thanks for the book recommendations. I guess I will start with Jim Dawsons book and keep an eye out on ebay for some of the others. I already have a long want list of shin gunto swords. My grandfather had a Japanese sword he picked up in WWII, he put it in the mail and it never made it home. So I would like to find a similar sword to display with his stuff. I think it was most likely a family sword and may be hard to find and expensive to replace. I showed him my NCO and he said that it was close in length to the one he had and he said the one he had, had stones in the handle like birth stones or rubys. But I have yet to see any thing that looks similar to what he described. Cheers, Robert

[Larry C]

I love these,, Great Pick up Robert!! Larry

[TNcollector]

Thanks Larry! Cheers, Robert

[Stu W]

I'm a bit late to the party but thought I'd comment to the effect that your Type 95 is a fine piece. It's not unusual to come across examples that are not stamped. The fuchi of the earlier models was more conducive to clear stampings whereas the iron versions not so much.

The three references mention are all good. If buying the Dawson book make sure to get the updated Cyclopedia Edition.

Regards,
Stu

[TNcollector]

Thanks Stu, I purchased the Cyclopedia Edition of sword of imperial japan by Jim Dawson it is a great referance and is well worth the money. Cheers, Robert

[BOB COLEMAN]

Thanks Tom, Scout, Steve, Jason and Andrew. Tom thanks for the book recommendations. I guess I will start with Jim Dawsons book and keep an eye out on ebay for some of the others. I already have a long want list of shin gunto swords. My grandfather had a Japanese sword he picked up in WWII, he put it in the mail and it never made it home. So I would like to find a similar sword to display with his stuff. I think it was most likely a family sword and may be hard to find and expensive to replace. I showed him my NCO and he said that it was close in length to the one he had and he said the one he had, had stones in the handle like birth stones or rubys. But I have yet to see any thing that looks similar to what he described. Cheers, Robert

The old jewels in the handle fallacy. Vets talk about them but such a thing never existed. Anyone with any knowledge of samurai culture knows that wearing jewels in a sword tsuka would never have existed due to the serious nature of what a sword was to a samurai. Samurai were a serious lot and not in to primping.

[TNcollector]

Thanks for clearing that up Mr.Coleman, I always thought the sword he described sounded far fetched. It makes me feel better to hear that and knowing the what ever sword he lost was not a national treasure.