ww11 Japanese Sword

[lew07]

A friend recently purchased this at a local car boot sale.Could I please ask members of the forum for their opinions? Is the blade considerably older?
Many ThanksAttachment 329215Attachment 329216

[SteveR]

It appears to be a WWII production sword.
It would be nice to see the complete sword especially the blade.

[BOB COLEMAN]

In order to read the kanji on the tang of the blade, it needs to be clearly photographed in proper order. presently, you have the kanji sideways which is very difficult to read as the picture is also not sharp. The kanji is read from top to bottom. The top is towards the cutting edge and the bottom is the end of the tang. As Steve mentioned good photos of the blade will help. Please also measure the cutting edge length of the blade. There is enough information on the tang if you give me good photos that are not sideways or upside down.

[lew07]

Thanks Guys. Will try and get more sharper pictures of the tang.

[Alan M]

Wow , that`s a nice find at a car boot !! , how much did your pal give for it Lew ? It`s authentic WW11 era .

[lew07]

Thanks Alan. He will take great comfort from Your words! I think He parted with about 400 Pounds for it.It was filthy and looked like it had spent the last 70 years or so gathering dust in an umberella stand!I hope to get some better photos off of him soon to show You all!

[lew07]

Attachment 331163Attachment 331164Well Guys here are some more photos.I can tell You all this blade is thick, heavy and much more curved than My factory made blade (See photos).The distance from the tsuba to the point of the blade is 67.5 cms.

[BOB COLEMAN]

The signature is "Seki Ju Okada Kaneyoshi." Kaneyoshi is a war era swordsmith living in Seki City, the center of swordmaking for the Japanese military.

[lew07]

Thank You Bob.Most helpful of You.I notice a big difference between the two swords when You examine them.Im also starting to see why people such as Yourself have devoted much of Your time studying Japanese swords