Japanese WW2 Gunto research.

[xxlotus8xx]

Greetings,
I have recently began researching a Gunto I inherited from my grandfather who served in the Marines during the WW2 Pacific campaign. He was in many historical battles including Iwo.
Parts of the Gunto seems to be unique. More specificly the Tsuba. the menuki's and the stamp on the tang. Any help in pulling somne history from these would be great!
If the pictures are to big for uploading they can be found here.

Ray Allen's Photos - Japanese Gunto | Facebook

[mmerc20]

i don't have much time to research it, but the first character looks like "suke" and the last one appears to be a number 9.

Sorry. That doesn't get you much further.

Mike

It's a beautiful sword. The tsuka could stand to be in better condition, but it's not bad. Is there anything written on the tsuba?

[xxlotus8xx]

Thanks Mike. Any help I appreciate.

[mmerc20]

I haven't been a member here for long so I don't know if there are any folks here that are good with translation.

Could you post a clearer picture of the tsuba? I really like the cut out.

Mike

[xxlotus8xx]

Sure I do it when I get home from work.
I thought it was very interesting also. As I mentioned it does not fit any Japanese military issue and really seems very old.
I did get one reply from a post to Military items.com and he said it looks to be an 1800's era sword (at a glance of course).

[Alan M]

Hi Ray , that sword is a wonderful piece of your grandfather`s history and from what i can see is a blade that is certainly pre WW2 , as the aging on the tang testifies . It has not been altered to allow fixture of standard gunto or army mounts and it was carried into battle still with it`s civilian fittings . This is not an unusual occurence and has been seen many times . What i find quite unusual is the ito or wrapping on the tsuka which is normally done with a silk cord , but yours seems to be of a leather strip of some kind that looks to have gone very dry ? When i get more time i will see if i can help with the inscription on the tang . i like your grandfathers sword very much

[xxlotus8xx]

Greetings Al,
Many thanks for your post. No doubt that my granddad was a great man and I'm lucky to be the steward of this part of my family history and memory. I will upload later more detailed pictures of the tang stamp and tsuba. I am also quite curious about the menuki ornaments.
I also have a few signed flags and headband that I am curious about but that will be a different thread...

[Alan M]

Ray , i very much look forward to seeing the flags