Interesting Kozuka

[Geoff Ward]

Hello All,A friend of mine sent me a photo of a Kozuka with a military motif.The piece features a bird of prey perched atop a flagpole with a rayed rising sun flag.I am hoping to get some help with the Kanji.This is the first military motif piece of this type I have seen??? Regards,Geoff

[Nick Komiya]

Wrong number of rays and gibberish are a bad (fake) combination.

[Geoff Ward]

Thank you very much Nick! I suspected as much as the engraving is quite poor and does not even appear to be a traditional style.The only part that seemed possibly original to the piece would be this engraving but I am skeptical of that as well due to the unusually large size.Any thoughts?

Regards,Geoff

[Geoff Ward]

For reference here is something more representative of quality workmanship!

[Nick Komiya]

That engraving is what I called gibberish.