Late war Japanese Army Officers sword

[PBaczuk]

Here is a nice example with a signed blade. I added the junior officer tassle.

[Bruce Pennington]

Yes, nice one!
Dated January 1945, with a "Gifu" stamp. Hopefully someone will translate the smith name for us. The second kanji is "hiro" but I'm not good enough with the smiths to find the first kanji.

While "late war" is accurate for the year this was made, the style is discussed extensively on 2 or 3 threads. It was designed under an "other" category as a Contingency, or temporary, model in 1938. It didn't really get started until 1941ish, and then didn't really take off until 1942. So most of us that have been following the development are using the english version of the Contingency Model name - Rinji-seishiki.

Links: Deflating another Myth, The Type 3 Army Officer’s Sword (Expanded Version)

and : Legally rebutting the existence of a Type 3 Army Officer's Sword

[Nick Komiya]

There was no request for a translation of the Mei, so I assumed it was known to the owner already. It says Katsumasa 勝正.

By the way, Bruce, please stop calling suspension rings on the scabbard "Ashi", as they were called Haikan on gunto and were never called ashi. Ashi means leg and it referred to the two hanging straps on ancient tachi that made it look like two legs sticking up. When they did use the term Ashi for the two straps, the suspension ring was called Ashi-Kanamono (Ashi fittings). You are active on many forums, so if you are not sure about the Japanese, plain English is best, not to create infection clusters.

[Bruce Pennington]

Really appreciate that Nick! I wanted the translation for my stamp survey.

*Sigh* Ok, you caught me being lazy on the haikan/ashi terminology. I'll get with the program. We're making progress on the Type 3/Rinji-seishiki transformation with collectors. I'll start working on this one too.

[Paul G]

Nice sword! I believe the tassel is for a Gunzoku, or civilian in military service. Nick wrote a great response / tutorial on these! check it out:
What were the regulations for the Army civilian employees to carry swords?

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