WWII Japanese Army Officers Sword

**DaveR** · 08-29-2019, 09:06 AM

I would make an offer and see what happens. It looks to be a genuine war time made Japanese officers sword, with a carbon steel blade, non traditional, and if you just want it as militaria, that is a good thing. No special maintenance protocol needed, No sign of differential hardening so it's probably hardened and tempered in the Western fashion. No signature, no stamps, just a lick of paint to track it through assembly, and minimal filing on the tang. A factory or workshop made piece, and nothing wrong with that.
The mounts are excellent, and the Sarute, loop for the tassel, is a high class one. No real issues there. It's a pity that it is in a "field scabbard" rather than the metal formal scabbard, and I would use that as a bargaining point.
What I would do, is ask for an in hand inspection, and check for rot to the wood and the silk binding. I would otherwise check for any looseness in the assembly, which is usually an indication of a shotgun job.
I think it's a good one for someone who just wants a decent Shin-Gunto as a piece of militaria. You can get better, for more money, you can also get worse.

**John4022** · 08-29-2019, 05:42 PM

Thank you Dave for the enlightening comment. My plan now is to just wait a bit before buying a Japanese sword. I get the feeling that I jumped quickly into this area of collecting. I feel I should give it some time, expand my knowledge, save up more money in the process, and wait for a nice example to pop up. I realized I have my whole life ahead of me to get an example, and I'd like that example to be a quality one.

**DaveR** · 08-29-2019, 10:36 PM

Well, you are not going to lose out with that game plan. Scour the internet, look on ebay for examples and current market prices... And have a good look here... Military Swords of Imperial Japan (GuntM)

**Bruce Pennington** · 08-31-2019, 05:41 AM

You can find excellent gunto at dealer sites (I've bought more than a couple myself from them), but they are usually at the high end of market pricing. You might find lower prices at the For Sale forums here, Wehrmacht awards, and NMB.