Got this sword at auction
Hey everyone. I just won this kai gunto blade at an auction for $300. It was described as a WWII KaiGunto officers sword. I checked the name and I sadly can't translate very well but what I came up with was "made by Taro from Kansai (or kinki)" can anyone tell if I got this right or if they have any history of the maker? I tried getting the picture of the name to upload correctly but for some reason it wants to flip it. But the top of the blade is on the left.
兼波作 Kanenami saku.
Can't find Kanenami in the "Register of Names of Seki Forge Swordsmiths Since Showa 14, October (1939)" nor in Sesko's Japanese Swordsmiths. However, I did see a mention of him in a sales description of a kaigunto:by Kiipu
The blade on this example was hand forged in the traditional manner, and the tang of the blade is signed (Mei) with the characters 兼 波 作 - KANE NAMI SAKU, or "KANENAMI made this". This smith, who also signed blades 伊 奈 波 兼 波 (Inanami Kanenami), is a known maker of Kai-gunto during WWII. Research done by a member of the Nihonto Message Board has cataloged many blades by this maker
Source
-- Guy
Thanks for the info! I was getting worried that i couldnt find anything on it. it seems like I got lucky on the auction.
You got real lucky! For about $300, you can get the tsuka rewarded.
Any small stamps on the nakago?
Bruce meant “rewrapped” instead of rewarded.
Obviously he’ll blame autofill!!
— Guy
He got me excited thinking there are bounties on swords
There weren't any stamps that I could see but I'll look again. Is it worth it to get it rewrapped? I'm not sure how much this sword is worth as is.
Thanks for checking for stamps.
As to "worth it", that's up to you. But a Kaigunto sells, normally, for $2,000 - 2,400 USD. At the price you paid, you could pay for a re-wrap and still have a kaigunto for less than half the normal price.
That's amazing thanks! Yall have been so much help. I'll be looking into getting in re-wrapped soon.
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