Showato Registered in Japan?!
I've recently seen 2 different Mantetsu gunto being sold on Japanese websites. Both were (forgive me if I'm using the wrong terms) registered and had papers. I've also seen Type 95s being sold by Japanese dealers.
Has something changed that is now permitting showato to be registered and owned in Japan?
Here's a link to one of them. I can't remember where I saw the other japanese sword katana [koa_issin_manshikisaku Showa 16] (Mantetsu_to) : Real Japanese Samurai swords for sale[e-sword]
I guess it's a case by case situation. The Type 95 NCO sword last time was sold in yahoo auction for over 300,000 Yen. I don't remember the exact amount. It was a lot of money. That shows registered NCO swords is a scarce commodity. People are paying big premium for a piece of paper.
The name Showato is a compromise terminology created at a time when the very existence of the Japanese swords was under real threat.
Last edited by Sporter90; 11-02-2018 at 06:46 AM.
It puzzling me for some time too. I believed only traditional blades could received papers.
Some inspectors give papers to semi or full factory made blade because somehow they must be sensitive their historical / patrimonial value.
Some gunto still suface from the woodwork without legal permit. They have been hidden untill now. If the next of kin want to keep / sell it not "under the jacket", he would need the permit. And if there were some point in melting them during the occupation era and early post war, it isn't really the case now.
But this is only a permit / id card. Weither it's traditional gendaito or factory blade I don't think it is about quality. It won't get NBTHK Hozon paper, well IMO ...
being the laws on weapons in Japan very severe and being prohibited to hold weapons considered warlike as bayonets and katanas, most of these are in fact cut in two or three parts, only those considered "artistic are allowed and saved" goes without saying paradoxically, the military katanas and bayonets cost infinitely more in japan who than in the united states or the united kingdom and in europe in general
by Bruce Pennington
Hi Bruce,
I'm wondering if it's a case of a sword being sold through a Japanese website, perhaps on consignment, but stored and to be shipped from a location other than Japan.
Regards,
Stu
Seki stamped WW2 Gunto
This sword was registered in 1954. I don't think it was of anything special. The owner was unknown. Still, the sword got paper.
From what I have read about the registration system, a lot would depend on how knowledgeable your local board of registration was. Perhaps they go through "on the nod" if presented by the right person.
Stu, I wondered about that possibility too. I honestly haven't checked the "shipping from" info on these posts. That would probably tell. Though, I remember on the first one I saw, they specifically said the gunto was "registered." So I take that to mean it's being shipped from Japan. And as we see in Sporter's example, it's a Japanese registration.
加藤則貞
Seki stamped WW2 Gunto
This sword was registered in 1954. I don't think it was of anything special. The owner was unknown. Still, the sword got paper.
Katou Norisada
— Guy
These inconsistencies are widely known in Japan, and it pretty much depends on the municipality, and who the two appraisers are. For instance, Osaka is notorious for taking a hardliner stance and will automatically disqualify anything with a star, anchor or cherry blossom stamp, as having no artistic value, while other municipalities do not take such a prejudiced view of stampings and will judge the sword for its merits and let it pass.
Almost by any judge's standards Type 95s usually have no chance, but even here, there are exceptional cases of examples getting registered.
Besides the appraisal by the Board of Education, there is also the possibility of getting a permit from the Public Safety Commission, when for instance, a Type 95 was a keepsake from a father or husband who was a soldier who died, but this permit was limited to one generation of owner only and with no means of transfer to others. These registrations, however, are now very seldom.
All in all, it is exactly the same as Germany's patchy enforcement effort of anti-Nazi propaganda laws that, in principle, treat any postwar product with NS symbols as Neo-Nazi propaganda items and will confiscate and destroy them. Exceptions are when they are pre-45 relics of historical significance. So states like NRW, here, that take a hardliner stance, will confiscate the item and pass it on to the State Prosecutor's Office, who will hire an appraiser to judge whether the item is real or a repro. The latter case will go to the incinerator, but the problem is that the whole process can easily take a year.
Others in Germany, however, will tell you they encounter no problems at all from the Zoll, as cities like Hamburg probably see the hiring of a relic authenticator to be a waste of taxpayer money and have massive amounts of ocean freight to keep customs busy with more important stuff.
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