Have looked at a few of these over the last 2 years, and yesterday found one with my name on it! It ticks my boxes, being wonderfully battered (the scabbard has so many dents), and yet has the leather finger loop intact, and the sword and scabbard have matching numbers.
Have read up what I can find on the forum, and Nick's articles, with the following conclusions:
It is a Model Koh Cavalry version with a blade of 835 mm; it is post the 14th of October 1922 as the drag is the reduced width of 32 mm.
However, the serial number is 19576, so was production quite low as the Type 32 started in 1899? With regard to the serial numbers, did the Model Koh (cavalry) and Model Otsu (non-mounted troops) use the same serial number range?
Looking at the markings, it has the cannonball stamp on the handguard, with 2 other stamps. One I am assuming is the Kokura inspection mark (which would make the sword post 1929 I believe), I guess the other is an inspector (高 for taka...?).
I can't see a production month/year, unless it is the 5 on the pommel (which could be Showa 5 for 1930). Can't make out the other pommel stamp.
Anyway, pics below!
Cheers,
Tony
Bookmarks