Very plain Japanese sword

[speezack]

I have a very (for lack of better terminology) a very "plain Jane" Japanese sword which was brought back by a friends father after the war. We have several digital pictures and would like to know more about this item. I do not think it is worth anything as the workmanship is rather poor but it still has value as I do believe it is from that era and as such should at least be interesting from that stand point. I post several pictures of the sword here and I have several posts on other sites that are translating the writing for me. Any information would be helpful. My interest here is purely academic and not monetary as I have mentioned, it very likely has no real value except to history.

[AIF]

Its definately not a Japanese Army issue sword, my guess is that it was picked up post war as a souvenir during the occupation period 1945-50

[speezack]

Agreed, the story was that it was taken from a POW? Not sure of the authenticity of that statement, I think it was simply brought back... not too sure of the origin or family... but the translation should provide some info... will advise later... thanks for the input... I certainly agree, no army issue this is...