Thank you for your input, Sporter90.
Were rayskin same still the rule for gunto tsuka between 1943 and 1945?
There is no doubt that the kabuto gane is a cheaper model. It would be interesting to study the different models of pommels present on dated swords to see if koshirae choice depended solely on the date of purchase or on the money the officer was willing to spend on his gunto.
The problem would be dating the sword. Blade dates are of little use, as I have seen 14th century blades in Shin-Gunto mounts....by Didier
Well, here, the terminus a quo is 1940. The question remains to determine whether the koshirae is more or less consistent with that date. I would bet the leather saya-cover isn't, but, of course, the choice (provided saya and sword were not put together at a much later date) was dictated by the war.
The kabuto gane is indeed extremely plain : no cherry blossoms and leaves, no nanako-style punch strokes... Does it make it a late-war kabuto gane or just a cheaper one?...
My theory is that whoever ordered this sword wanted to save money on it.
Gunzoku sword?
A leather cover is the last thing I pay attention. You want to look the quality of the parts, not the wear and tear on them. This pommel for example. The cast is rough. It cuts corners to save time and materials. You will find the same diminishing of quality in the Japanese guns. That's how you know if a Type 99 rifle is pre-war or "last ditch" without looking the serial numbers.
You've got a point, there, but doesn't the rayskin under the ito seem to contradict the end-of-war theory? Maybe the metal sarute would have been missing by 1943 on the pommel too? I am no expert, that is why I am asking.
I didn't know what gunzoku swords were, so I googled the word : true, they do seem to have plain pommels, but this one looks somehow more "martial" than the ones I could see on the Internet.
My point is I don't see the level of pre-war quality exist in this koshirae. What I see is a war-time product. Which is inconsistent with the blade. Old blades remounted in gunto mounts is a different scenario.
Also note, this koshirae is not the very end of the war product. They made even lower quality koshirae toward the end of the war. The shortage of materials is not necessarily equal the dry-up of material. Maybe the sword shop still had a little rayskin left when they made this koshirae.
Of course, I can be entirely wrong. Maybe they had a 1940 made blade unused in the shop. They finally used the blade in the later period of the war. Anything is possible.
The lost of quality in Japanese equipment start in 1937, cuse the war with China, in 1940 we can see a big change in quality respect at 1935 or before items, of course this start of losses in quality start in different manner in different places, in some place are more quality materials in stock in warehause and in other less, in this last place we can imagine the loss of quality start before.
Source : The outline of a GuntM metal parts
From what I have understood, there are two levels to be taken into account : quality and chronology, that is evolution through time.
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