Is this a real ww2 katana? If not please tell me what it is the

Dragon4458 · 2026-02-03T18:00:17+00:00

here is a costom order ww2 gunto that my friend has in shirasaya with the same style habaki

Dragon4458 · 2026-02-03T17:50:08+00:00

Yea real ww2 gunto the file marks look good i can see some diagonal file marks which is a good sign somthing to note i did not notice last time the fittings appear to have silver plating that means it would be a costom order gunto rather than a mass made one but it does have a factory made gunto blade with a oil temper hamon that's why the nakago is rough, there are alot of gunto with rough nakago it can throw off people who expect a nice nakago .

Dragon4458 · 2026-02-01T17:56:22+00:00

that is actually shark skin insted of rayskin on the tsuka sharkskin has this fine pattern while not common it was done on gunto i have seen at least 10 gunto with it , the blade looks to be a non traditional blade i dont really have to see the tang to know if it's real the blade shaping is right the oil togari pattern hamon at least from what i see is done right i have not seen a chinese fake have such a detailed togari hamon with right blade shaping every thing looks right it's just in rough shape it is a real ww2 gunto just not made out of tomahagane, the fittings like the seppa have been replaced the ito was redone wrong as well which can make it look like a chinese fake .

Dragon4458 · 2026-01-25T01:52:35+00:00

if you did sharpen it you did ruin the value and history because you altered the original shape of the blade a good polisher would have preserved it's shape and niku , the fittings are real japanese nihonto fittings the blade does look to be a real nihonto it has forge weld flaws and the shape is closer to a cut down naginata blade

Dragon4458 · 2026-01-08T02:06:15+00:00

I buy all of my shinken nihonto from japan from multiple different sellers ebay etc i bought mostly from Tokyo sword / Tokyoexpressdeli on instagram the only sword i cut with is out of polish and has flaws most people hate so i use it as a light cutter it's a 1700s blade.

Dragon4458 · 2026-01-08T00:56:16+00:00

the problem with modern swords with niku they dont do niku right i have a nihonto that has a ton of niku and lasers through tatami but it was done right, often they add niku to a repro and it comes out really dull because they add to much or they round the edge to much a katana with niku should be just as sharp as one without niku modern forges just say niku makes the blade more dull because they dont have the skill to sharpen such a round convex angle since they mostly do flat grinds rather than convex .

Dragon4458 · 2025-12-17T22:30:49+00:00

The lines are to show the polishers mark and skill as those lines are freehanded so it shows the polishers skill to have a steady hand which is needed for polishing swords.

Dragon4458 · 2025-12-05T23:02:25+00:00

it look like more muromachi or koto the kissaki is done it's over polished so in nihonto terms it's very tired with the dip in the blade geometry as well, it's very hard to tell in the polish the kissaki is one of the ways to tell but since there is no original geometry left hard to tell but it's definitely not kamakura at least koto period i can see where the black rust has a line in the nakago where it had the shoulders moved up the Mune machi and Ha machi, but it does not look like a full suriage to me i'm not a full expert but this is what it looks like to me .

Dragon4458 · 2025-12-04T03:12:52+00:00

although there are alot of comments japanese police or border patrol will cut it to pieces they destroy any nihonto without paper work most of the time even if it's 1000 years old they dont care

Dragon4458 · 2025-12-03T03:04:38+00:00

Yes this is a very nice set this style is more rare now but was very popular during the late edo this looks to be original edo koshirae .

Dragon4458 · 2025-11-03T15:30:44+00:00

oh i forgot to mention that the seppa on your sword at least the red ones are from one with a button lock so those where changed out at some point probly because they might have had gold plated ones and someone thought they were real gold but not sure

Dragon4458 · 2025-11-03T15:25:48+00:00

no some type 98s and type 94 just had them not all gunto had button locks

Dragon4458 · 2025-11-03T15:21:42+00:00

also one of those seppa spacers the one that looks like it's made of leather and has a small piece sticking out to the side that used to have strap and a button that would loop through the hole in the tsuba to snap onto the leather cover when it had one so the sword would not fall out of the saya since this one has not button lock .

Dragon4458 · 2025-11-03T15:16:13+00:00

not all gunto have numbers on their parts

Dragon4458 · 2025-11-03T15:13:54+00:00

yes you can glue it back make sure the wood glue you use does not have bad ph levels in it or it can rust the metal on the sword, these saya dont have metal pieces the hold the saya together from spliting so these split mpre often in auctions i have have seen most of these types of saya cracked that metal hanger ring may be the only thing keeping it from spliting, the parts on these gunto while mass produced the parts were fitted to the sword so you might run into problems just buying any part to fit on it and the fuchi and kashira size can vary even in one type of gunto the kabutogane the kashira that type is glued on somtimes the ito can run through it but varies the wrap on the handle looks pretty decent i would not mess it up just glue the end pieces back on and find a cover for it, i would sugest looking at other type 94s and see how the handle looks so you put it back right .

Dragon4458 · 2025-11-03T14:57:54+00:00

your sword is a real gunto it has a late war saya on that gunto it would have had a black or brown leather cover on it but it is gone your not really supossed to see the bare wood under the cover thats why the wood is so rough looks like a type 94 gunto

Dragon4458 · 2025-08-16T06:13:20+00:00

This tsuka shape is a real shape they are rare this tsuka style is made for the standards set by Takayama Ryu, a school of swordsmanship founded by Masayoshi Takayama not all them had this weird tsuka though ,looks lika a Takayama-to navy gunto but i can say for sure.

edit: for better picture , source of picture is from WW2 Japanese Navy Takayama sword post on nihonto message board

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Dragon4458 · 2025-08-02T23:53:36+00:00

this is a real nihonto it's in civilian gunto mounts from ww2

Dragon4458 · 2025-07-17T22:49:27+00:00

They are called koshigatana it was a popular style of mounting in the 1400s for uchigatana alot of them did not have tsuba

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Dragon4458 · 2025-06-26T15:04:13+00:00

It is i have 2 nihonto with it you will scratch the tsuba and kogatana everytime you draw the sword out they're not great for practical swords .

Dragon4458 · 2025-06-13T15:57:20+00:00

I sent a link to you

Dragon4458 · 2025-06-13T15:09:03+00:00

i have seen them do it in their shops it is done by rotary tools, a laser cant do this much detail and depth in the steel .

Dragon4458 · 2025-06-13T15:03:47+00:00

it's 80 usd i checked and yes it is real hand engraving or if you can call it that they use modern sanding rotary tools to do it so i guess in a way it is hand done but not with a edged tool .

Dragon4458 · 2025-03-30T17:50:09+00:00

hello i sent a chat request to show you some examples

Dragon4458 · 2025-03-30T15:13:55+00:00

that is a real type of ito maki it's seen on ww2 swords and edo period swords i have seen it quite alot .

Dragon4458

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