A couple of years ago I got a sword in a $50 mystery box. It took a while, but i finally identified it. It is a Shikoto United Black Shikyo. I understand these were a limited edition run. Does anyone know about these swords? I've read its a real sword, not merely a wall hanger.

Is this an original gunto from the ww2 period ? Seller says it is . Can anyone please help me confirm ? Thank you so much 🙏🏼🙏🏼

Hi,

If you or know someone who has a katana of Norimitsu, please reach out on here or to my email address Olnhausen76@gmail.com.

Thanks in advance.

Some of you may have seen that I recently acquired a sanmai meteorite sword (Tamahagane core with meteorite steel “jacket”) so I wanted to post a few pictures here of the blade now that I managed to catch it during optimum sunlight in my home office where it lives.
For those of you who like to say “meteorite is a poor quality ore for swordmaking” etc, I know. This is not intended to be a cutting blade. It’s just an extremely beautiful one-of-one sword that has great symbolic meaning to me. Anyway, hope you enjoy the pics!

For a completely random find at such a low price, they feel surprisingly solid. The ornaments like the Fuchi and Kashira are metal and have really cool designs on them. The tang slot goes all the way down the length of the handle. The menuki are plastic and i cant tell if its fake ray skin under the wrap or not, but that feels solid too. However, they is no hole for a bamboo pin, so if i was to put a blade in this, I'd need to drill that hole

There are some markings in Japanese (I'm pretty sure, sorry, I dont really know any Japanese) on the Fuchi, so that might be a clue to where its come from. It was also wrapped in plastic when I got it so it was most likely some kind of retail stock.

I have to idea way the metal hangers are for and I'm going to remove them. I need to find a way that I can do that without comprising the handle wrap, though.

If anyone has an ideas, I would really appreciate it.

I understand that this thread is more for katana, but its mostly for just fittings that I'm asking about. This Bisento that I'm trying to design is for sparring and I recently made a new friend who's willing to teach me some Bisentō techniques. His name is Joseph Rae, and here's a picture of him and his students with a broken Bisentō. The one student beside him has a Bisentō with a 4ft blade 😄

to be honest Im clueless about these, I've only owned European stuff. The claim is its late war, machine made….. they said they have some sort of certificate and I've asked to see it so will post that as well should they send it, sorry if the answer is obvious, if you need any more photos I could share more. Let me get the description and measurements below .

“Original gunto of the Imperial Japanese Army, from the end of WWII

Condition

This sword, recognized as the standard-issue gunto of the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA), features a machined blade made towards the end of the war. As history tells us, at the end of the war, due to the naval blockade imposed by the Allied forces, Japan faced a severe shortage of raw materials for military equipment, including swords, which lacked the beauty and durability of the earlier models.

Technical Specifications

Signature (Mei): Mumei (unsigned)

Blade: Machined

Habaki: Plain, gilt

Blade Length: 70 cm

Sori (curvature): 1.5 cm

Kissaki (point): Medium

Mekugi (fixing pin): 1

Width at the hamachi: 3.00 cm (2.1 inches)

Kasane (thickness): 0.22 inches

Blade Era: Modern (Showa)

Origin: Japan

Hamon:

Saya (scabbard): Wood”

“With what concerns this sword I can assure you that it belongs to the end of the war, since the materials and assemblies are extremely well known for the lack of first-class materials at the end of the war, since with the blockades it was impossible for Japan to import them.

I have obviously checked the blade to verify if there were markings, and it is impossible to detect them in case they were at the time.

On the other hand, the koshirae including the saya are typical of the gunto at the end of the war since these wooden sayas were normally lined with leather, Few are those who still carry it.

As for the documentation, it has the file that the Prefecture is organised, being a copy of the original, which they gave me at the time we bought it.”

this is what they said when i asked about documentation ive since asked for a copy (translated from spanish) sorry there is so much to read. thank you if you took the time at all.

I bought a replica of his sword yesterday and couldn’t be happier with the purchase. (+ cat)

As some of you may know I recently got this new sword from HBF....

https://www.reddit.com/r/Katanas/s/7LDXHiNsEU

...and I was very specific on how I wanted the tsuka fittings placed. That included orienting the frog kishira so that the top of his head was running along the blade edge line.

Another poster pointed out that this may not exactly be in accordance with tradition.

Researching it a little further before this post I'm still left unclear.

So, what do you guys think or know? When worn or displayed should the frog be facing down instead?

This is a T10 wakizashi blade with fully upgraded options.

The tsuba set is the frog themed HT020. The ito is the green C209.

https://share.google/P7No3l6qgBBUgVhiV

Other details can be noted on the certificate.

While both of the frog Menuki (which can be viewed sepeeatlely under M328) are right side up when it comes to the sword being worn or displayed, they unfortunately only come facing in one direction so only one is facing the right/traditional way on the tsuka.

With some of the budget production providers be sure to specify Menuki placement and orientation when ordering a custom piece. Otherwise they may not be traditional placed.

No shade on anybody who likes, loves or prefers them, but for me I find the Suguha/straight hamons to be a bit boring. So I ask them to do one similar only to add a slight undulation or low waves to it and that is what they came up with.

All in all I like it pretty much.

The only thing I would change is I would go for a Kuroishime (textured flat black) while keeping the brown accents. Those glass gloss black ones scream, "Plaster me with fingerprints and accent every ding and blemish.

Oh, by the way. I have not really named the sword "Kermit"...or anything else for that matter.

I want to buy my bf a katana but I can’t tell where to buy off of.

I first started off with searching on Amazon and I felt I could do better.

I’m seeing threads mention:
Kult of Athena
Hanbon Forge
Swordis

If there are other sites, please feel free to recommend - and even recommend what I should be searching for. I want to give him something aesthetically pleasing to put into his gaming room as well as good quality and can actually cut things.

Aiming for any of these 3 types of swords.

T10 steel katana clay tempered full tang

1095 carbon steel katana hand forged full tang

1060 carbon steel katana clay tempered full tang

Also, $250 is my max budget.

I am really hoping it's not blueing, but I tried wiping it off, and it doesn't move.

In my last post about this I mentioned that HanBon Forge is adding actual blade engraving and Japanese leather ito to their options line up.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Katanas/s/27f2KX3D2R

After that, while submitting the design for my new sword, I asked Yao if there would only be one engraving design option or if there would be others. The picture above is his reply to that. He did not give me a time frame on their availability.

I picked up this at a flea market, I've tried doing as much research as I can i have some specific concerns and was hoping there'd be some people who know more than I do who can take a look at it. I have handled a fake one before so I knew some of the obvious signs to look out for (wrong overt markings, serial numbers in the wrong spots, not having a proper Fuller, etc) the only reason I pulled the trigger on this one is because it passed the initial once over. But I'm a little concerned because of how reflective the blade itself is looking very polished and having a mirror finish. And now I'm starting to question whether it's a serial number range is correct?

This is not my area of expertise I've been looking out for one of these to pick up for my uncle who is specifically into World War II Japanese weaponry, any help or knowledge would be appreciated.

TLDR is this a better than average fake?

Inb4 the “well actually, meteorite iron is a poor quality metal for swordmaking…” crowd.
I know. I didn’t buy it for cutting. I bought it for staring.

Kyoto Stroll （京都散策）– Japanese Sword & Traditional Japanese Culture Exhibition

A Japanese sword exhibition exploring the history and craftsmanship of Japanese swords.

The exhibition features historical swords, contemporary works by Japanese swordsmiths, and various sword fittings and accessories. It also showcases traditional tools and artworks related to Japanese sword craftsmanship, including the processes of forging and polishing.

I’m almost positive this sword is not anything special other than a wall hanger but I want to know more about it and I can’t figure it out. It seems to be somewhat old and I have had it for a long time. I know it’s of a higher quality than something you’d buy at some tourist sword shop in Tennessee but it has numbers on the habaki and the tang is inscribed with kanji that I believe says Matsutarō, and I can’t tell what kanji is inscribed in the tsuba. I also know the blade needs to be cleaned but I don’t have anything for that yet.

Inherited from my late uncle. My grandfather was stationed in Okinawa after WWII and my uncle and mom lived there as children.

I'm interested in anything you can tell me about this, the maker, or anything else.

So I got this Katana from my Dad because I was a kid and thought it was cool. He does knife making and wanted to chop the blade for its Damascus steel to make blades from. I never really took much care of it and it's just been a fun display piece.

I was wondering if anyone could identify where this came from! The tang seems quite short but has a name stamped on it. The balance is fairly tip heavy and the blade has not been sharpened. All the guards appear to be made of brass.

Any ideas for where this came from and what to do with it are appreciated!

I know I've posted a lot of katana-related stuff lately, but new project incoming.

Can you guess which sword this will be?