WW2 JAPANESE NAVY OFFICERS KAI-GUNTO SWORD WITH 4-500 YEAR OLD FAMILY BLADE AND ORIGINAL SWORD KNOT, BELT WITH HANGING STRAPS.
Very rarely do I get a Kai-Gunto sword of this quality.
I have had the the Tang marks de-ciphered by Mr George Trotter who is a Japanese sword expert here in the West and is well known in the Japanese Sword community, the details are as follows:
BI ZEN - Bizen Province
KUNI JU - Resident of
OSAFUNE - Osafune Village
SUKE SADA - Sukesada (Smiths name)
SAKU - Made this
On the other side of the Tang is date marked but this is hard to read. A number of Osafune Sword Smiths were named SUKESADA and worked between the years 1500-1600 then the great Tsuname and floods of the 1600,s wiped the village out (it was rebuilt and is still a tourist spot for sword-making) and the SUKESADA name ended so the blade could not possibly have been made after 1600. Blade is in good polish with a straight Harmon.
The blade is mounted in WW2 Japanese Navy mounts with a black laquered scabbard it has the original Navy knot and also has the the Original Officers belt and hangers which are worth $500 on their own also the sword knot which is worth $200. This sword tells two stories with a history of between 4-500 years and the later WW2.
As we all are well aware original Japanese swords are commanding high prices and this sword presents good value for the astute collector.