Circa 1930 Chinese copy of a ken?

[kisak]

Originally Posted by josh stout

Also the mon forms two sides of the metal peg that holds the tang in place and there is no way that I can figure out to disassemble the sword in the Japanese manner. The only way to disassemble the blade would be to destroy the emblem.

IIRC some Japanese swords and daggers (mostly the latter) have such hilt ornaments that take the place of (or integrate with?) the menuki plug. I would guess that they have one piece for each side that slide into each other or some such.