japanese sword ( genuine or fake ??? )

[tsubame1]

Originally Posted by ferrylaki

thanks battara,
for this moment I just gonna keep the sword.
I have no experience sending sword overseas, do you have any suggestion which polisher I should send my sword to?

Hi Ferrylaki.

Even if no expert would make a definitive reply based on these poor pictures
I've no reputation to loose so here are my 2 cents :

your sword *possibly* is an antique one (pre WWII) that was mounted in
Shingunto way (WWII officer mounts) hence the two smaller holes before
and after the original bigger one. The one toward the blade is the one that
originally hosted the screw-like Mekugi, the one near the end of the tang
hosted the "Sarute", a ring holding a knot changing in colors accordingly to
the officer's rank. Might be the sword has been shortened for this purpose,
(to fullfill the army's requirements or for mounting reasons) as the shape of
the tang seems odd and the absence of another older mekugiana (hole for
retaining pin) suggests it hasn't been shortened in ancient times for
remounting.
You can eventually confirm/deny this telling us something about the
provenance and the mounting if info available.

Your sword has been bring back by some GI's and later left in oblivion till to
begun very rusty.
Someone not trained to Togi (traditional japanese polishing) attempted to
give it some dignity but destroyed the lines and possibly exposed the inner
steel (you show only one side of the blade). Then, in some way the sword
reached your hands (gift/purchase/inherited).

The matter if it worths the money of a traditional polishing is a personal one.
I've lost money on some swords that appealed to me but that
weren't economically worth the polishing. I'm a romantic.

Still exists the possibility your sword is a machine made one or a fake.
These lines are written at 02,17 PM italian time and online judgements that
pretends to be accurate (on NihonTo, at least) are simply a foolish thing.

Cheers.