FRI FEB 18, JAPANESE ARMY OFFICERS SHIN GUNTO SWORD, VERY OLD ANCESTRAL BLADE FROM THE LATE 1500’S, WITH FAMILY CREST, HIGH END AFFAIR!

This is a quite interesting Japanese Army Officers Shin gunto Sword with a very, very old Shinto School ancestral blade from around 1596!   We have an early type Japanese Army officers Shin Gunto sword in High Quality military mounts and a Silver Mon (Family Crest) inset into the sword handle.  This was a family heirloom that was re-purposed into the regulation Army Officers Shin Gunto Sword and would have certainly had great sentimental value to the Japanese Army Officer who carried it as a badge of rank.  This is a very heavy bladed sword for a fighting man and still has the foul weather cover on the handle as well.  

The Blade was made by Kashū Jū Etchu No Kami Takahira of the Shnto School in 1596 and it is in good polish.  It is 26 5/8th inches long and has a wavy temper line that is still visible after all these years.   The mounts are of high quality with a cross hatched copper colored Habaki.  There are no nicks in the blade which does have some staining over the years but nothing to noticeable.  Unusually the scabbard is of a very reddish hue probably to match the Habaki.  This is the traditional samurai sword which started life as a bucket of iron rich sand and was created by skilled craftsmen into a masterful work of art.

The Japanese Military Officers “Samurai” sword was the most prized war trophy of the Pacific War and it was an iconic symbol of the Japanese ethos of Warfare. When you think about this sword being approximately 450 years old, it was probably in existence when Jamestown was settled!  This ancient handmade piece of Steel would certainly capture anyone’s imagination!  I wonder how many people were hacked up by this beautiful thing over the years…