BURMA SURRENDERED**WW2 1943 Japanese Officer\'s Type 98 Shin Gunto Arsenal Katana Sword With Dated & Smith Signed Tang ‘KANE NORI’, Scabbard With 1945 Dated War Trophy Retention Certificate Ink Signed Patriotic Headband, Translation & Expert Assessmen Swords

**BURMA SURRENDERED**WW2 1943 Japanese Officer's Type 98 Shin Gunto Arsenal Katana Sword With Dated & Smith Signed Tang ‘KANE NORI’, Scabbard With 1945 Dated War Trophy Retention Certificate Ink Signed Patriotic Headband, Translation & Expert Assessment. - 21447

An original WW2 dated, Burma surrendered Japanese Officer's Sword with signed tang, scabbard, original War Trophy retention certificate & Patriotic headband of the Japanese Oficer who surrendered the sword. The sword has been assessed by UK Japanese sword expert Bill Tagg. A copy of his hand written notes, translations and illustrations accompany the sword. In extracts from his notes he states “A Type 98 shin gunto army officer’s sword dated June 1943. Kane Nori is a well known sword smith made low to medium grade showa to & medium to high grade gendaito. He won 1st seat in 1941 competition & is rated 1 million Yen in John Slough’s book of sword smiths pages 56-57. This blade looks like a medium grade showa to oil tempered sword not a gendaito, with an arsenal stamp. Smith was army approved & rated as superior master smith by Aki Hide. In bright scratched condition with no visible temperline. Saya is gunto pattern metal parade with some paint missing, seen lots of use. Tsuba is standard gunto brass pattern. Tsuka has lost its ito binding and menuki & has a leather combat cover laced around. The hilt looks a war time repair, complete with its locking catch & sarute knot loop. A well carried sword. Also came with a souvenier retention certificate from Burma command dated November 1945 giving permission to bring home a sword to J.E. Armstrong Corporal 14916814 (hard to find now). Also with this sword is a hachimaki patriotic head band”. The script on the headband is translated as ‘Go Man Gun Ko’ (Make the Emperor proud of this army of 10,000). He adds that: “Wartime ones were made in their thousands but are very rare now” and confirms the headband is silk. In his illustrations Bill translates the tang signature and 1943 date. He describes the cutting edge as 66.5 cm and total length 87.5 cm. He also describes and illustrates other blade measurements and characteristics (illustrated in image 2). The price includes UK delivery. Sn 21447

£1,845.00