Hello everyone! This is my first post, as I am new here. I was hoping you all could help me with something, my great grand father brought back a katana from WW2 and my dad (in his youth) misused it and would now like for me to restore it, and when I removed the handle assembly I expected to see a stamp of some sort indicating it was machine made; but rather found two sets of Kanji (one on each side of the tang) and despite having tried to figure out how to read it all I gained was a headache. Would those of you with experience with this mind translating it for me? Thank you in advance to any and all attempts at translation.
Kuniyuki
The signature says:
BUNGO JUu KUNIYUKI SAKU
On the reverse is the date:
KOuKI 2603 NEN 8 GATSU HI (August 1943).
The smith is likely KUN1899.
The form of the date is uncommon - it is called the Japanese Imperial Calendar, and the year 2603 is supposed to mean the number of years since the legendary founding of Japan by Emperor Jimmu.
Pete
Thank you very much!!!
Thank you very much!!! Greatly appreciated! If we get it restored (either me or some one else) Ill be sure to put pictures here.
restoration
Hi,
You didn't say what kind of damage it has, but with a WWII blade like this, there isn't much you can do.
A professional polish is not really possible (a legit polisher won't work on a wartime blade), and it would be very expensive anyway.
If it has a visible hamon, then an amateur polish will ruin it.
Chips cannot be fixed, because too much steel has to be removed.
About the only thing you can do is control any active rust.
The nakago (tang) looks good. What type of problem does it have?
Pete