Pre-WW2/WW2 Japanese Showato Katana

Wonderful Japanese early Showa era (1926 – 1989) Katana – likely pre-WW2. Nakago is unsigned and of an unrefined style, leading to the assertion that this katana is a showato pre-shin gunto. Fuchi is marked with Japanese characters which read as “Sugahara“. Kanji has a small disk bearing Japanese characters which read as “Sugahara“. Characters on fuchi and kanji are likely the name of the soldier who carried this katana. Tsuba is of a standard army design. The larger seppa appears to be a replacement, and is therefore not original to the piece. At one time, the katana had a small, built in spring-loaded locking mechanism – which is no longer present (as can be seen, the tsuka had a space removed for the mechanism and the inside of the saya contains a cut-out for the mechanism to lock into). Nagasa fits snugly into the saya. Katana presents in honest, field-used condition. While the blade contains no major chipping, there are one or two micro chips present under very careful inspection. Blade appears to have been cleaned at some point in its past, as polish/rub-marks exist in its current state. Please take a close look at all presented photos as related to condition and details.

Nagasa plus nakago measures 33″ overall.

An honest and field-used early Showa era katana – a great piece of Japanese history to add to your collection.