Curious about Japanese Sword

Hey there,
I acquired this sword a few months ago and was wondering who it would have been used by and if anyone might know what the lettering on it might mean. Haven't been able to find a translation yet. Any information would be appreciated and exciting .

Here's a link to the photos. I made a rough sketch of the inscription which is found on the outside of the hand guard.

Pictures by DukeOfEarl82 - Photobucket

Thanks.

 

You might have some luck if you sent a query to a guy like this, I wouldn't know how else (without finding an interpreter) to decipher the symbols.

Goto:

Japanese swords

Or maybe find somebody selling a sword like that, a cavalry sword/saber I believe.

 

Thanks for the website!
After looking over common Japanese character sheets, I think the symbol on the left means "three" and the one on the right "big," but being totally unfamiliar with the language, I am not sure whether it is a phrase or a single word formed by those symbols.
Anyway, I'll shoot the guy an e-mail and see what he says.
Thanks again.

 

From what I can make sense of it, it says "Three Nine Six" or "Three Nine Version"

 

A unit he was attached to perhaps?

 

I'm curious, on what exactly are those kanji written on? It looks like a sheet of paper, or is it actually engraved on the saber somewhere? I can only guess it's the model number, or depending on how old or valuable the sword is, it could be a Meiji Era military saber.

 

Arrow pointing to Inscription picture by DukeOfEarl82 - Photobucket

I edited one of the pictures to have an arrow pointing to where the inscription is, on the outside of the hand guard.
I couldn't get a clear enough picture of it on the sword itself because the inscription is fairly small and my camera was apparently not up to the challenge .

 

Also, though, there is a number where the blade and hilt come together, but that one is in arabic numerals (english number system). It is a six-digit number. Probably just a serial number but interesting that it was not written in Kanji as well.

 

Alright, sorry I keep adding on like this but I keep on finding things. So, apparently it is a Type 32 sword manufactured in 1899, which would mean that 396 is not a model number.

 

One has to remember that the Japanese year system wasn't "modernized" to the western standard until post-WW2, before then it was the year of the current emperors reign I believe. Something like a weapon's model 11 was in reference to the 11th year of the Hirohito's rule or something.

I don't have a real grasp on that year numbering system at all, but it seems to me that the Type 30 rifle was produced in the 30th year of Emperor Meiji reign, or 1897 CE. So the Type 30 was produced before the Type 11! But the Type 99 doesn't follow this form,this is another Japanese nomenclature, actually meaning that the rifle was adopted on year 2099 from the traditional creation of the world in Japanese creation myth.

 

In a way, we still in a way use the system. So currently it is the 21st year of our emperor Heisei. A tad bit annoying when converting it but it's still a part of our culture.

Also, the Type 38 rifle's 38 is based off of the 38th year of Meiji (1905). However the 99 in the Type 99 refers to 2599 according to the Japanese calendar, which then converted into the Western standards, was in 1939. It's a bit complicated but hope that helps.

 

I'm still curious as to what the numbers represent, but I guess I'll never know unless I find an expert. I saw another example of this sword that appeared to have a different inscription.
If anyone wants, I can try and upload some other interesting Japanese items that i have some lower quality pictures of. Maybe Karma could translate some more stuff if he's up to it .

 

Sure why not

 

Only have good guesses as to what most of these items are, but maybe someone will recognize something.

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Also found many of these, which I have no clue as to what they are. I have as well a glove made of some sort of stiff rubber, a telephone, with its cable not going to a device, and a flare gun (which I think had Japanese symbols on it, but I don't have a picture of that).



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I've gotten in touch with the man who was first recommended to me, Michael Kerrigan, and he says that though they were normally written in Arabic letters, this could be a rack number. I'm not familiar with this term, so does anyone have an explanation for this?
Thanks!