Japanese Army Officer's Sword : Imperial Japanese Army

Japanese Army officer's sword. Shin-gunto mountings with a good quality pierced guard (tsuba). The military cherry blossom menuki on each side of the handle under the binding has a family crest (mon) of eight discs surrounding a centre disc in silver mounted on the centre section. The habaki on the blade is silver plated with diagonal scratch marks. The blade has a dull finish with a good harmon on the edge and the tang is signed 'Takahashi Hideytsugu living in Osaka made this'.

This is a good quality sword that was possibly worn by a senior Japanese Army Officer. The mon described in the catalogue description are stars and was used by the Cho family clan.