Long Gendaito with Ikubi Kissaki and Hi

Signature: Minamoto Yoshichika Saku Kore.
Year Made: WW II era
Forging Pattern: could not tell
Tempering Pattern: Suguha/midare in very fine ko-nie
Dimensions:  Blade Length:  27.56 inchesNakago: 7.125 inches 7 mm thick and 29 mm wide at Hamachi
Mountings:  1934 Pattern shin-gunto mounts of good quality (sukashi tsuba and gold washed habaki), the wear and tear of combat shows but everything matches and is in good shape.
Overall Condition: Very good, sword is modeled after an early tachi with an ikubi kissaki and bo-bi. There is some very light pitting and much fine scratching but all very minor. There is a stamping on the ura side of the nakago which we did not translate. The sword is nicely made and with the length and hi would make a fine sword for iai or an unusual shape for the collector of gendaito or WW II militaria.  YoshiChika was famous for making swords that cut extremely well.  Many of the Imperial Guards used swords made by him.  This is a very rare signature for the Nidai Smith.  The test cut was performed by Nakayama Hakudo, a very prominent swordsman in the Showa era; a picture of him could be found in page 255 of Slough's book.  These swords are quite hard to come by and in high demand, especially one that is this long. Read more about this smith.