Gendaito by Emura

Signature:  Emura saku.
Year Made:  WW II era
Forging Pattern: Unable to determine due to scratching. 
Tempering Pattern: Suguha with gunome in places.
Dimensions:  Blade Length:  26.25 inchesNakago: 7.75 inches 7 mm thick and 32 mm wide at Hamachi
Mountings:  '34 pattern shin-gunto mounts with the push button release retention system. The mounts are of good quality with very little wear to the samé or fittings or paint loss to the saya. The ito appears to have been replaced at some point but it was done by a professional It also has a silver washed copper habaki from which most of the silver has been worn off and a very nice sarute. There are all matching numbers on the seppa, which, along with the proper tight fit of all the parts and smooth operation of the latch, would lead us to believe that the mounts are original to the sword.
Overall Condition:  Good. Emura was the warden of Okayama prison during the war and made swords there as a hobby. He and a polisher trained prisoners to polish some of the swords produced there. This is a nice sturdy example of his work, it bears no arsenal stamps and the nakago is nicely finished. The sword has been cleaned with a fine steel wool or sandpaper, making it impossible to determine the kind of hada although one appears to exist if the light catches it just right. The shape is graceful and it feels light in the hand. The sharpness of the lines has not been rounded by the cleaning, however the person did sharpen the edge with a knife sharpener of some kind. There are no nicks and any pitting is extremely tiny. A finish polish by a professional polisher would probably be all that was needed to bring out the workmanship of this blade. It is easy to see that it has a complete hamon which appears to be in nioi. Good gendaito made by a well known smith in complete and original mounts are becoming more and more rare. This is a fine example of one for the collector of gendaito or Japanese Militaria or those who collect the works of this famous smith.