A naval officer’s type 97 kai gunto, signed by blade smith Ishido Teruhide. On this signature, Ishido used his artist name ‘Mitsunobu’ and signed with his kao, indicating that he perceived the craftsmanship and quality of this blade to be of the highest level/ Marked ‘751’ under the habaki; there is no anchor or arsenal mark. All these facts together indicate that this was a custom production, and the blade is a traditionally forged gendaito rather than military mass production. Habaki is custom forged to fit the blade. The furniture is standard military for a high level officer within the Imperial Japanese navy: sunray tsuba, two hangers, sakura cherry blossom motifs on gilded metal. Mismatched serial numbers and one anchor on spacers and tsuba, consistent with non-custom order military furniture. Blade is 25.1 inches, with a straight hamon. This lot has a reserve.
