Japanese WW2 Private Purchase Katana, Takeyama Yoshitomi, Sold

A private purchase Japanese military katana circa 1937, signed Takeyama Yoshitomi (Yoshiomi), with typical raised sakura tsuba, with some Japanese papers.

A captured war trophy, this WW2 Japanese army officer's katana is one of the scarcer early war (pre-WW2) private purchase swords bought by officers or their families during the invasion of China, just prior to WW2. Included are some small Japanese papers found inside the sword.

Clearly this katana has been around active service wise with the drag of the saya / scabbard in very worn condition. The blade seems to have had some active service too; an area slightly shy of the original curve along the cutting edge, obviously field resharpened, crucially not going beyond the hamon. I suspect this sword has been used to despatch some poor soul (or two) and suffered some not irrevocable damage which the officer subsequently field repaired for continued active service.

Apart from this one area of the blade, everything is in pretty good though worn and aged condition. The tang bears the post 1926, pre 1942 Sho(wa) stamp which was used outside the official army inspection regime on blades bought through officers' clubs. The mei signed Takeyama Yoshitomi (Yoshiomi), one of the more respectable smiths of the period (rating GE SAKU - Ryoko no Retsu) and whose mei can be seen / confirmed here. Further / full sized images available upon request. My reference number 405 (88).