A World War II era Japanese officer's sword with: leather wrapped wooden scabbard: brass hanging point, brass/ bronze pommel guard & hand guard (cherry blossom ornamented), & narrow strips of rayskin over the non-lacquered, cloth wound, wooden hilt. L: 24 1/4" (61.5cm) [from hand guard to tip of sword] Condition: Signs of obvious use including several dings in the blade, a hole in a thinner part of the handguard - loose due to a split in the hilt collar just beneath, wear to the leather scabbard wrapping as well as the scabbard mouth, signs of aging in the ray skin strips as well as the fabric winding, with a loose pommel guard. Provenance: collection of an important Maryland collector