This is a signed short or wakizashi Japanese Samurai sword as brought back from WW2 by a US Veteran.  The sword is in very nice condition with NO fatal flaws.  The blade is just surface scuffed a bit but temper is 95% visible if not more.  A very squiggly nioi deki temper.  Hada is very tight.  The blade is signed (   相州住泰近造之  )    Soshu JU YASUCHIKA TSUKURU KORE .  Made by YASUCHIKA residing in SAGAMI Province.  The blade length is just shy of 21".  Polishers marks noted on both sides and one side has these katakana characters   (キター )   KITAICHI / KITAKAZU ? not sure if a name or even if I'm seeing it correctly but best I can do.   It retains the original old koshirae and believe blade and koshirae are 19th C . (Hawley Vol 1 p.435 noted Yasuchika 1865 YA330) Has a nice copper habaki and iron tsuba w/2 seppa and the leather snap (damaged).  Tsuba has cherry blossoms and firn leaves ? with slight gold highlites on the bamboo leaf veins. The saya looks to be a nice lacquered black type from what I can see where the leather has torn/worn but overall leather boot is pretty strong.  Also, the leather strap conforms to the leather boot and is pretty scarce to find such especially on a JIA sword.  FK are iron w/the gold embossed dragon fly.  Menuki look to be Plum? blossum and ? hard to tell. They say these short swords may be from a "tank" battalion - back in the day I did not get the info from the vet other than he "liberated" it.