Japanese swords in antique shop

[new2this]

Hi all,

I found what appeared to be two Japanese short swords in an antique shop today. Unfortunately, I had to run to my car to get my phone and when I came back in, they were closing up, so I only got crappy through-the-glass pics.

They were about 2 1/2 foot blades, very thick and very sharp, but yet remarkably light. The hilts appeared to be almost
tubular wood with a brass looking end cap, with a pin. The end cap was shaped about like the crown on a chess set king, and the handle was plain black. The circular hand protector appeared to be no-nonsense as well, but had Japanese writing
stamped in it, as did the blade. One had a circular guard, and the other had a flat piece almost shaped like an S, but both were adorned with chrysanthemum stamps. Both blades appeared a dull silver or light gray, felt like steel but almost looked like titanium. There was no way for me to tell if they were full-tang, but they had very shallow blood grooves and imperfections, and gave the impression of a no-frills military blade, but they don't match the flat, wrapped hilt look I find on google. The scabbards were wood, black, with what appeared to be brass band/tack decoration so far down. One was wrapped with a gold colored cord.

They wanted $100 and $150, and my first inclination is that they certainly look old and appear utilitarian, but I don't know anything about these things. Any ideas? Sorry again for the bad pic quality.

[new2this]

I explained the hand guard wrong. One just looks larger, more circular, than the other.

[John G.]

They look like complete JUNK!......NOT JAPANESE ANYTHING!
John G.

[new2this]

Thank you John. Saved me a couple hundred bucks. This us why I love this site. Much appreciated.

[scruffy]

they are not fake ,...

they are simply misidentified -

these are called ' DA ' swords ,... and are tribal weapons found through out southeast Asia
this set was probably sent home by a Viet nam war veteran ,...
they were usually were sold in pairs - made mainly to hang on the wall -
modern examples are not very valuable , but none the less ,.. they are legitimate collectable's
---i wouldn't pay more than $20.00 for one -- but some old 'grunt ' out there will love them ,..

[new2this]

Thank you Scruffy. I had never heard of those. They were kind of neat, and I probably would have just bought them for the novelty, but they wanted $250 for the pair and I wasn't going that far without some opinions. Glad I didn't.