This is far from my area of knowledge, but is there a chance this could be a Korean piece? My minimal understanding of Japanese blades is that the tang is tilted at an angle to the blade, while Korean pieces will have a tang that follows the blade contour. Also, the tip is a much more common shape in Korean swords than in Japanese swords which usually show separate faceting. I would suggest a close look at the Korean stuff in "History of Steel" for more similarities.
Vietnamese sabers also copied the Japanese look, and had crude Japanese style guards like the one shown, but the hilt would be completely different, so I will stick with my Korean guess.
Josh
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