WW2 Parade Saber

I recently purchased a WW2 Japanese officers parade saber. It has ten petal cherry blossom which I believe indicates an Army officers sword? It has a family crest on the hilt and kanji (sp?)lettering just below the hand guard on the blade itself. I was wondering if anyone knew how to translate the kanji and if the family crest, if that is what it is, can be located. Please click link for picture. Thanks! http://photobucket.com/albums/y132/husk1/sword/?action=view¤t=IM000967.jpg

Can't help you much, but I can recommend this page: http://www.geocities.com/alchemyst/military.htm

I'm far from being an expert and speak little or no Japanese, but I think I recognize the number 1, the word "great" (might be just part of the Japanese term for a certain rank or simply for the word "officer", I don't know) and the number 13.

(Many kanji are from Chinese, which I studied)