Pictures Of "tanker"

[Ontario_Archaeology]

Two weeks ago I purchased this Tanker from Stephen, a great, smooth transaction

 

I thought I would share some pictures I took of it. It really looks great under the light. 

 

Enjoy,

 

Matt

[Bruce Pennington]

Gorgeous, Matt! Do you have the nakago translated?

 

Also, I'm pretty sure the Navy didn't drive tanks. Do you mean that it's a waki?

[Ontario_Archaeology]

Hi Bruce, 

 

Just what Stephan advertised it as, I assume it might have been used in a cockpit. 

 

The translation I got was Fujiwara Toyomasa

 

https://nihontoclub.com/smiths/TOY17

 

 

I am super excited to own such a great piece 

 

Matt 

 

[Stephen]

Great pix..glad your happy.

One of the easier transactions.

 

Bruce it was haked as tanker\pilot/sub.

 

In hand it changed my tune as a non believer...the saya was made for the blade. Yes its a possibility the navy was added..but its a fit as well.

[Bruce Pennington]

Great pix..glad your happy.

One of the easier transactions.

 

Bruce it was haked as tanker\pilot/sub.

 

In hand it changed my tune as a non believer...the saya was made for the blade. Yes its a possibility the navy was added..but its a fit as well.

Ok, that fits better! "pilot" or "sub" would still fit the Type 97 Navy fittings. They all look original.

[vajo]

Looks very cool. Like Bruce said. Navy pilot or submarine.

[EdWolf]

Hi Matt, interesting sword. I like it! What are the dimensions of the blade?

Best regards, Ed

[Ontario_Archaeology]

52.5cm 2.9cm at the Ha. 1.9cm at Yakote

 

Matt

[Ontario_Archaeology]

Another picture, might help for length

 

Matt

[Stephen]

Great match Matt!

[IJASWORDS]

Nice sword. The current view on "tankers and crew" swords is that they are a wak taken to war when length regulations were relaxed due to blade shortages. The Government actually advertised for wak length family blades (around 21 inches) later in the war. 

So whilst it is a great outfit, I would question the use of crew or tanker. I believe it is a fairly recent marketing description.   

[PNSSHOGUN]

Tanker sounds alot more dramatic than Bonsai Gunto.

[Bruce Pennington]

Nice sword. The current view on "tankers and crew" swords is that they are a wak taken to war when length regulations were relaxed due to blade shortages. The Government actually advertised for wak length family blades (around 21 inches) later in the war. 

So whilst it is a great outfit, I would question the use of crew or tanker. I believe it is a fairly recent marketing description.

 

I suspect the term caught on when Ohmura posted it on his website. To my knowledge, there are no photos showing pilots/sub'ers/tankers carrying waki's, while there are photos of pilots with full-length gunto. It's possible Ohmura-san was speculating when he labeled them as such. Doesn't mean he's wrong, of course, but the community is still awaiting evidence of their use this way.

 

Very nice collection and display Matt!

[Ontario_Archaeology]

Thanks guys for the input,

 

Bruce, that is where I got the term, from Ohmura 's page on Crew Guntos

http://ohmura-study.net/977.html

 

page on navy crew guntos 

http://ohmura-study.net/762.html

 

page with pilots with wakis

 

http://ohmura-study.net/761.html

 

Matt

[Brian]

Does it really matter if it was used by a tanker or pilot? The main thing is that it was a wakizashi taken to war, and had custom fittings commissioned for it by the owner who served with it.
 

[vajo]

I think it matters a little, because there are less submariners, pilots und tanker crews than army and navy officers. It's more rare.

[IJASWORDS]

Brian, it of course could have been used by a "pilot/tanker/submariner", and I agree it was a wak taken to war by its owner. But from a militaria historical aspect, one needs to know if it was a regulation length used exclusively or compulsorily for these roles. I think not.   

[Ontario_Archaeology]

I notice that there are other threads on here about Crew Guntos and I believe that in order to move forward we will have to keep posting examples we come across as well as any historic documents / photos.

 

Another thread discussing crew gunto is here.  http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/18749-did-any-member-buy-this/

 

Matt

[Stephen]

Whats lost here is the quality of the wakizashi.

[Ontario_Archaeology]

what do you mean?

 

Matt

[Brian]

He means we are overlooking the quality of the blade.
Not many pics to go on, but looks very decent. All in all, a great package we all agree, and one to be proud to own. The custom mounts alone make it damn interesting. You did good Matt.

[Ontario_Archaeology]

oh okay, I will try to get better pictures of the blade next weekend! any pointers for better pictures. I tried using a bright light, but I don't think the pictures turned out as good as I initially thought.

 

Matt

[Ed]

http://yakiba.com/Article_PhotoTips.htm

[Ontario_Archaeology]

hopefully these are an improvement. 

 

I honestly had an impossible time getting a picture of the tip.

 

 

Matt  

[Baka Gaijin]

I have heard that many Army Officers had no formal training in swordsmanship and thus Toyama-ryū (戸山流) was established in 1925 by a committee of senior experts of several sword traditions for the curriculum of the Army Officer Training School - Rikugun Toyama Gakko. The Army sword method was popularly known as Guntō no Sōhō.

 

I was told in Japan,  that many old (ex Samurai) families preferred the Navy for their sons because of its ethical structure.

Now this is wild flight of fancy time, could it be that the Naval officer concerned with the short sword described here might have had a formal training in a Koryū (Traditional Martial Arts School from Pre Modern times) such as Sekiguchi-ryū  関口流 which contains specialised shorter sword techniques within its curriculum.

 

Also much more practical in the confines of a vessel, though the days of boarding vessels were long passed in Seaborne exchanges....  

 

[Dave R]

 

 

Also much more practical in the confines of a vessel, though the days of boarding vessels were long passed in Seaborne exchanges....  

 

 

 

 

 The boarding of the "Altmark" happened in February 1940..... And boarding actions continue to this day.  It depends on whether you want  to sink, inspect or capture the opposing ship.   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altmark_Incident

[Baka Gaijin]

Good point Dave,

 

I was thinking more of the Errol Flynn, Dagger slide down the Mainsail.........

[Shamsy]

Does it really matter if it was used by a tanker or pilot? The main thing is that it was a wakizashi taken to war, and had custom fittings commissioned for it by the owner who served with it.

 

Yeah, in all likelihood it was used by neither.

 

But irrespective of that, what a lovely little wak. I've had a couple in naval mounts. Naval ones are rarer than army, which are not that uncommon. I've only kept my very best one though, which only just qualifies as a wak and not a tanto. It's probably somewhere on in this forum.

[Ontario_Archaeology]

I am looking to get a tassel to go with this. I should be looking for an all brown one, correct? As far as I know the navy only used the brown tassel?

Thanks, Matt

[Bruce Pennington]

Matt,

 

Yes, the navy used all brown. It was a richer, chocolate, color brown than the all-brown army tassel. Trouble comes from 75 years of aging. I've got a couple that I bought that are indistinquishable from the army tassel color due to fading. But they were sold as "navy" so I have them!