Rinji Saya

[IJASWORDS]

Translation of the writing on a June 1945 Yoshitada saya would be appreciated.  

[Surfson]

683 X

[IJASWORDS]

Thanks Robert, but no idea now how it relates to a sword, officer or WW2. 

[Nobody]

ホ八三 (ho 8 3) 

 

中林 (Nakabayashi) - name?

[Bruce Pennington]

Neil,

The "Ho" was used by Kokura Arsenal as a "first inspetion mark", but why this would be marked on the outside of a saya is a mystery. Does the "83" match numbers on the other fittings?

[IJASWORDS]

Bruce, no numbers, photos attached.

Moriyama Koichi, could you please give me your best guess, as s soldiers name makes a lot of sense on a surrendered sword. 

This is not written in modern pen, but old paint with brush. Thank you. 

[Bazza]

Neil,

 

Jumping in FWIW. 

 

LH pic I see YOSHITADA.

RH pic I see SHOWA 20th year 6th month.

 

Have I missed somehting??

 

BaZZa.

[IJASWORDS]

Hi Bazza, if you go up to my initial post, I am looking for a translation of painted symbols on the saya. 

[Bazza]

Ah so, humblest apologies.  Sighhhh, one of the first lessons I had in my Japanese language studies was to "follow the discourse".  I lost the plot here...

 

BaZZa.

 

EDIT: Decades ago a mate had some writing on a scabbard liner he couldn't figure out.  He asked a Japanese co-worker to translate it and he came up with MR ARAI RUNS QUICKLY.  I still have a record somewhere...

[IJASWORDS]

Reminds me of when Aussie soldiers were making "jeep spring" samurai swords for gullible GIs to take home as souvenirs. The Aussies were searching captured Japanese command posts for any Japanese words they could find to engrave on the swords. 

There are no doubt American families with treasured samurai swords engraved, "this side up" "open with care" or "officers toilet".   

[Bruce Pennington]

Neil,

I've never seen a saya marked this way, so nothing to reference an opinion about this on. Your guess that the name was the surrendering owner is as good as I could come up with. The katakana & number above it would have some sort of meaning that he would understand, but this baby is just too unique to pin down.