Kiipu

And one more Type 98 for the record. Something different..., Post #1344

The date is 18 March 1946. The document needs to be downloaded though to read it.

I find your arguments compelling and now agree that these "police shin guntō" should be placed in the World War 2 category. It is interesting that this particular scabbard maker was a wartime supplier and continued making scabbards after the war for Tenshozan (or possibly Tenshozan made them all along?). As an aside, Nagoya Arsenal switched to wooden scabbards for officer swords in 1944 and I have a little missive about the matter over at WRF. The Tōkyō 1st on the other hand was reluctant to downgrade the quality of the fittings. However, in March 1945 all such production ceased in this location courtesy of the B-29. The Atsuta Factory & Military Swords Tenshozan seems to have used a 1 or 2 digit black painted subassembly number on these souvenir swords and I have used this little tidbit to help identify some of them. In contrast, the late war naval swords will frequently have a 4 digit black painted subassembly number. The second F&G book has a rather good summary of the naval sword supply chain, think Minatogawa & Tenshozan, that is repeatedly overlooked by many researchers.

I transcribed the document at the link below. Nlf Gunto Discussion

@Conway S I ran across another one in a GBF post back in 2014. Need help with a Japanese Sword., Post #9

Matt, I find your observations about the scabbard intriguing. Based upon your observations, I am thinking that these "police shin guntō" could be postwar in origin. It is interesting that the police were specifically mentioned in 1948 as a possible purchaser of these swords. Maybe Tenshozan outfitted some of these souvenir swords with the police fittings in an attempt to sell them to the police agency? When the attempt failed, maybe they ended up going to the Army PX along with the other remaining souvenir swords. I would like to add that these swords could only have been sold to a government agency, either Japanese or American, as Japanese citizens were not allowed to own modern swords. I would like your learned opinion on this matter as you have had some of these swords in hand. 27 December 1948 4. Recommend the following action be taken to dispose of this stock of swords: a. Dockside sale of souvenir swords to personnel departing for the Z.I. or, b. Require the Japanese Government to purchase the swords for use as side arms or emblems of authority for the Japanese police officials. These emblems of authority would be similar to those worn by French or other European officials. 13 OCT 1949 3. The Tenshozan Works twice requested that this investigation be suspended for periods of three months each in order that they might endeavor to dispose of the completed swords through other channels. The efforts of the manufacturer, however, were unsuccessful.

That is odd as the pictures look more like those of the eBay seller "smallsword". Do you have a link?

That Japanese had examples of all the various rifles used by other countries during the Meiji era. Sometimes just a solitary example and in other cases thousands of them. For example, the Enfield bayonets were still in use by the army as late as 1884. In answer to your question about socket bayonet usage by the Japanese, I have not really looked into the matter. In regards to the markings, one character is 大 which means large. As for the other marking(s), maybe @BANGBANGSAN or @SteveM can help?

良重 = Yoshishige. 昭和十九年= 1944. He is listed in Part 2 of the naval swords monograph authored by @mecox. Japanese NAVAL SWORDS Swordsmiths & Workshops Part 2

Ed, listen to John & Rob. 天皇 = Tennō = emperor. 昭和十七年 = 1942. @Shamsy

Morita san, is the romanji ローマ字 below incorrect? Ōno Tadashi 大野･正. Gendai tōkō･kinkō･shokkata sōran 現代刀工･金工･職方総覧. [A General Survey of Modern Swordsmiths, Metalworkers, and Artisans]. Seiun shoin 青雲書院, 1977. 247 pages.

Thanks Joe! I note a masukotto doll in the collection as well, nice. I actually have a little story about those dolls I mentioned over at WRF. Just ran across another picture of one mounted on the dashboard of an airplane of all places. Masukotto dolls

Ran across this over at @Grey Doffin website today. Grey has posted several pictures which are just stunning. I wonder if @Spartancrest knows about this book? B951. Late Edo and Meiji Period Sword Guards and Fittings Late Edo and Meiji Period Sword Guards and Fittings: Collection of Kiyomizu San’nenzaka Museum 幕末・明治の鐔・刀装金工〜清水三年坂美術館コレクション [Bakumatsu Meiji no tsuba tōsō kinkō: Kiyomizu san'nenzaka bijutsukan korekushon]. Supervised by Murata Satoru 村田･理如. Maria shobō マリア書房, 2008. Japanese & English text, 159 pages.

Cross-Reference Yokosuka Naval Arsenal Worker's Badges @Utopianarian, can I repost the picture of your badge at the thread above?

The location was Okinawa and the picture was taken on 1945-04-06. The caption for the photograph is below. The caption & location is courtesy of "hittavainen" over at GBF. http://www2.archives.pref.okinawa.jp/opa/SearchPicsDetail2.aspx?pid=53806

I read about it in a Russian article that I mentioned in the bibliography. Bibliography of Japanese Modern Edged Weapons, 1868-1945 A Google translation comes up with the following. “With a naked sword, rainwater or river water accumulated at the bottom of the scabbard during the crossing, and this led to corrosion of the blade, which worried the military. That is why the venerable Kunitaro set out to invent something that would prevent this”6. Iida's patented device gave officer weapons (including naval designs) a level of blade protection against harsh environments that conventional clevis mechanisms found on military swords could not provide. These days, rare swords with the Iida breech mechanism are sought after by collectors. After the end of World War II, Iida Kunitaro was actively involved in the movement to revive the art of the Japanese sword. His third son Iida Kazuo, born in 1934, became one of the leading sword researchers and experts. Iida Kunitaro died in a hospital on September 17, 1979 (Showa 54) in Chiba Prefecture. @wiktor69 Is this Google translation more or less correct?

The Iida latch came about during the Sino-Japanese War that started in 1937. Water was getting into the sword scabbards when crossing rivers & such and causing rust damage. Japanese troops were complaining and Iida san came out with this latch to address the problem.

Not a problem, here you go. Leatherneck  1955-08: Vol 38 Iss 8

Memories of childhood! Something different..., Post #1176

That would be the thread below which shows a star stamped Type 100, dated August 1944. sanemichi??

A reproduction as already stated. 大仁二郎 = Ōhito Jirō or Dainin Jirō.

豊佐 Toyosuke's identity is currently unknown. Almost all of his blades are in postwar souvenir fittings that were sold via the PX. One showed up in Japan in modern iai fittings, but it is unknown if it started out as a souvenir sword or not. Some have black painted numbers on them, the highest is 68, which you posted pictures of back in 2016. Помогите разобраться, Post #6 現代刀・豊佐作

Courtesy of Edokko over at GBF. This one is in Type 98 fittings. 在銘　武田音次

It seems none of Takeda's blades are dated and a variety of signatures were used. His first name can be pronounced as Otoji, Ototsugu, Naritsugu, or Takatsugu. One sword is in Type 98 mounts and another one in civilian mounts. 武田音次 武田音次作 武田音次之作

掲載日 keisai-bi　［昭和１７年］８月２５日 会場 kaijō [venue] 　銀･松 イベント名 ibento-mei [event name]　日本刀展覧会 主催 shusai [organizer]　日本刀剣新 後援・協賛 kōen・kyōsan [support/sponsorship]　No entry. Source: 百貨店の国策展覧会をめぐって by 難波 功士 [cut and past the title and the article can be found in PDF format].