The Blacksmith

I have seen one Chris that appeared to little more than one of the cheap letter openers, with the cheap engraved and painted decoration filed off. I wish that I had downloaded the images of it now. yep, caveat emptor indeed!

@John C A book that I have on my desk but haven't read yet is Raymond Lamont-Brown's 'Kamikaze', published by Cassell. ISBN 0-304-35200-4 Should be interesting reading. There is a section on the kaiten, so perhaps something is mentioned in there. I did see a short film some time back, I think perhaps from Duxford, where they had an Okha, the piloted bomb, and on the side of the cockpit were two brackets, to hold the pilots sword.

With regard to the picture in the post by marcin, I have read that before taking off on their final mission, the pilot would assemble all their belongings and usually with a note to their family, this would be complied at their sleeping place and togheter with their sword, these would be returned to the pilots family. Ryuji Nagatsuka in his book 'I was a Kamikaze' mentions this, and thet they were at home with his family when he finally returned home after failing in his mission. he never mentions anything about a dagger that I can remember.

@John C Thank you for that John. I will look forward to perhaps reading that paper when it comes out! This is something that I have often wondered about. I have read a bit about this, but have never heard of such a dagger. Imagine a pilot of an Okha committing seppuku while trying to hit a warship! Highly improbable. Though they might have been carried as a symbol as you mentioned, a bit like a Gyoji at a yokozuna level sumo bout who carries a tanto, symbolising their willingness to die rather than fail.

Was there ever such a thing as a 'kamikazi tanto'? I have seen lots of them around for sale. I have also read quite abit about the Kamikazi corps, but have never read anything about them being given such a dagger. Also, the strength and strain of holding a plummeting aircraft while trying desperately to hit a dificult moving target under fire, would have been enormous, so forget committing seppuku at the same time. Any thoughts...............................?

@Lewis B Thank you very much for that, it is much appreciated!

John did this with two of mine without any problems, and the copydex held the llining firmly in place afterwards. Thankyou, yes ukebari, i had forgotten the name of the liner! Just gently prise the liner away carefully to start with. @Matsunoki I don't see the listing there now Colin. Do you have a lnk to the actual listing rather than the page? Maybe it has been taken down, or sold.

Just for the record, I used to know John Anderson, who will be well known to all Japanese armour lovers and collectors. And when showing John a suji bachi that I owned, John said that the helmet lining, I forget the name of it as this was forty years back, was only glued in place and that what he did, and then did with my permission, was to gently pull away the lining at the mabixashi a bit to gain access to the inside of the hachi. We could then read the mei, which in that particular case was Myochin Ujiiye and was dated Eisho 14th year (1518?). John then glued the lining in place again using Copydex, so that it was firm, but could easily be removed if desired.

Thank you for that explanation Piers, the san bit now makes sense, though I thought it only refereed to the centre fixing. Looking closer, it looks like the center rivet is a replacement, as perhaps is the oharaidate then? There is a hole where one would normally have expected the sanko no byp to have have been.

The sankō no byō is the rivet in the centre of the mabezashi (peak), IIRC, holding the Oharaidate (crest holder). it seems extremely high in this instance, and oddly placed right on the join of the koshimaki. Uwe, does the laquer where the suji meet the koshimaki seem a bit crude for Edo work?

I bought a massive and stunning wakizashi at the Sir Frank Bowden sale at Christies in 1982, also in shirasaya, which I really like. Tsuda Echizen no Kami Sukehiro, and dated Enpo go nen, 1677, also with origami by Inami Hakusui, with a value of 600 gold mai IIRC. The stunning blade was obviously gimei, but it was massive, perfect and I adored it. Unfortunately life changed and it went. This was one of the blades exhibited at the Ashmolean Museum in 1968.

In an earlier post I mentioned that I was about 22 when I first started collecting Nihonto. In fact, I was younger than that , about 20, though I started collecting edged weapons when I was six, so have been collecting some sixty years now.

For those who may have problems with seeing the written inscription................

I wondered if it might even be a very poorly written Nao?

I think that perhaps the tsuka (wooden grip) has been made from a bokken, a wooden practice sword. It looks to be red oak, which is often used for bokken.