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Update On The Sword Shortage


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For those who don't already follow the Warrelics forum, Nick Komiya, has posted a short, but historically precious, article of a flyer he found calling for donations of swords during the war and the length and value restrictions involved.

 

http://www.warrelics.eu/forum/japane...-gunto-688110/

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interesting Bruce,

 

im can only assume 500 yen was a generious sum of money, comparing it to the wages of a yasukuni smith who (according to the book) got between 6 and 2.50 yen per day

 

so thats 83.3 days of work to equal that sum of money, for a top rated yasukuni smith. the nihonto taren kai made approx 10 swords per month around 1935.

 

dosnt that sound abit odd, or am I going mad from lack of sleep

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interesting Bruce,

 

im can only assume 500 yen was a generious sum of money, comparing it to the wages of a yasukuni smith who (according to the book) got between 6 and 2.50 yen per day

 

so thats 83.3 days of work for a top rated yasukuni smith. the nihonto taren kai made approx 10 swords per month around 1935.

 

dosnt that sound abit odd, or am I going mad from lack of sleep

Well, a Type 98 cost an officer 120 Yen, and the Rinji or Type 3 was to cost 80 Yen, so it sounds like desperation pricing if you ask me.

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Would like to either copy the text and paste here with the pic (and state the origin) or turn it into a small article to post in the articles section.
Linking to other forums only works while both forums are available and nothing changes. The Photobucket incident showed how risky that is.

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Well, a Type 98 cost an officer 120 Yen, and the Rinji or Type 3 was to cost 80 Yen, so it sounds like desperation pricing if you ask me.

 What I gathered from reading the original article in full was that the the 500 yen figure was the top price that would and could be paid. To me, the inference being that many swords would fetch less, and anything worth more would be returned to the donor as too valuable to take to war. There is actually a clear statement that "treasures" were not to be given up for this program.

 

 These swords were then to be sold to officers through the program, and I have little doubt that a 500 yen blade would then recoup the the initial outlay. Officers swords were always, in every army, a private purchase.

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What I gathered from reading the original article in full was that the the 500 yen figure was the top price that would and could be paid. To me, the inference being that many swords would fetch less, and anything worth more would be returned to the donor as too valuable to take to war. There is actually a clear statement that "treasures" were not to be given up for this program.

 

 These swords were then to be sold to officers through the program, and I have little doubt that a 500 yen blade would then recoup the the initial outlay. Officers swords were always, in every army, a private purchase.

Good catch Dave!

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Would like to either copy the text and paste here with the pic (and state the origin) or turn it into a small article to post in the articles section.

Linking to other forums only works while both forums are available and nothing changes. The Photobucket incident showed how risky that is.

Brian, Nick just said we were "welcome to do so" with his article!

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From the artilcle

"The program only required the blades, but owners who wished to sell the swords complete with Koshirae was paid for the Koshirae as well"

 

A change of thought that I will consider now;  is that the so called "Civilian WW2 swords" with edo koshirae were more than likely soldier carried.

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 Regarding prices, be wary! Rampant inflation devalued the Yen at a dreadful rate during the war years, which for Japan started well before 1942, so do not go by late war prices. But for a little context, here is a piece of US propaganda and relevant comment.

post-2218-0-66343200-1514233097_thumb.jpg

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Maybe thats interessting for someone.

 

In 1875 a german officer must pay 2000 Taler for his rifle, bajonett and sabor. 1 Taler was about 3 M (Mark) compared with today, 1 M was around 1,53 EUR or 1,8 USD. So he must pay for his weapons around 10.800 USD (today). A lieutenant earned around 240 Taler a month (1845).

If we compare that prices with Japan we see that the weapons were expensive in every period aorund the world.

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Jeez, even back then they were doing Hotel buys :-)

 

LOL made me laugh Rich, a mate and i'd go buy off the hotel buys, wed wait until end of the week or days, now and then we'd find a real find.

 

Hotel buys....them were the days.  Until you walked in and see the buyers were from Japan....LOL

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