Jump to content

Railway Swords & Stamps


Recommended Posts

This may be a slow thread to start as these gunto are pretty rare, but I thought I'd toss it out there: Dawson lists 8 emblems but states he knows of only the first 3 found on gunto - Japanese Govt Railways, South China Railway Co, and the SMR. I'm posting the chart along with a SCR emblem found on fleabay 9 years ago (link is already dead).

 

Anyone have real examples? (I know we have lots of the SMR emblem.

I'm really looking for all the others)

post-3487-0-14960200-1555954809_thumb.jpgpost-3487-0-74229000-1555955158_thumb.jpg

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Bruce

 

This is not mine,but is was the only one I ever saw had this marke on Gunto "工"-short verse for "工字鋼"  ,means shape of the railway track.Kind of like the C.G.R logo but  has a cloud shape thing in the middle.No photo for the tang.

 

Trystan

 

post-3887-0-74576400-1555960776_thumb.jpg

post-3887-0-03398100-1555960781_thumb.jpg

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I can only help you with pictures of old sales that i have seen, as i don't have any examples of my own. The tachi both have Mantetsu blades, the gunto is SMR.

The first Tachi has IMO more of a "real" gunto ito wrap,(that is circa WW2), while the second could be a re-wrap?

 

Trystan, thanks for sharing those great pics, very interesting!

 

Here's a Tachi : (included the nakago if it helps you out on your mantetsu database)

post-1868-0-60433000-1556080296_thumb.jpgpost-1868-0-10206500-1556080310_thumb.jpgpost-1868-0-99559300-1556080352_thumb.jpg

post-1868-0-82018800-1556080367_thumb.jpgpost-1868-0-45228800-1556080385_thumb.jpg

 

Another Tachi : (this one was discussed here on the forum, link included, again nakago pics for your info)

post-1868-0-99256400-1556080692_thumb.jpg

post-1868-0-38264100-1556080749_thumb.jpg post-1868-0-64579300-1556080790_thumb.jpg

post-1868-0-74559100-1556080814_thumb.jpg post-1868-0-65699200-1556080844_thumb.jpg

post-1868-0-11237600-1556080892_thumb.jpg post-1868-0-39997900-1556080927_thumb.jpgpost-1868-0-85294200-1556080951_thumb.jpg

 

http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/15683-ww2-southern-manchurian-railway-tachi/

 

 

Another SMR sword, this time gunto with tassel, nakago has 2 stamps:

post-1868-0-67294200-1556084729_thumb.jpg post-1868-0-27687600-1556084753_thumb.jpg

post-1868-0-71554400-1556084776_thumb.jpg

post-1868-0-09189300-1556084794_thumb.jpgpost-1868-0-15703500-1556084825_thumb.jpg

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I can only help you with pictures of old sales that i have seen, as i don't have any examples of my own. The tachi both have Mantetsu blades, the gunto is SMR.

The first Tachi has IMO more of a "real" gunto ito wrap,(that is circa WW2), while the second could be a re-wrap?

 

Stegel, fabulous examples! And I did not have that serial number on of that second one. Too bad you don't have it for that first one!

 

Yeah, I don't know what to think about that purple ito. They DID have some purple wraps back then, but this one just looks too new.

 

The last one with the South China railway is the second I've seen now, outside of Dawson's one, and it looks like they are all non-Mantetsu. Dawson stated that the SCR commissioned the blades, so they must have been made by other smiths.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 months later...

I'm adding a gunto owned by Michaelr, posted here: http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/29676-help-with-blade-tassel-and-fittings/. It is a non-Mantetsu blade in standard IJA 98 fittings (except for the all-brown fitting paint), but has the cream/brown tassel. It is only the second tassel I've seen in these colors outside Ohmura's site. Ohmura states gunto fitted this way are from the South China Railway police. SCR was taken over by SMR. Both military and civilians worked the policing of the lines, protetcting them from sabateurs. Ohmura's discussion is here: http://ohmura-study.net/308.html

 

post-3487-0-02659600-1567871996_thumb.jpegpost-3487-0-11393800-1567872035_thumb.jpegpost-3487-0-72961100-1567872081_thumb.jpeg

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is not mine, but is was the only one I ever saw had this marke on Gunto "工"-short verse for "工字鋼"  ,means shape of the railway track. Kind of like the C.G.R logo but  has a cloud shape thing in the middle. No photo for the tang.

 

This is the logo of the Manchukuo National Railway (滿洲國有鐵道) which existed from 1933 to 1945.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchukuo_National_Railway

 

Below is the Japanese Wikipedia page on railway rails.

https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/軌条

 

Thanks for sharing the pictures of this unique sword.

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is the logo of the Manchukuo National Railway (滿洲國有鐵道) which existed from 1933 to 1945.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchukuo_National_Railway

 

Below is the Japanese Wikipedia page on railway rails.

https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/軌条

 

Thanks for sharing the pictures of this unique sword.

That was the only one I ever saw,it is in China.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...
  • 4 weeks later...
On 10/13/2020 at 12:19 AM, Kiipu said:

BangBangSan

I thought you might enjoy loooking at these pictures linked below.

"Looking for someone can read Japanese"

https://www.gunboards.com/threads/looking-for-someone-can-read-Japanese.1173364/post-10518574

 

Thomas

I found a photo of 滿洲國有鐵道 Brass plate

 

WechatIMG903.jpeg

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 6 months later...

There is patch on the scabbard where there has been a bad repaint over corrosion from where the sword was carried.

Overall, the fittings and saya are of fairly good quality.

 

With regard to the partial removal of the railroad company logo: Maybe the NCR / Kwantung army officer was sent south and removed the NCR logo at that point.

 

Thanks for looking.

 

Jon MB

IMG_8063.JPG

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

This thread is quite old. Please consider starting a new thread rather than reviving this one, unless your post is really relevant and adds to the topic..

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...