Help With WWII Sword Captured By My Grandfather

[Mike Hale]

Any insight is much appreciated.

[rebcannonshooter]

Hi Mike, your sword is signed NO SHU SEKI MAYE GAWA KANE TSUGU SAKU KORE, NOSHU (the province) SEKI (city) MAYEGAWA (his family name) KANETSUGU (the swordsmith's art name) SAKU KORE (made this).  The sword is in shin gunto mounts with a company grade tassel. The sword appears to be a non-traditionally made blade, but a nice sword.

 

Tom M.

[John C]

Mike:

I believe the flag is known as a good luck flag (yosegaki hinomaru). It would be signed by relatives and friends with good luck wishes and given to a soldier. Although not related to the sword, a translation may help you identify the original owner. 

 

John C.

 

[Mike Hale]

Thank you both very much for your replies.  I ran across this guy's thread and his sword has almost the same 'signature' as mine.

 

Edited October 23, 2022 by Mike Hale
Forgot to include link.

[Mike Hale]

John, thank you for the info!  I would gladly return the flag (and sword) if I could find their rightful owner(s).  My grandfather was a captain in the U.S. Army.  He received the sword from a Japanese Army lieutenant in Pusan, Korea, after the surrender.  The flag was taken from a Japanese camp during the capture of Clark Air Base on the Philippine island of Luzon.

Edited October 23, 2022 by Mike Hale
Additional info.

[ChrisW]

Without a complete surrender tag, there is no guarantee that you could even begin to find the original owner's family. In many cases, they typically do not even want the blade back or it promptly ends up for sale on a prominent dealer's site if the sword is of consequence.

In the case of a non-traditionally made sword, it would be seized by the police and destroyed anyways. Being that this smith made showato, it would almost certainly be destroyed.

[SteveM]

For the flag, you might contact the Obon Society, who specializes in repatriation of flags and other memorabilia. The flag in the picture has a location name, and enough background information that it might be possible to pinpoint the owner. I don't see a clear name on the flag that is identifiable as a recipient - it could be the name in the bottom right corner, but its missing an honorific, so its hard to tell if its a presenter or the presentee. Anyway, it seems to be presented by Kōriyama Public Middle School. 郡山公立中学校. 

Kōriyama is a city in Fukushima Prefecture. There is also a Kōriyama Middle School in Nara Prefecture, but my guess is that this would be from the one in Fukushima. Can't quite read the name. 津木義正 (Tsuki Yoshimasa, maybe?). The rest of the writing is mostly signatures. 

https://obonsociety.org/eng/