Tanto marketed as Pilot Hara-kiri dagger

[John C]

21 minutes ago, When Necessary said:

As a result, this dagger was lost along with the Zero Fighter, making its survival today miraculous

...and yet they abound on ebay and other auction sites! Hence the myth.

25 minutes ago, When Necessary said:

good luck talismans

F&G (pg. 108) make a similar observation, noting "...They were probably more symbolic than practical..."

The problem over the last few years, however, is how did the myth grow legs? Certainly, the huckster salesmanship style of internet auctions have promoted the myth exponentially. I conversed with one seller who exclaimed "I got the description from [everyones favorite simian] and he knows what he is talking about." But the myth may have grown up from a simple comment in F&G. Just in front of the quote above, the authors note:

 

"Reputedly such dirks were for cutting the jugular before the plane crashed into its target. However they were probably more symbolic than practical since a pilot would require all his skill to operate his machine up to the moment of impact."  

This comment (reputedly) has no reference or footnotes, and is essentially hearsay. But I suspect folks have read that line and run with it as absolute fact and carte blanche to market any dirk or tanto they find as "kamikaze suicide" dagger, while conveniently ignoring their next sentence.

John C.

[PNSSHOGUN]

There is a huge amount of willful or malicious ignorance around axis militaria purely in the name of profit. Far easier to sell the romance that a sword or dagger was reputedly "taken after a showdown with Tojo himself on the summit of Mt Suribachi...." than it being picked out of big pile after the war was over during occupational duties.  

[Bruce Pennington]

It's starting to sound like there was a variety of reasons a pilot might have had a tanto in his possession - a gift from a mother (for seppuku), special gift from a unit commander to his favorite pilot, navy-wide practice for good luck, specific Special Attack Unit (Taigi-tai), Army units.

 

Since the tanto was the instrument used in seppuku for the ages, it is easy to see how collectors would latch onto the idea, especially after being mentioned by both Ohmura and Fuller.

 

Eagerly awaiting your article, John.