Sword belonging to Lt. General Noguchi Kon'no

[rebcannonshooter]

Sword of Lt. General Noguchi Kon’no

      I’d like to share some photos of an interesting sword I was able to acquire recently. The sword is housed in army Type19 field grade officer’s  Kyu-gunto mounts, with a black wool, “German-style” sword knot with gold crown. The knot appears to be the type authorized in Meiji 45, and original to the sword when brought back to the U.S.

     The blade is a wakizashi, 21.25 inches long, rather straight, with a sori of only 3/16”. The hamon appears to be sanbon sugi, but with rounded peaks rather than the more typical pointed.

Before purchasing it, I posted pictures of the nakago in the translation section of the NMB. Special thanks to Moriyama Koichi for helping with the translation and providing biographic info. Additional thanks to SteveM for his kind help with the horimono explanation (see the postings in the translation section).

From the translation Moriyama-san provided: the sword was a gift from Akizuki Teijiro to Noguchi Kon’no in the spring of 1884 to celebrate the latter’s commissioning as an Army Second Lieutenant. (Dec 25, 1883).

Akizuki Teijiro was a famous samurai who served the Matsudaira Clan. He was a senior commander of the Aizu forces during the Boshin War.  Later in life, he became an educator and established a close relationship with Noguchi Kon’no, who was his protégé.

     Noguchi had numerous combat postings and promotions during the Sino/Japanese War. During the Russo/Japanese War, he was promoted to Colonel where he served as Chief of Staff of the Army’s 4^th Infantry Division.  He fought in the Battles of Oishibashi, Haichen and Shahe, and was seriously wounded during the Battle of Liaoyang. He returned to Japan to recover and was later promoted from Colonel to Major General in March of 1908. (Japan does not have the rank of Brigadier General like we have in the US). While a Major General, he commanded several different infantry brigades but fell ill in 1911. He was promoted to Lieutenant General in August of 1912 (Taisho gan-en) before being transferred to the reserve forces (retirement).

     The sword does not have the tortoiseshell handle that would be consistent with what a Major General would have carried during the 1908 to1912 time period (when he was of that rank). Nonetheless, I believe that this is, in fact, a sword owned and carried by the late Lt. General Noguchi Kon’no, IJA. The sword would have most certainly been carried by him while he was a colonel, but the presence of a Meiji 45 knot creates a conundrum. He was obviously a General when this knot was authorized, so does that mean this sword was still in active use? Would a sword in this furniture still have been acceptable for a general to carry?

     Anyway, I am honored to be the new caretaker of this sword, please enjoy the photos! I welcome all comments, corrections and speculations. Special shout out to Bruce Pennington, John (PNSSHOGUN) and Thomas (Kiipu), you guys have more expertise with Kyu-gunto and knots than I do, and I would love to hear your thoughts. Also, I would appreciate any evaluations from Nihonto experts of the blade itself, thank you.

Any mistakes/errors are mine alone, and I attribute them to old age and too much alcohol in my youth.

 

Respectfully submitted, Tom M.

 

 

         

    

        

   

                            

[PNSSHOGUN]

That's a really great find and writeup, thank you for sharing. It isn't unknown for a general officer to still retain his field grade sword, Lt. Gen Baba's sword in the Australian War Memorial is a field grade cavalry Kyu Gunto with Shin Gunto general officers knot. From memory the black knot was authorised for use by all ranks in the field, the sword may have also been used by one of his sons? Did you have any details on how the sword came to the USA? 

 

 

[rebcannonshooter]

Hi John,

I did inquire with the seller about additional info on the sword, unfortunately how it came to the US is lost to time. It would have been nice to have some additional provenance to link this to the general. He did have a son, but I couldn't find any history on him.

It is also my understanding that this black wool knot was authorized for all officers in Meiji 45, and I am excited to hear that there is an example of a general officer carrying a sword in field grade mounts! I believe that this sword was an important possession of the general, and that he would continue to carry it. 

Tom