DIRK, Naval Officers, Japanese
W1970.827.a-b
Originally registered with a belt - belt missing 17/5/1973.
Tanto Of Kaigunto type ie: Standard Navy Officers issue WWII Black Lacqered leather Scabbard with gilt brass fittings. Straight grooved blade.
[.a] Blade - straight single edged curving towards point for lower 8cm. Single groove near back edge. Brass band around top 1 1/2cm. Blade is plated.Shape is Tanto. Length[Nagasa] 20.8cm, width at base[Motohaba] 1.7cm, width at point [Motosaki] 1.2cm.
Form is hira Tsukuri, blade taper[funbari] is slight, back[mune] is low ihore, carving is BoHi.
Edge - temper outline [Hamon] is Suguba [artificial], tip[boshi] is short Ko maru, return [Kaeri] is short. the forging technique and grain[kitae] is Muji The tang is uneven and has no signature.
The tanto is standard Navy issue to Japanese officers in WWII.
Hilt/handle - white same[Rayskin] wound with gilt wire grip. Fittings gilt brass 'ensuite' with scabbard. Quillon plain back curved down, forward curved up. Brass ferrule and top [with cherry blossom]
[.b] scabbard - black laquered leather, gilt brass throat and chape with cherry blossom motif.
W1970.827
United Service Institution Collection
Blade
Type: TANTO
Mei: mumei
Nagasa: 20.8 cm overall, fixed hilt
Sori: muzori
Sugata: hira tsukuri, iori mune
Hada: muhada
Hamon: artificially applied sugaba
Horimono: bo-hi
Date: 1926-45
This is a modern machine-made gunto blade of the type manufactured during World War II for issue to naval officers.
Koshirae
Type: KAIGUNTO
Saya: lacquered black leather over wood. Gilded brass kuchi gane and kojiri with cherry blossom motif
Tsuka: white same bound with gilt wire
Fuchi/kashira: en suite with scabbard
Menuki: en suite
Tsuba: adaptation of Western style guard
Overall length: 40.7 cm
This is a standard World War II naval officer’s dirk, which was surrendered at Rabaul in August 1945 to Capt. Bryce-Morris.
Department:
History DepartmentCollection
Accession Number: | W1970.827.a-b |
---|---|
Accession Date: | 12 Apr 1965 |
Material
Brass/Metal | a - dirk |
---|
Brass/Metal | b - scabbard |
---|
Leather | b - scabbard |
---|
Skin | a - dirk |
---|
Measurement
length | 330mm |
---|
length | 225mm | blade |
---|
length | 300mm |
---|
width | 15mm | brass band round top of blade |
---|
length | 208mm | from 'sword record sheet' this is the recorded length [nagasa] |
---|
width | 17mm | width at base[Motohaba] |
---|
width | 12mm | width of point[Motosaki] |
---|
The WA Museum is in the process of digitising its collections. This record may not have been reviewed by curatorial staff and may be inaccurate or incomplete. Research departments are continually working on these collections by adding new objects and reviewing existing content when new information is made available.
Enquiries can be emailed to reception@museum.wa.gov.au
Cite this page
Western Australian Museum Collections https://museum.wa.gov.au/online-collections/content/W1970.827.-b
Accessed 19 Jun 2024
Rights
We support the open release of data and information about our collections.
Text content on this page is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Image content on this page is copyright WA Museum.