SC0209
A very interesting military officer sword with the a Bushi-do poem chiselled onto the blade
Army shin gunto with metal saya with a Captain tassle and the blade is unsigned.
This sword was carried by an army captain who was protecting homeland Japan from invasion during WW2. Upon Japan's surrender, this sword was hidden away despite the US Occupation forces order to surrender all arms.
During the war, all Japanese soldiers were brainwashed with Bushido doctrine to fight to death. The poem was chiselled as a Will To Die.
In good polish, minute surface scratches due to the blade moving in and out of sheath.
Nagasa: 67.0 cm. Sori: 2.0 cm.
Moto-haba: 3.0 cm. Saki-haba: 2.2 cm.
Moto-gasane: 0.7 cm. Saki-gasane: 0.5 cm.
These are the opening words of one of the most famous poems in Japanese history, a tanka by Edo era scholar Motoori Norinaga which was later used, among other jingoistic purposes, to fortify the spirits of Japanese kamikaze pilots during World War II.
A testament to its power as an enduring instrument of Japanese patriotism, it hangs, written in gorgeous calligraphy, on a scroll in the atrium of the Yushukan war museum on the grounds of the Yasukuni War Shrine in Tokyo.
shikishima no
yamato-gokoro o
hito towaba
asahi ni niou
yamazakura-bana
It could be translated as:
"Asked about the spirit of the Japanese people, I would say that it is like a wild cherry blossoms fragrance in the morning sun."
The national flower, Sakura is very beautiful but short-lived and the bushi's (warrior) life is always described to be like the Sakura.
It is no coincidence that the first four kamikaze units ever created were named "Shikishima," "Yamato," "Asahi," and "Yamazakura."
In the final days of WW2, cities in Japan were heavily bombed but no battle was fought on the mainland.
Unlike military swords from US and other countries, swords in military mount that I purchased from Japan are all in excellent condition. The Japanese takes great pride and care of their swords. During the American invasion, some Japanese hid their swords despite the rumors that those caught would be shot on the spot.
In very early days of US occupation, record reproduced from National Archives, 569,013 swords from various cities were collected and handed over to the US Occupying forces. A lot of swords were cut and dumped into the Tokyo Harbour.
Price : NOT FOR SALE