One of the weird stories I've heard (can't verify), is that when Japan surrendered, all of the swords had to be turned in. GI's would grab the swords as souvenirs and bring them to the US. This was not a big deal for these factory made swords, but appearantly a lot of antique ones were also taken and now they might lay in someone's attic collecting dust.
true my father was a young US soldier stationed at Yokosuka base right after Japan surrendered.....they were given the choice of a sword or a rifle as a souvenir.....he chose the sword (it is a short ancestral sword in wood "sleeping case") I still have it. I always asked why not take the rifle and his answer "didn't want to carry it".
It's not impossible that some officers had really old swords, but the vast majority of Japanese swords was just mass produced since the late 19th century. And especially these "souvenir swords" were often very cheap and mass produced junk. Not just after WW2, but also dating back to the 1880s, when western people wanted to bring something "authentic" home after visiting Japan. And - to be clear - even the majority of old(er) Japanese swords isn't necessarily good in terms of material quality.
@@daviddestefano5044 might be because I am European and we don't have much in the way of a firearms culture, but my preference would also be the sword. But not for the pragmatic reason your dad had. Correction: as someone pointed out, I overgeneralised when I said European. I should have said Belgian, appearantly we have multiple cultures that do have a firearm culture.
@@Nickname-hier-einfuegen my comment was about the swords that were surrendered at the end of world war 2. But in general the modern ones are probably mass produced as you say. But this is with most "authentic" souvenir things you can buy, unless you buy it literally from a craftsman. I agree that most of the captured swords will just be mass produced. So the chance that somebody took home a real antique sword that was a family heirloom is very small. Still, If I was American and I'd find a Japanese sword my grandfather took as a souvenir from world War 2, I'd have it looked at. Even if it is just one of these mass-produced swords for the war, it is interesting to know.
@@Nickname-hier-einfuegen literally every blade made in Japan pre ww2 was junk, the iron quality in the ground under Japan is literally the worst in the world, the folded 1000 times stuff, was required to bring the iron and steel used up to mass manufacture quality of western contemporaries, Japan during the era of samurai was extremely isolationist and only really stopped being that way in the late 18th century therefore only had domestic junk iron ores to work with, plus their grasp on steel making was far behind the West, they made up this gap with extremely skills swordsmiths
According to my late mother, my uncle Yukihiko went to war -- he was a Yokkaaren, a 16 year-old Navy pilot -- he had both his official military sword and our family sword. Since he survived the war, he brought both back -- until the U.S. demanded all swords in Japan. He threw our sword into the ocean, rather than surrender it.
Funny how such obvious _vae victis_ occupational measures are still used in the modern era by western militaries even when they spend so much of their time in officer training school and history classes learning about them being a terrible idea.
@@hinglemccringleberry9389 - You silly man. History is always told from a perspective. A Japanese boy that turned 16 in 1943 and served entirely in the Pacific for the Japanese Navy would know nothing about what the Japanese Army was doing thousands of miles away. Moreover, you are casting YOUR light on something I said in a neutral manner. History is more than just good guys and bad guys.
@@hinglemccringleberry9389 There were definitely a lot of awful things done by the japanese military during the war, but it’s important to recognize how significant the swords were to japanese culture, even during that dark time of human history. I don’t think there’s any pride in the war crimes that were committed, but what happened is history and if the us was demanding the swords to destroy them then that’s erasing history. It’s important to understand what happened and keep the memory of it alive to avoid these kinds of wars from happening again. And if you want to talk about atrocities i guess we could mention the minor details of the united states dropping two atom bombs on cities, but i suppose since we were the ‘good guys’ that doesnt count.
@@Samwise_01 wtf are you talking about? destroying the weapons of a crazy and brutal enemy that committed atrocities isn't "erasing history". you think destroying, say, a rifle bayonet is gonna make people forget that it was used to stab chinese babies? that's an insane ideology. and the U.S using a nuke to bomb 2 military base cities was literally the ONLY way to get the Japanese military to surrender, because, as we all know, the japanese NEVER surrendered. using those bombs as a last resort is MUCH different than lining up thousands of civilians in front of a river and shooting them in the backs, or using civilians for human experiments, or using civilians as live bayonet practice, or stabbing babies in front of their parents, or raping wives and daughters in front of husbands and fathers. you SERIOUSLY trying to compare the nukes to ACTUAL war crimes and inhuman atrocities? wtf is wrong with you?
The Swedish police used to have sabers, up until the early sixties I think. I heard from a friend's father who was a police officer back then, that it was kind of useful. It looked impressive, and if you felt threatened enough to pull it out of its scabbard, the sound of it being pulled out made the bad guys step back.
Wow! Just think of the difference in between then and now Malmo is the rape capital of Europe because of the "diversity" and migrants. And it's illegal to defend yourself!
"What was the real point of giving swords to every sargeant in the army?" It doesn't come up much with shooty armies, but squad leaders do get an extra attack in close combat.
My Great Uncle was a Marine in WW2 and fought in Saipan. He had jumped into a ditch when a grenade went off sending shrapnel all over the one side of his body that was exposed. He managed to pull out his pistol and kill a Japanese Officer that was charging towards him with a samurai sword. The sword must have been a nice ancestral version because my Grandma told me it was wrapped in eel skin, which was probably Manta ray skin as you stated in the video. My Great Uncles kids sold the sword off years ago. Up until the day my Great uncle passed on to the next life, he had a little glass jar above his medicine cabinet that he would collect the shrapnel pieces that would get pushed out of his body as the years went by. Unfortunately, I never had the privilege to meet him.
I can imagine that a very small number of military kills were achieved with swords, especially in trenchfighting, like in your example if your great uncle had been slower or if his pistol jammed, he likely would have been killed by that sword.
I never understood people who sell or throw out stuff like that... WTF IS WRONG WITH THEM! But seriously, I hear stories like that far too often. Once again, I just can't fathom what goes through their heads.
Honestly, my great-grandfather earned a load of WWII medals (including a George Cross) and said he wished he’d sold them. Instead, they all got stolen and replaced with fakes. He said he didn’t really like what the medals represented, but he would have liked to have gotten some money for them to spoil his kids with.
"It's been in my rifle collection- -and let me tell you it's a nightmare. While it has a striking slimline design, I've never managed to get it to dry fire, let alone actual fire as I just cannot find the right ammo that fits and has a terrible barrel that is surprisingly sharp - so much so you could lose your fingers when you grip it. Honestly, this is why I like French rifles, they're just so much more reliable."
@@builder396 theres actually couple uchya (its a cylinder that shoots arrows) stone sling(braided rope Spanish used them to shoot explovies basically makes u into a human trebuchet) Borneo blowgun (spear blowgun) rungi (mace u can throw) rabbit stick (old ass boomerang like weapon) altalt (a leverage handle to shoot long spear like darts) chakram (hoop blade) like 500 different types of darts,tomahawk, spears,axes,knifes hand throwing wepons.....and im pretty sure theres more unique ones im just not aware of
I remember when I was around 15 years old, I was telling my grandfather that I really wanted a katana as I was fascinated by swords. He reacted really bluntly, almost angry. Later my father told me that in WW2, my grandfather, who was Indonesian btw, saw fellow prisoners get beheaded by Japanese officers in a prison camp. I'll never forget the feeling I got when I heard that.. Like some brutal wake up call to this world.
@@Nachtdwaler your grandfather is Indonesian.....what about your parents?... I'm so confused right now...how the hell you don't know Indonesian? Just asking
@@ilhamseptian1604 My father was born in Surabaya, Java. But he moved to the Netherlands whe he was 9. He is the oldest of all his brothers and sisters. Only 3 out of 8 were still born on Java. My mother is from the Netherlands.
About 15 years ago I acquired the sad remains of a shin-gunto sword, just blade and sheath, at the local flea market. The two had rusted together and been driven apart. I sent a copy of the glyphs to my Japanese daughter-in-law, who provided the following translation: Shou Wa (emperor's name), Kano Tomi (16, with the emperor's name, 1941), Haru (spring), Kou a i ssin (name of sword), Man Tetsu (name of company, "South Manchuria Railway"), Saku no (made of). She provided links to internet articles about this manufacturer. When China conquered Manchuria, they found that traditional swords were brittle in the extreme cold. They also gained access to high-quality iron ore. Using that, they developed a process of putting a mild steel core in a high-carbon tube, then forging a blade. Performance tests proved it to function as well as the finest hand-forged blades. Production was begun, with output reaching 400 blades per month. Modern metallurgy and manufacturing processes produced the finest military sword adopted by a nation---when swords had been an anachronism for a half-century. They were used to behead many American, English, Australian, Chinese, and Indian POWs.
I've seen a photograph purporting to show two Japanese officers who had been in a competition to behead the most Chinese civilians in a day. The two men are smiling at the camera, holding their swords as if they were about to go fishing.
In my opinion it has a morale boosting effect when drawn. You'd ether realize you wanted to be brave or at the very least you'd be like "this man is nuts, I can't let him just die, I gotta fight with him." So yes it wouldn't be the most effective in combat but for morale I think it would be VERY important especially how japan was back then.
@@zaholykrusedar1459 and that relates to the above exactly how? (protip: the last time a British sergeant uttered that order in total seriousness, BOTH sides were using fully automatic assault rifles - and it worked)
I recently inherited a Type 95 sword from my grandfather who picked it up in Korea when his division disarmed the local Japanese garrison. I even have the GI take back paperwork authorizing it’s entry to the US. Fantastic timing on this video. Now to preorder the book.
I was actually going to commission a real, no BS tradional-made Shinken (Katana) for $6500 back in '03, but dress the tang as a US cavalry saber and make it a family/service heirloom to be passed down. My choice was that or a motorcycle. I cheesed out and got the motorcycle. I kinda wish I had just commissioned the sword, it would have broken down a lot less than the Sportster and saved me more in the long term. And if you're going to kill yourself with it, at least you'll go with more style.
1. It's a sword from japan 2. It's from a historic war 3. It's a family heirloom already 4. It was a symbol of rank and status It's no lesser than any other pre-meiji restoration sword other than it's rushed manufacturing process. It's a bona-fide Samurai sword.
I don't have a type 95 sword - all the swords that I have collected over the years were hand forged and most of them signed by the smith who made them. I like to think that all the swords that I do have were carried by Warriors! Even the type 95 swords were carried into War! They all deserve respect!
Ian: "Some veteran's kids or grandkids probably used this sword to do some good guy bad guy rough play with this, as you can see it's quite roughed up." Also Ian: "So my dad got this from a veteran brought back" Wait, the timing is a bit too perfect......
I don't think Ian's dad would have let him chop weeds in the backyard with this, if that is what you are implying. And I do believe that he would have 'fessed up if he had.
@@dbmail545 I've heard enough stories of soldiers murdering civilians and giving jewelry and toys of the victims to their own family. That's a little creepy, if you ask me...
Ian, it’s funny I’m at work, in Japan, while watching this and I’m more of a sword guy than a gun guy. I’ve actually lived in Japan, have been practicing Kendo and Iado since I was a kid, and own a few swords. This was a really cool and unexpected video. While I’m personally much more interested in the older Japanese swords, I may have to pick up a copy of swords of the emperor. It’s a neat endeavor to branch out on.
@@projektkobra2247 5 years in Osaka for me. If it were not for the impossibility to assimilate culturally, even with fluent Japanese, I would've stayed.
@@thomasdawe1837 Is it actually necessary to assimilate? I'm here going on ten years and while I may never be assimilated into the culture, that's not such a bad thing at the end of the day. I mean my in laws, coworkers and friends accept me and I don't really need much more than that. Besides that, the trains run on time and the food and healthcare are better here.
In my teens, one of my friend's father was an occupation troop in Japan, just after the war. He brought one of these home, as a souvenir. One of my other friend's sharpened it, and we pretty much played with it as a machete. The oleander bushes fell victim to this weapon.
The oleander bushes were a far better target than what be the usual civilian or prisoner that would be the target when an Imperial Japanese serviceman would use a sword like this against.
I saw a Pacific veteran account of fighting in the Pacific, he said that one Japanese soldier was trying to get behind the lines and was captured. The only thing that he had on him was a photograph. A photograph is not of his wife children or family but, of him executing someone by sword and, trying to get their head to fall into a basket before them. That was the most important thing in his life...
There's a video on UA-cam with a marine veteran. He notes that a dead Japanese had a picture of him and his squad. In China, standing next to a cage filled with decapitated heads
In Southeast Asia, the Japanese katana gained a negative reputation among the older generations, especially those who lived through the war. The Japanese would often use these to behead POWs, captured rebels, and civilians. An oft repeated urban legend claims that when a Japanese officer drew his sword in public, it could only be re-sheathed after it had spilt blood.
@@jonathantan2469 that was the legend of when a samurai sword could be resheathed. And originally was meant to _prevent_ that kind of behaviour, i.e., a cautionary "do not draw the sword just to scare people or brag" tale - which OF COURSE was turned into "lookie, I drew my sword for funsies, now I gotta kill someone". Such is life.
@@user-oc1tf7oz6y Uh, indeed you are 100% correct in the "Japanese steel was utter shit" (mad skills their smiths had, being able to make serviceable tools and weapons out of that crap, I tell you) and in the "sword was ceremonial and cherished and the very symbl of being above a commoner, but the prefered battlefield weapon was something else with the sword being just a backup" (hilariously, _exactly_ like a knight's sword), but you are actually wrong about something: for most of their story it was, in fact, forbidden by law for commoners to own or carry katanas. Originally it was just the prohibition of carrying the fanous "long/short" pairing (the very symbol of samuraihood), but later on the laws strengthened and the katana itself was forbidden. _Of course,_ that didn't stop commoners from carrying swords that technically were not katanas, or yakuza clans (which, hilariously, were the actual government of many a town during centuries due to deals with the shogunate in exchange of support) to openly carry actual katanas. Then carrying swords, period, was forbidden by law. And as you can bet, that marks the point in history when you start finding tantōs with a length of one inch less than the legal definition of sword. Japan: shitposting IRL since the Middle Ages. Edit, just in case someone actually reads again that wall of text🙂: And the latter thing of the post is why the word tantō used to mean a short sword and now means a knife, to the desperation of translators worldwide. Never change, Japan.
My father commanded a PT boat in the South Pacific during WW2 and I remember him telling me stories of dumping barrels of swords and guns off the boat after they shot up landing barges. Some they kept as trading goods, but most of them went over the side.
Some more advise about Type 95 NCO swords: There are NO signatures or any other marks under the handle. The handle is not meant to be removed, and if you do, chances are the sword handle will not fit as tightly as before, and it will be loose and rattle.
This is only applicable to the version that Ian has, the Early War versions are actually built more like a real/historic Katana and can be field stripped.
@@d.pierce.6820 Nonsense? I own one of the Type 94 NCO Shin Guntos that are meant to be taken apart when necessary, the Type 94 version is built like a traditional Katana so it is meant to be taken apart and field stripped when needed. In case you still don't know what I am talking about, the one I own is the kind that has the forger's name underneath the handle, has a bamboo peg, has the Nagoya Arsenal mark under the handle as well.
According to some claims, Japanese went back to katana style swords for some practical reasons during the early stage of their invasion into China. As they engaged melee combat with the local polulace, they found out the western-style one handed saber had difficulties cut through the heavy winter clothing worn by the resistance force, so they specifically asked for two-handed designs when the army was commissioning for new sword designs. I really like shin gunto. They are literally the last generation of swords that were designed for actual combat.
To be fair, one handed saber only be popular in the west when firearms were widely used, therefore western that time would rather wear good-protection armour or clothes that providing no protection but places to store bullets and gunpowder than thick-layers clothes Since most places in asian still doin medieval things, that's not a bad idea after all
Weather requested by Japanese soldiers invading Manchuria and China or because of nationalist and militaristic governments at home, swords like this and the officer's model killed far more civilians than any armed combatant ( Ally or "retreating" Japanese ).
It always gives me a pang of sadness when I remember that my grandfather on my Japanese side (I'm Japanese-American) had to hand in the family's sword. It and a scroll that traced back our family tree were the heirlooms passed down and the sword was hundreds of years old. My father tried many years to try and track down the sword, but it was more than likely tossed into the Pacific instead of making it's way to a museum, or at the very least, someone's home.
My dad bought one of these cut down officer swords.. still insanely sharp to this day. One of my goals was to have the blade inspected and tsuka translated so I can return it to the originating family when I eventually receive it from him.
@@andrewdonovan219 Like many other Japanese people at the time, especially military, he probably felt immense shame for losing the war and decided he wasn't worthy of carrying it anymore. Can't say for sure though.
@@andrewdonovan219 He was the only officer on the tiny island he was stationed on that spoke English. He managed to negotiate the surrender on their behalf and I believe he handed it over to whoever the commanding officer was in an impromptu ceremony. I honestly wish I knew more about it, but both he and my father have passed. I can only really go on what I remember from them talking of it in my childhood. I've tried learning more about it, but I couldn't find anything as it was one of many inconsequential islands with only like a dozen or so soldiers on it that US forces literally skipped by cause it wasn't worth fighting over. In an equally sad event, he had actually hand written out an autobiography of his time during WW2 and of when he managed the surrender, but... the publishing house he handed over his manuscript to ended up being a scam and it was lost when they just up and disappeared.
It's great to see you do something like this to remind people that your channel name is Forgotten *_Weapons_* not Forgotten Firearms. On another note, it's really interesting to see something that really represents the perversion of traditional Bushido in the wider Imperial Japanese society within a single object.
@@nickaschenbecker9882 There's also the fact that traditional Bushido called for showing compassion towards a defeated enemy. I think we can all see how the Imperial Japanese treated that little tidbit.
@@pieceofschmidtgamer Very true. Even the very idea of Bushido as we know it was not the original stuff, but the late XIX - very early XX century romantized retelling of it - which is what was "sold" to soldiers and civilians alike, etc. It was a very deliberate use of traditional bushido as a propaganda tool, and I agree with the original poster that this kind of swords are, amusingly, the single object that bests represents such just by its very existence.
Then true bushido would be represented by the bow. It was the samurai's original weapon. Shinto doesn't consider swords innately holy, but they do consider bows innately holy.
The *word* Bushido was invented in, I believe, the 19th century by someone who never fought a battle in their life. Samurai weren't generous ascetics, like western knights they were little better than bandits seizing whatever they could from the peasantry. "Bushido" and similar western concepts exist because more modern descendents of these real pieces of shit wanted to romanticise their past, trying to pass off their ancestors as truly noble. It's almost entirely bunkum.
Just a note - the Japanese were still producing handmade swords throughout the war also, the folded, polished, tempered types. My first katana was a Kinmichi signed 1943 manufactured one.
@@panoctic japan has a weapons law that among other things bans swords over a certain length. this would apply to all katana theoretically however there is an exception for swords made in the "traditional Japanese art" obviously factory mass produced swords from ww2 is not traditional Japanese art so they are illegal.
These shin guntos were a few inches shorter than a katana for convenient single hand cuts because the imperial army sword training were heavy based on sabre fencing. Some officers didn't even know how to use the sword properly. It's also more curved compared to the katana.
The process used for the blades was actually pretty clever. The Japanese wanted the soft core/hard blade style of traditional katanas but without the smithing or expensive tooling, so a guy figured out how to use railroad manufacturing equipment to stick soft steel inside hard steel, then smash it into shape in very large quantities.
Yeah, 'billet steel' isn't such a bad thing. The whole sandwiching, welding, folding and differential hardening was done because the raw material wasn't great. I have a book on Japanese Swords somewhere that has an entire section giving names to flaws that arise due to the traditional forging process. Swords could be identified by, or earned names because of these flaws. Billet steel might not be as romantic, but it's pretty consistent.
I find these blades endlessly fascinating from an industrial design perspective. Taking what was once a highly rarefied status symbol and making it suitable for mass-production.
@@dreadnought8363 the Man At Arms YT channel has an episode where they show how it was done. Pretty slick setup, honestly, they took a chunk of hard round stock and machined a hole in the center, then turned a chunk of soft steel round and just a tiny bit bigger than that hole. Put the soft steel into the freezer while the hard steel is heating up, and if you got the sizes right you can just drop the soft steel into the hole. Let the two come to room temperature before you reheat the block and forge weld them.
I know it’s a fairly well known book but, Eugene sledge that wrote with the old breed on Peleliu and Okinawa. In interviews described how on might think it was silly to have a sword in battle but that he had multiple buddies killed at night in fox their holes by sword, bayonet, and knife. Saying he personally saw a good friends right arm amputated by a Japanese officer.
Ian, as amazing as this may sound, there was quite a bit of swordplay (on both sides) in the Philippines during WW2. Besides the Japanese, local Philipino partisans were equipped with bolo swords, barongs, kampilans and other styles of indigenous swords. The Philippines is as much of a sword culture as Japan. On top of this, even US Army troops from the 1st and 2nd Filipino Regements, formed outside of Los Angeles, CA, were equiped and trained in the use of bolo swords made and donated by the LA area Filipino community. If you read the memoir of Sergeant Leo Giron, published in the 1970's by the decorated US veteran, he describes the tactics and motivation behind these clashes. In short, in dense jungles, main battle rifles like the Garand were a liability due to the low visibility and the potential for friendly fire. Pistols, shotguns, submachine guns and bolo swords were the weapons of choice.
Here is a 1943 Newsreel of the 2nd Filipino Regiment. At the end of the video you will see them being issued their bolo swords. The two Regiments requested, and were allowed to undergo short sword training in lieu of the standard US Army bayonet training: ua-cam.com/video/Imq6XDzjSIo/v-deo.html
The bolo is a mean tool. It's not even really a sword. More like if a bowie knife and a hatchet had a baby. All the weight is in the blade so it's ability to chop dense material requires little effort outside of maintaining blade alignment with the target.
@@Khan.WrathOf Some bolos are knives, some are utilitarian tools (machetes), and some are swords. It all depends on the length, weight and most importantly, the grind on the blade. Some grinds are optimized for cutting vegetation, others for flesh and some take a middle of the road approach. As for balance, there are MANY different styles of bolo blades. Point of balance will differ from style to style. If you watch the newsreel, notice the length of the blades, relative to the height and body size of the Soldiers. Most of those men appear to be between 5'3 and 5'8. For people of their size, those are definitely short swords.
@@zxggwrt Ferdinand Magellan, the explorer, met his demise on These fierce , sword wielding Filipino ancient warriors in 1521 a.d. He was literally chopped up.. recorded by his expedition chronicler who managed to escape the carnage.. leaving Magellan's body behind.
He did took it to a match! (Type 94 Nambu at the Backup Gun Match) He used the sword as the "backup" backup weapon... The sword worked batter than the nambu at that match lol
For amusement value, since the _real_ purpose of the folding was to homogenize the low or mixed quality steel that medieval Japanese swordsmiths had to work with into an useable, homogenous-quality billet for forging, some of those guntos, made industrially with modern-produced steel, are _actually better_ blades than _some_ of the old, traditional, fancy blades were. (Angry comments of weebs failing to realize that "some" does NOT mean, nor imply, "all", in 3, 2, 1...)
I own a pilot's or tanker's variant or what's left of it. It came from a crash so the handle and wrap burned away, the scabbard was never found it still has a very large amount of the owners blood all over it. It very clearly used to be a family blade given the remaining fittings and the name of the smith being etched into the tang. Even blackened, blood stained and very slightly rusty it's still a beautiful blade.
There’s a push in recent years to see ancestral blades returned to their owners. If you know someone who can read Japanese script they might be able to tell you which family the sword belonged to. If they’re still alive I’m positive that family will be grateful you returned a heirloom to them
Restore it, keep it, or give it a decent museum. Forget about returning a combat weapon to a nation that disavowed ever using it again because they dishonored the "military tradition".
I have one #24497, its in really bad shape; covered with finger prints and gunk and covered with scrapes. All the lacquer is gone and is worn down to base. Thank you for sharing your example, its in much better condition!
Rebuild your sword. Colors and paints are readily available. Your sword has little value..so restore it as best you can. Like refinishing an old Win 94 beater.
Ian crushes it in every video. It's a treat to see someone that good at his job. Extremely well researched and perfect info delivery. Also very expertise at assembly and disassembly of any weapon.
I've got one of these. I also have a Navy sword, called a Kai-Gunto. that one is exceedingly rare. the funny thing about my Kai Gunto is that it was made at Toyokawa naval arsenal in July of 1945. they were absolutely just wasting resources on swords all the way up until the end. my grandfather was supposedly a peacekeeper after the war, and acquired it then. I only had a single picture of him, in combat dress. he also unfortunately committed suicide when my father was 5 years old, on account of what he saw 'over there'. I say "supposedly", because I don't think a peacekeeper after the war would suffer from such PTSD to do that, and the fact that he brought back a bunch of stuff, a helmet, a rifle, a flag, and the two swords. I never saw the flag, it disappeared in the 80s probably, and the helmet, my dad gave to his friend, and I got it back only a few years ago, although his friend had completely chromed the whole thing. my father probably destroyed or sold the rifle, he hated guns. I've still got the swords and helmet, along with a bunch of stuff from the other side of the family. I'm only 25, and even I played "good guy bad guy" with them when I was a kid.
I can imagine a number of things that could cause PTSD in that period, I mean, the fact he brought back arms like these makes me feel he didn’t exactly have a desk job
@@jonathany1240 that's my thoughts exactly. we don't know much about him. the man was an Enigma. He did go to Yale, I've got his class ring. he was a very smart man, and his wife, my grandma was an Aerospace engineer and advanced mathematics teacher. I really wonder what he saw over there that would drive him to that. plus all the "booty" he brought back (as my late father so eloquently put it). everyone on that side of the family has passed, and as I was the only son, along with being basically adopted, I really didn't know much more than that. my father once suggested that he was stationed at Nagasaki. I've got a paper from the DOD saying he was there circa 1955. that still doesn't add up either. who knows? maybe he was an OSS agent. that would have been cool.
@@tankacebo9128 there was a lot of 'disciplining' carried out through the postwar period all the way into the 60s. Plenty of former soldiers and 'inspired' Yakuza were not happy with the American presence (for good reason too). Given that, and the tendency of Japanese police to turn their eyes away from authoritarian abuse of power (a lot of police do that, not just Japan).. It's never too surprising to hear of some abuses leading to 'procured material' leaving in the hands of civilians
There was some pretty horrific sexual violence during the occupation and it happened on quite the scale, if he were to have encountered or had to deal with that then it would make sense for him to be deeply affected, especially as very few perpetrators were ever brought to justice.
Tank ,thank you for your story. Sad that swords like these were more likely to be used against civilians or unarmed prisoners than in all but the most desperate of battles against Allied soldiers.
The "folded a million times" thing is largely a myth. In reality, folding more than 20-30 times or so was more common (which produces around 1 million layers...), as each time there is a risk of introducing pockets / impurities between layers - and any benefit is reduced.
I remember reading somewhere that the large-ish number of foldings that Japanese swordsmiths put their blades through was not to make the resulting steel a better quality than what the cultures of Europe and Middle-east had. It was done because Japanese iron ore was (is?) on average of inferior quality compared to what Europe and Middle-east have. So maybe they had to fold *some* extra times to weed out the impurities, but not too many times so as to avoid pockets or impurities between layers? I'm not a smith or a metallurgist, so any confirmation regarding Japanese iron ore quality and the ways they had to take it into account in the forging process would be appreciated.
@@GorgeousRandyFlamethrower- from what I understand (and I'm no expert myself) the folding was also to distribute the carbon content equally. What surprised me, was to find out some sword makers often laminated the blades with different types of steel (in addition to the folding etc.).
@@theoriginalmikaveli yes, they were blending hard steel (high carbon, sharp but brittle, used in razors) and soft steel (lower carbon, not sharp but resilient, used in hammers). This offset their limited capacity for iron on the islands of Japan throughout their premodern history, which also effected the use of swords in combat, they primarily used archery not swordsmanship in battle Even after industrialization, they had a limited capacity to produce iron/steel products and subsequently relied on other metals and even carpentry to realize modern production until ultimately invading other countries and stealing their resources, thus stimulating their war machine further
@@GorgeousRandyFlamethrower- In layman's termns (since you admit not being an expert), yes, that is more or less the situation. Is a simplification, but not TOO much of it. The Japanese even have a word (which I learned 30 years ago and forgot in my old age, gomen) for steel that has been folded too many times and is no longer good swordmaking material.
The japanese were absolutely correct in their assessment of swords. The katana are really cool. Edit: The scabbard is in no way representative of the average traditional katana. The scabbard is much closer to french sabers, or the Kyu Gunto of early imperial japan.
To be honest, the whole "folding" thing was just because the original metallurgy wasn't up to producing sword-sized billets of decent steel, so blades HAD to be made of much smaller lumps hammered together, much the same as European pattern welded swords. A decent-quality modern steel, well heat-treated, is just as good as a moderate quality original one. (I've practiced the Tiama Ryu Naval kata. * basic moves, intended to teach non-swordsmen the basics. Unfortunately, move number 8 is a beheading. Always makes me uneasy doing that one). Nice sword!
Also, there's this misconception that the number of "folds" is the amount if times it's been folded. Fold once = 2 layers. Fold twice = 4, fold thrice = 8. 16, 32, 64, 128, etc. When you hear someone say "This katana was folded 1000 times!" they really mean it was folded 10 times (1024 layers) Fold it more than... I think it's like 12 times or something? and the steel becomes really brittle and starts to delaminate.
The reason for which they made a lot of folds in the blades of the middle ages/early modern period was because their metallurgy was really poor, and what came out of the furnace had to be hand picked by color (the blacker it was, the more carbon it had) and pattern welded together, and had a lot of defects that had to be well mixed into the structure of the metal, so they wouldn't cause a catastrophic failure. On one hand the iron ore they had access to was of inferior quality, on the other their furnaces were not capable of entirely melting the ore, mixing the right amount of carbon in and floating the slag. That's why in modern times when crucible or Bessemer steel became available, that technique wasn't necessary anymore and blades could be made quicker, cheaper and of a better average quality.
Crucible steel isn't anything modern, think the oldest sword made from that material is from 6th century CE, and even the Norse had acces to that steel for a short period(probably before the trade route got closed of with Northern Iran in the 10th century CE), there is a documentary about the Norse swords, Ulfberth.
@@andreasfjellborg1810 Indeed it's not modern. It was invented probably in Southern India or Sri Lanka in the first centuries BC, and spread to the Middle East, from where ingots were traded as far as Northern Europe. They had a better quality iron ore down there, also containing some micro-elements such as tungsten and vanadium which gave it special properties. Crucible steel fully melts during manufacturing and has a predictable and uniform content of carbon and other elements, so it doesn't require pattern welding and repeated wrapping to for a good blade. But in East Asia that technology didn't spread for various reasons. The Japanese only had access to the tatara which is basically an open furnace that can't achieve very high temperatures and the iron is slowly carburated to steel over 3-5 days of slow burning. Then the resulting tamahagane, which is similar to bloomery steel is extracted, broken up, sorted and re-mixed to create a sword or other weapon or tool as I described above.
Japan was always out of touch with the outside world throughout known history, especially with Europe, so much so that "gun" meant copies of matchlocks brought to the country in late 15th century, until only few decades before WWI. It would not be a huge stretch to call a cutting edge 6th-10th century metallurgy a modern technology in that kind of context.
@@davydatwood3158 Pretty much everyone in the world did fold the steel/iron over and over, the Norse did pattern welding much from astetics too. wrought iron as a core with wolf tooh or some twisted pattern and steel on the edges. A sword back then was a status symbol, so why not make it pretty?. :)
My father who fought in the Pacific with the Australian Army liberated one of these which I still own. It it similar but has a traditional sharkskin and bound handle held on by a peg. There is no blood groove and even to this day the blade is perfect and VERY sharp. I have been told that it is probably a type 98 model sword.
Imagine being a Marine, armed with an M1 Garand and a 1911, the gold standards of modern combat weapons, going house to house in some village, clearing rooms, only to have a gray haired Japanese NCO explode out from behind a door screaming and swinging at you with one of these like a samurai. The oh shit factor involved cannot be overstated.
In his book "Quartered Safe Out Here". George MacDonald Frazier talks about fighting against hand to hand with Japanese soldiers armed with swords in Burma.
Imagine being a civilian women or child at Nanking in 1937. Then, a bunch of people wielding these show up and r*p3 you and your family. Actually happened unlike your made up little fairy tale.
For amusement value, the reason the European armies stopped using swords was NOT (as often mis-stated) their obsolescence as weapons; it was that in WWI they marked the wielder as a bullet magnet -err, officer. But swords are actually quite a dangerous thing to go against in close combat. In those weird, uncommon, anecdotal ocasions where a modern gunfight develops into a modern swordfight (like the aforementioned Burma), the "oh shit" factor _certainly_ can NOT be overstated.
Its especially jarring because you've gotten no training to defend against that. Knives and bayonets for sure but what the fuck do you do against a sword?
Wanted to leave joke comment that there's no literal teardown being done, but after seeing Ian describing the entire sword like his usual firearm teardown, I am mighty impressed that I'll rescind that joke 😂
there's no reason to take an NCO sword apart. There's nothing written on the sword tang, and you will likely never get it back together as tightly as original, so it will just rattle and be loose.
They aren't the only ones looking at sword traditions. The M1902 Army Officer's Saber is also still "in use", albeit practically ceremonially. And bayonets are essentially knifes to be stuck onto rifles to turn them into spears. Also still in use. Having a cutty stabby sting is still better than a bare fist.
Tradition is often underestimated in decision making. The Marines ordered officers and NCOs to carry the m4 instead of a handgun to fit the tradition of every marine being a rifleman.
when you recognise "arms" isnt limited to pew pews, but cannons, swords, spears, that table, and blades capable of cutting ships in half and split causality itself
Thanks Ian! I inherited one of the short swords from my Mother. I was told it belonged to her Father who was a shop owner in Japan. He gave it to my Mother and Father after they got married after the Korean War. The one I have has a cloth wrapping and has a black wooden scarab. I would but the new book but unfortunate I also have a paper shortage, the green kind with numbers on it.
The Cherry Blossoms cast beneath the string wrapped handle were not just artistic embellishment. They were duplicating a brass or bronze ornament that was traditionally placed beneath the string wrap but over the shark/manta ray skin on the handle. They held some significance that presently escapes me. Possibly to their house or allegiance?
Chrysanthemum with was a common motif in the army and navy regulation swords is the symbol of the Imperial house, if it was a cherry blossom then those are usually associated with the nation by the Japanese, a bit like how they think black eyes and black hair mark them out (it doesn't, it's literally the most common and widespread colours), when referring to the country it will inevitably be either with reference to being an eastern island or as the land of cherry blossoms.
@@vorynrosethorn903 Chrysanthenum and Sakura. That's what I was looking for. Thank you. Didn't the various noble houses also have their own emblems that were used in this way?
@@CaptApple The chrysanthemum is the symbol of the emperor's family, displaying it, means more or less "honour to serve the emperor". AFAIK, the police still uses it. Also, the cast is called "目貫" (menuki), it helps adding grip to the handle and embellishes the sword.
correction in the scabbard: the flaring on the tip is actually pretty standard for sabers. for most western sabers, it was actually done so that you didn't stab the horse you were riding. It's just to make sure it doesn't catch on things / damaging equipment / stabbing others
I have heard an interesting story about katana. Katana was a symbol of class already in Samurai period, Tokugawa shogunate era in the 17th to 19th century. In late 16th century, Guns were main weapon in the civil war. And Japanese had mass-produced matchlocks more than any European country at that time. Even a samurai with best sword skill could not match farmers/foot soldiers with guns, bows and arrows or long spears. A nicely crafted sword for a samurai was a symbol of commander class. After the civil war, the government started to disarm local feudal lords. They created the image of katana, rather inefficient close combat weapon, as a spirit of samurai and other weapons are not. Especially guns. In short, the government fantasized katana for gun control. I’m not good with history (and english grramer) but this theory is convincing to me.
The T in 'tsuba' isn't silent, but other than that your Japanese pronunciations were more or less spot on! This was a great review, a refreshing change of pace!
His "kyu" sounds more like "kyo" to me, and he pronounces "shin" like the body part rather than the noise a sword makes when it comes out of a metal scabbard (but who isn't used to that), but yeah. His Japanese is fine. Tsu can be tricky for a lot of English speakers.
It depends on the individual, there is supposed to be a very slight t but with how it's pronounced some people either have such a small t that it can barely be heard or skip it all together.
@@harrybuttery2447 Yeah, I usually just pronounce it the way Ian did if I'm just saying it in English. If I'm speaking Japanese, I have to make the sound very deliberately to do it correctly, especially in the initial position. That sound usually appears at the end of a word in english, like "wants".
That is a wonderful heirloom, Ian, and you have the provenance which adds to its desirability. I can assure you the mass-produced Gunto were made of very high quality steel. I have an Arisaka bayonet and it is one of the most durable and tough blades one may find for mass production. I know this because my other Arisaka was used by my ex for everything from garden digging to chopping down shrubbery and it sustained very little damage except the blue was scratched off.
Katanagari(sword hunting) was common during the occupation of Japan when allied soldiers went from house to house to collect swords as well as family antiques from civilians at gun point. My father’s side of family owned a katana that dates back from the 16th century but kept this hidden in their backyard when the American soldiers came. They also implemented anti-firearm laws for the civilians as part of the demilitarization process. Instead of giving up their katana, my grandfather’s family gave up their hunting rifles. Yes, civilian firearm laws were ALOT more loose and widely accepted in Imperial Japan than modern day.
The sword you showed is a mass Shin Gunto of sergeant type, officers were entitled to better quality swords with blades from family katanas or tachi (cut to military standard), swords of the old type of the Meiji Restoration period were called Kyu Gunto and visually resembled sabers of the European type (as far as I know, some honored officers were allowed to keep them after the transition to Shin Gunto swords). There were two main types of new military swords, the Shin Gunto (officer's sword of high quality and sergeant's sword of maximum simplicity and cheapness) for ground troops and the Kai Gunto for the navy, with black stingray leather, scabbard in black leather and two bindings instead of one, the author compared it to a katana and indeed the blade is similar to the Tokugawa period katana, but the type of carrying and decoration refers to the tachi sword, which in Japan is much more status weapon and its history is much more than that of the popular katana. At the moment, as far as I know, Shin Gunto/Kai Gunto with mass-produced blades, especially sergeant Shin Gunto, are not considered nihonto and have no cultural value and are considered just weapons of the Japanese armed forces of that period, like a bayonet.
10:48 - Not just Chinese. The same blades also ended the life of many innocent Filipino's... I am forever told about a church in the Philippines where a lot of Filipino's had gone to seek sanctuary from the Japanese soldiers, a lot of old people, women and children. Only for the solders to walk through the door, attempt to kill all the people inside then bayoneted them and cut them down with their swords (if they still had one) when their ammunition ran out and they needed to finish the job. The Japanese were in the process of losing control of the island to US forces and they wanted to do as much damage to the local natives before they withdrew.
Fun fact: whether left handed or right hand you always hold it right handed as the blades are actually slightly tapered to be right handed. Left hand on the bottom right hand up high.
As far as I know samurai had to be right handed. There were probably left handed sword fighters back then but right handed was the norm every one hat to live by
I was shown the sword that belonged to the Japanese Sergeant Major, who ran Changi Prison Camp. It was not one of these, having a proper traditional finish to the handle and scabbard. As Allied Forces approached Changi, the Japanese increased the rations to the Prisoners and handed over the Camp to them. The Allied Officer inmates of Changi, convened a Courts Martial and the Sergeant Major was sentenced to death and beaten to death with his sword, in its scabbard, this being the most dishonourable death that he could be afforded. The sword remains exceptionally sharp and is held by a local Regiment who were interned after the fall of Singapore.
I'm so glad he called it a fuller and not a "blood groove" I think this actually sheds a light on another angle as to how the notion that Japanese Katana were better than European longswords came to be. So many of these made it into the US at about the same time wallhanger swords would've been getting popular. While these type 95s were cheap and made as a status symbol, they were still combat ready weapons while most European style "swords" in the US were movie replicas made from aluminum or soft steel so it's likely that many people got the impression that because the cheaply made Katana their grandpa brought home was better in every way then the shiny, elaborate movie prop they bought at a mall or convention thus Katana better.
Early billet steel '95s stood up to use in extreame cold weather (Manchuria) better than the handmade blades. Type 94/95 officers swords have lots of customization as they were private purchase items. One of the rarest options would be the "patent" kuchi gane saya and tsuba. Tassel colors (iirc): brown - sergeant/sergeant major, brown & blue - company/warrent officer, brown & red - field officer, brown/red & gold - general. In Japan machine made blades are considered weapons, not objects of art thus illegal to own.
New-manufacture blades can be bought in Japan -- there's a little shop in a town I visit (when I can) near Hiroshima that has been owned by a family of bladesmiths for about a hundred years or so. Their window display includes new-manufacture swords, fitted with simple wooden hilts as the purchaser will probably fit them with more elaborate hilts and furniture after purchase. Prices start at about 25 man yen (ca. 2500 dollars US) and go rapidly upwards for katanas and short-sword taichis are not much cheaper.
@@robertsneddon731Simple wooden "hilt" is a Shira saya the "proper" way to store blades. 25 will buy a pretty nice antique, looked at a rather ordinary wak in a very cool ebi (shrimp) themed saya in Ginza. Missed out on a VG slight touch up polish needed Kai hei gunto by 2.5 sold for 30. Interesting 30-50 'entry level' blades moves pretty fast. Got a friend trying to unload a very nice custom shinto from a famous smith that he's got 1000 into... not having much luck. The super high-end unexportable juyo or cultural asset level stuff usually only trades behind closed doors. I'm currently hunting for a Naval dirk.
I appreciate the level of gravitas that Ian assumes when speaking about difficult subjects. While interesting, these sorts of things are often approached too lightly in our society. Well done. Would love to see a comparison on here with the Kyu-Gunto and adoption of the sabre by Japan during the Meiji period. :)
@@vampirecount3880 Too lightly as in "Oh wow these swords are so cool, this is so much better than [this] specific sword! I couldnt care less where this is from, how it was made, why this was made, but this is perfect example of Japanese craftmanship!!"
It might be just me thinking this but i think the swords aren't just status symbols but they also give spiritual/emotional support to the people who have them~ and it's also to give a reminder what they are fighting for as a soldiers~ i might be rambling nonsense but whenever i think of the japanese especially those that came from old households, they just remind me of discipline~
You might be onto something. A US Army field manual claims that the bayonet is "a useful training aid in building morale and increasing desired aggressiveness in troops." If a simple bayonet can increase morale, it's plausible that a sword could as well.
@@ragingjaguarknight86 I think a drawn sword and raised in the air would increase morale more times than a bayonet~ Btw can I know where you found that anecdote~? I am a little interested in reading it~
@@alisahutako4518 ask and you shall receive. Check out "The Psychology of the Bayonet" by Maj. William Beaudoin. Also a US Army field manual but I forgot which one.
Fantastic video! No shame in it not being a firearm, because last I checked Ian, your channel is called "Forgotten Weapons", not "Forgotten Firearms." Thank you for sharing this piece of history!
My friend in Japan showed me his grandpas old type 98. Half of the blade was missing, it was chopped off after the surrender. But he still got to keep it.
Oh man, I never knew how badly I wanted to see a colab between you and one of the Swordtubers. Matt from Schola Gladiatoria has done a lot of reviews of more “modern” military swords.
My father was one of the very first American soldiers in the Occupation of Japan because he had been in a unit training to be the initial landing force in Kagoshima Bay in Kyushu during Operation Olympic. He stayed in the Army at the end of the war to have some adventure and also accumulate some savings as my grandparents were poor. He was quickly placed in chargw pf a small unit decommissioning Japanese miltary stores and defenses. Among other things he brought back one of these katanas which sat by our fireplace until he and my mother both died and the house was sold. The sword passed on to my brother and his family. I haven't seen in on about 20 years but I remember it being of higher quality than your weapon though clearly not a heirliim sword. It was in pristine condition and he probably got it from one of the arsenal stocks. Might have been a government issue officer's sword. I'll let my brother know and perhaps we can determine its history. Thanks. I might also suggest covering the excellent Japanese bayonets, of which I have one with the original tubber sheath, in storage. Mine is a formidable looking pristine weapon of excellent quality and still rather sharp.
very minor pedantic detail but ww2 officers and nco's swords in regulation mounts such as this one are always mounted as tachi (edge down) rather than katana (always edge up). the pattern and ornamentation of the swords' furniture is conciously evocative of this ancient noble cavalry sword, a predecessor of the katana
That's rather interesting. Were they usually on foot? If I'm not mistaken, one of the motives for the tachi being edge down, it was easier to draw while mounted since it was longer than the katana. But the shin gunto seems to be the same length as katanas.
"Were these actually used?" *cries in Nanjing ... I guess they weren't really used under normal circumstances, which is why two officers (probably with very similar swords) had to hold a contest to see who can kill 100 civilians/pows with sword first... One of the two swords used in this contest is in a museum in Taiwan, with Japanese inscription that states "Nanjing Battle.107 kills". In 2017, some lunatic in Taiwan stole this sword from the museum and tried to use it to attack the Presidential Office, injuring one guard in the process before being arrested. You can find pictures of this sword and it has a very similar grip, but different guard. The way the sword is displayed in said museum is also very chilling, it scales up a picture of a man who's about to be beheaded by a Japanese soldier, and on this blown up 1:1 picture, they mount the sword in the hand of the soldier, and the sheath in the same place where it would be in the photo.
Honestly, I'd love to see modern reproductions of these blades. Something by Hanwei Forge, Cheness Cutlery, or anyone else who makes reasonably priced modern katana-type blades.
No statement on quality as I don't own one, but Kult of Athena has a few varieties of reproductions, both Shin Gunto and Kyu Gunto. As far as swords go, they're on the cheaper end price-wise, so I'm going to imagine they aren't particularly amazing.
Like Ian said a lot of very precious blades passed down for generations were fitted to type 95. Decades later they resurfaced like this, and hidden among those are state of the art blades made by very famous swordsmith, dating back to the 1600's and 1500's or even older. As practician of Battodo those are absolute gems to find. As a matter of fact, following D day some G.I brought those swords from the pacific theater in France, and gave those to the locals, and that's how even to this day, new swords are found in old attics and caves in the french country side.
Hey jc I hate to be nit pickey but VJ or victory Japan was the end of WW2, their was still a whole lot of dying to be done after D day🙁 then VE day🙂 then just to round it all off, VP day victory peace😄 and also France was in the ETO, European theater of operations, Japan was the Pacific theater, I will shut up and go away now 🐠🏴☠️
My late father was a USN Lt JG on a destroyer who with his ship visited Guam in August or September 1945. Their mission was to assist with the repatriation of Japanese forces on Rota. Anyway, while at Guam someone got their hands on a mass produced katana, and they held a raffle to dispose of it. My dad won the raffle. And he brought it home and hung it on the wall in his study. As a kid I was utterly fascinated with it, what kid wouldn’t be. Anyway his had the bronze or copper hardware and a wooden handle with metal decoration and was wrapped in a red twine. It lacked the gullet and 40 years later was still scary sharp. Sadly a few years ago we lost it in a house fire.
Also, on another note: the x number of folding etc. comes from another issue - the Japanese didnt have enough good iron ore, so they had to get very creative. Hence the classic technique of two different types of hardening. Which also is the reason, why a classic katana is only sharpened on one side - the top has a different hardening than the blade, making it less prone to breaking, while giving it a bit more flexibility. cu, w0lf.
It doesn't jam and never runs out of bullets, and what it lacks in range it makes up for in style.
"What can a sword do that a gun can't?"
"Parry."
@@IncredibleMD “parry this you filthy casual”
On the other hand it cracks it breaks and it doesn't cut well. Swings and roundabouts
@@IncredibleMD Anyone who's had bayonet training knows you can parry with a gun.
That sounds like an Ahoy quote.
Really liking the idea of reviewing other antique non-firearms
It's called forgotten weapons not forgotten firearms so it fits the bill^^
@@hokuhikene "today we're going to be taking a look at this trebuchet"
@@hokuhikene indeed
@@HailHydra27 I would watch!
I think a forgotten weapons style program about laboratory equipment would be neat
One of the weird stories I've heard (can't verify), is that when Japan surrendered, all of the swords had to be turned in. GI's would grab the swords as souvenirs and bring them to the US. This was not a big deal for these factory made swords, but appearantly a lot of antique ones were also taken and now they might lay in someone's attic collecting dust.
true my father was a young US soldier stationed at Yokosuka base right after Japan surrendered.....they were given the choice of a sword or a rifle as a souvenir.....he chose the sword (it is a short ancestral sword in wood "sleeping case") I still have it. I always asked why not take the rifle and his answer "didn't want to carry it".
It's not impossible that some officers had really old swords, but the vast majority of Japanese swords was just mass produced since the late 19th century. And especially these "souvenir swords" were often very cheap and mass produced junk. Not just after WW2, but also dating back to the 1880s, when western people wanted to bring something "authentic" home after visiting Japan. And - to be clear - even the majority of old(er) Japanese swords isn't necessarily good in terms of material quality.
@@daviddestefano5044 might be because I am European and we don't have much in the way of a firearms culture, but my preference would also be the sword. But not for the pragmatic reason your dad had.
Correction: as someone pointed out, I overgeneralised when I said European. I should have said Belgian, appearantly we have multiple cultures that do have a firearm culture.
@@Nickname-hier-einfuegen my comment was about the swords that were surrendered at the end of world war 2. But in general the modern ones are probably mass produced as you say. But this is with most "authentic" souvenir things you can buy, unless you buy it literally from a craftsman.
I agree that most of the captured swords will just be mass produced. So the chance that somebody took home a real antique sword that was a family heirloom is very small. Still, If I was American and I'd find a Japanese sword my grandfather took as a souvenir from world War 2, I'd have it looked at. Even if it is just one of these mass-produced swords for the war, it is interesting to know.
@@Nickname-hier-einfuegen literally every blade made in Japan pre ww2 was junk, the iron quality in the ground under Japan is literally the worst in the world, the folded 1000 times stuff, was required to bring the iron and steel used up to mass manufacture quality of western contemporaries, Japan during the era of samurai was extremely isolationist and only really stopped being that way in the late 18th century therefore only had domestic junk iron ores to work with, plus their grasp on steel making was far behind the West, they made up this gap with extremely skills swordsmiths
According to my late mother, my uncle Yukihiko went to war -- he was a Yokkaaren, a 16 year-old Navy pilot -- he had both his official military sword and our family sword. Since he survived the war, he brought both back -- until the U.S. demanded all swords in Japan. He threw our sword into the ocean, rather than surrender it.
Funny how such obvious _vae victis_ occupational measures are still used in the modern era by western militaries even when they spend so much of their time in officer training school and history classes learning about them being a terrible idea.
Seems about right. Good story
@@hinglemccringleberry9389 - You silly man. History is always told from a perspective. A Japanese boy that turned 16 in 1943 and served entirely in the Pacific for the Japanese Navy would know nothing about what the Japanese Army was doing thousands of miles away. Moreover, you are casting YOUR light on something I said in a neutral manner. History is more than just good guys and bad guys.
@@hinglemccringleberry9389 There were definitely a lot of awful things done by the japanese military during the war, but it’s important to recognize how significant the swords were to japanese culture, even during that dark time of human history. I don’t think there’s any pride in the war crimes that were committed, but what happened is history and if the us was demanding the swords to destroy them then that’s erasing history. It’s important to understand what happened and keep the memory of it alive to avoid these kinds of wars from happening again. And if you want to talk about atrocities i guess we could mention the minor details of the united states dropping two atom bombs on cities, but i suppose since we were the ‘good guys’ that doesnt count.
@@Samwise_01 wtf are you talking about? destroying the weapons of a crazy and brutal enemy that committed atrocities isn't "erasing history".
you think destroying, say, a rifle bayonet is gonna make people forget that it was used to stab chinese babies? that's an insane ideology.
and the U.S using a nuke to bomb 2 military base cities was literally the ONLY way to get the Japanese military to surrender, because, as we all know, the japanese NEVER surrendered.
using those bombs as a last resort is MUCH different than lining up thousands of civilians in front of a river and shooting them in the backs, or using civilians for human experiments, or using civilians as live bayonet practice, or stabbing babies in front of their parents, or raping wives and daughters in front of husbands and fathers.
you SERIOUSLY trying to compare the nukes to ACTUAL war crimes and inhuman atrocities?
wtf is wrong with you?
The Swedish police used to have sabers, up until the early sixties I think. I heard from a friend's father who was a police officer back then, that it was kind of useful. It looked impressive, and if you felt threatened enough to pull it out of its scabbard, the sound of it being pulled out made the bad guys step back.
Wow! Just think of the difference in between then and now Malmo is the rape capital of Europe because of the "diversity" and migrants. And it's illegal to defend yourself!
Hungarian mounted police still have them, or at least had them in 2006 when they used them against rioters.
“STOP IN THE NAME OF THE LAW! YOU HAVE COMMITTED CRIMES AGAINST SWEDEN AND HER PEOPLE”
That'd do in countries where civilians don't own firearms. But imagine some US cop carrying a sword...
Deflect the bullets with the sword.
"What was the real point of giving swords to every sargeant in the army?"
It doesn't come up much with shooty armies, but squad leaders do get an extra attack in close combat.
I guess it's rank hath its privileges. Plus, if you've ever seen a sailor in his dress whites with a sword it's undeniably cool.
Yeah, can't forget that extra S3 attack. Would this "count as" a chainsword or powersword?
never underestimate a swords usefullness as a pointing stick.
well when you have millions of civilians to kill, you can't waste a bullet on each one right?
See I at least arm my Sargent with power swords.
My Great Uncle was a Marine in WW2 and fought in Saipan. He had jumped into a ditch when a grenade went off sending shrapnel all over the one side of his body that was exposed. He managed to pull out his pistol and kill a Japanese Officer that was charging towards him with a samurai sword. The sword must have been a nice ancestral version because my Grandma told me it was wrapped in eel skin, which was probably Manta ray skin as you stated in the video. My Great Uncles kids sold the sword off years ago. Up until the day my Great uncle passed on to the next life, he had a little glass jar above his medicine cabinet that he would collect the shrapnel pieces that would get pushed out of his body as the years went by. Unfortunately, I never had the privilege to meet him.
I can imagine that a very small number of military kills were achieved with swords, especially in trenchfighting, like in your example if your great uncle had been slower or if his pistol jammed, he likely would have been killed by that sword.
I never understood people who sell or throw out stuff like that... WTF IS WRONG WITH THEM!
But seriously, I hear stories like that far too often. Once again, I just can't fathom what goes through their heads.
Honestly, my great-grandfather earned a load of WWII medals (including a George Cross) and said he wished he’d sold them. Instead, they all got stolen and replaced with fakes. He said he didn’t really like what the medals represented, but he would have liked to have gotten some money for them to spoil his kids with.
@@borismuller86 sounds like he was a wise man, even for his age.
@@praevasc4299 Banzai chargers and Infiltration squads operated at night so it did happen more often than. You think
"It's been in my rifle collection-
-and let me tell you it's a nightmare. While it has a striking slimline design, I've never managed to get it to dry fire, let alone actual fire as I just cannot find the right ammo that fits and has a terrible barrel that is surprisingly sharp - so much so you could lose your fingers when you grip it. Honestly, this is why I like French rifles, they're just so much more reliable."
You posted grinch on main
@@user-mj7qw6xo1u hello yes what the hell does this mean?
I read all of that in his voice! 🤣
@@gagekieffer772 I'm assuming it's a discord reference, although I dont know what grinch means
@@gagekieffer772 I'm assuming an auto-correct of 'cringe'
would love to see some non firearm projectile weapons from Ian
dude you are the forgotton weapons of archery
@@dzejrid Forgotten catapults
@@builder396 theres actually couple uchya (its a cylinder that shoots arrows) stone sling(braided rope Spanish used them to shoot explovies basically makes u into a human trebuchet) Borneo blowgun (spear blowgun) rungi (mace u can throw) rabbit stick (old ass boomerang like weapon) altalt (a leverage handle to shoot long spear like darts) chakram (hoop blade) like 500 different types of darts,tomahawk, spears,axes,knifes hand throwing wepons.....and im pretty sure theres more unique ones im just not aware of
More ballista content pls Ian
He will need to review ROCKS
I remember when I was around 15 years old, I was telling my grandfather that I really wanted a katana as I was fascinated by swords. He reacted really bluntly, almost angry.
Later my father told me that in WW2, my grandfather, who was Indonesian btw, saw fellow prisoners get beheaded by Japanese officers in a prison camp.
I'll never forget the feeling I got when I heard that.. Like some brutal wake up call to this world.
kakekmu tentara kah ( cuman nanya )
@@bryuhMan Sorry I can't read Indonesian!
@@Nachtdwaler ah sorry, Does your grandfather serve in the military ? ( just asking )
@@Nachtdwaler your grandfather is Indonesian.....what about your parents?... I'm so confused right now...how the hell you don't know Indonesian? Just asking
@@ilhamseptian1604 My father was born in Surabaya, Java. But he moved to the Netherlands whe he was 9.
He is the oldest of all his brothers and sisters. Only 3 out of 8 were still born on Java.
My mother is from the Netherlands.
About 15 years ago I acquired the sad remains of a shin-gunto sword, just blade and sheath, at the local flea market. The two had rusted together and been driven apart. I sent a copy of the glyphs to my Japanese daughter-in-law, who provided the following translation: Shou Wa (emperor's name), Kano Tomi (16, with the emperor's name, 1941), Haru (spring), Kou a i ssin (name of sword), Man Tetsu (name of company, "South Manchuria Railway"), Saku no (made of). She provided links to internet articles about this manufacturer.
When China conquered Manchuria, they found that traditional swords were brittle in the extreme cold. They also gained access to high-quality iron ore. Using that, they developed a process of putting a mild steel core in a high-carbon tube, then forging a blade. Performance tests proved it to function as well as the finest hand-forged blades. Production was begun, with output reaching 400 blades per month. Modern metallurgy and manufacturing processes produced the finest military sword adopted by a nation---when swords had been an anachronism for a half-century. They were used to behead many American, English, Australian, Chinese, and Indian POWs.
I've seen a photograph purporting to show two Japanese officers who had been in a competition to behead the most Chinese civilians in a day. The two men are smiling at the camera, holding their swords as if they were about to go fishing.
@@bravesniper2174 Yep.
"Kanotomi" meant the 18th year of the sexagenary cycle
Thanks! Very fascinating.
@@ptonpc Absolute Chads
In my opinion it has a morale boosting effect when drawn. You'd ether realize you wanted to be brave or at the very least you'd be like "this man is nuts, I can't let him just die, I gotta fight with him." So yes it wouldn't be the most effective in combat but for morale I think it would be VERY important especially how japan was back then.
The exact same thing than a British sergeant bellowing "FIX BAYONETS!"
Yeah, that if, the enemy's infantry use mostly bolt-action rilfes
Sadly, American adopted semi-automatic for infantry's standard firearm 💀
@@zaholykrusedar1459 and that relates to the above exactly how? (protip: the last time a British sergeant uttered that order in total seriousness, BOTH sides were using fully automatic assault rifles - and it worked)
@@notfeedynotlazy ok, before i explain my point, i want you to tell me which battle are you talking about, please?
@@zaholykrusedar1459 one in Afghanistan I believe. Look up the "last bayonet charge" since up until now that's what it was.
I recently inherited a Type 95 sword from my grandfather who picked it up in Korea when his division disarmed the local Japanese garrison. I even have the GI take back paperwork authorizing it’s entry to the US. Fantastic timing on this video. Now to preorder the book.
That’s awesome, thanks for sharing
I was actually going to commission a real, no BS tradional-made Shinken (Katana) for $6500 back in '03, but dress the tang as a US cavalry saber and make it a family/service heirloom to be passed down. My choice was that or a motorcycle. I cheesed out and got the motorcycle. I kinda wish I had just commissioned the sword, it would have broken down a lot less than the Sportster and saved me more in the long term.
And if you're going to kill yourself with it, at least you'll go with more style.
@@Jason-fm4my I'm unaware of the exact garrison his brigade disarmed.
as a Korean, I give big thanks to your grandfather.
@@elvenisar That's it. Acknowledge that Japanese swords are cool as f*ck, but give thanks to the people that kicked Japan's ass.
I'm NOT tired of the gun reviews.....but this change is really welcome and a great idea.
1. It's a sword from japan
2. It's from a historic war
3. It's a family heirloom already
4. It was a symbol of rank and status
It's no lesser than any other pre-meiji restoration sword other than it's rushed manufacturing process. It's a bona-fide Samurai sword.
I don't have a type 95 sword - all the swords that I have collected over the years were hand forged and most of them signed by the smith who made them. I like to think that all the swords that I do have were carried by Warriors! Even the type 95 swords were carried into War! They all deserve respect!
Yet it is illegal to own in Japan because it's not made the traditional way, sad because it's a great piece of history.
I mean... it's "Forgotten Weapons" not "Forgotten Firearms", after all
Is that what I'm watching? Damn, can anyone point me to Misremembered Armaments?
@@FoxtrotFleet I dont know much about that, but maybe you're looking for Bygone Ordnances?
Ian: "Some veteran's kids or grandkids probably used this sword to do some good guy bad guy rough play with this, as you can see it's quite roughed up."
Also Ian: "So my dad got this from a veteran brought back"
Wait, the timing is a bit too perfect......
I don't think Ian's dad would have let him chop weeds in the backyard with this, if that is what you are implying. And I do believe that he would have 'fessed up if he had.
@@dbmail545 Perhaps he kinda just did fess up and maybe his dad was not asked.
@@johnbreitmeier3268 Ian's own George Washington cherry tree myth is born...
@@dbmail545 I've heard enough stories of soldiers murdering civilians and giving jewelry and toys of the victims to their own family. That's a little creepy, if you ask me...
So, Ian is confessing to having hit his wee brother with this sword?
Ian, it’s funny I’m at work, in Japan, while watching this and I’m more of a sword guy than a gun guy. I’ve actually lived in Japan, have been practicing Kendo and Iado since I was a kid, and own a few swords. This was a really cool and unexpected video. While I’m personally much more interested in the older Japanese swords, I may have to pick up a copy of swords of the emperor. It’s a neat endeavor to branch out on.
Iaido, You meant, fellow swordsman?
I lived in Osaka for 8 years..and that place stole my heart...I wish I never came "home"
@@projektkobra2247 5 years in Osaka for me. If it were not for the impossibility to assimilate culturally, even with fluent Japanese, I would've stayed.
@@thomasdawe1837
Is it actually necessary to assimilate? I'm here going on ten years and while I may never be assimilated into the culture, that's not such a bad thing at the end of the day. I mean my in laws, coworkers and friends accept me and I don't really need much more than that. Besides that, the trains run on time and the food and healthcare are better here.
@@Bagledog5000 Hey if you're not bothering anybody and you're comfortable I think you're good.
In my teens, one of my friend's father was an occupation troop in Japan, just after the war. He brought one of these home, as a souvenir. One of my other friend's sharpened it, and we pretty much played with it as a machete. The oleander bushes fell victim to this weapon.
The oleander bushes were a far better target than what be the usual civilian or prisoner that would be the target when an Imperial Japanese serviceman would use a sword like this against.
I saw a Pacific veteran account of fighting in the Pacific, he said that one Japanese soldier was trying to get behind the lines and was captured. The only thing that he had on him was a photograph. A photograph is not of his wife children or family but, of him executing someone by sword and, trying to get their head to fall into a basket before them. That was the most important thing in his life...
They did that to civilians. Very honorable.
There's a video on UA-cam with a marine veteran. He notes that a dead Japanese had a picture of him and his squad. In China, standing next to a cage filled with decapitated heads
In Southeast Asia, the Japanese katana gained a negative reputation among the older generations, especially those who lived through the war. The Japanese would often use these to behead POWs, captured rebels, and civilians. An oft repeated urban legend claims that when a Japanese officer drew his sword in public, it could only be re-sheathed after it had spilt blood.
@@jonathantan2469 that was the legend of when a samurai sword could be resheathed. And originally was meant to _prevent_ that kind of behaviour, i.e., a cautionary "do not draw the sword just to scare people or brag" tale - which OF COURSE was turned into "lookie, I drew my sword for funsies, now I gotta kill someone". Such is life.
@@user-oc1tf7oz6y Uh, indeed you are 100% correct in the "Japanese steel was utter shit" (mad skills their smiths had, being able to make serviceable tools and weapons out of that crap, I tell you) and in the "sword was ceremonial and cherished and the very symbl of being above a commoner, but the prefered battlefield weapon was something else with the sword being just a backup" (hilariously, _exactly_ like a knight's sword), but you are actually wrong about something: for most of their story it was, in fact, forbidden by law for commoners to own or carry katanas. Originally it was just the prohibition of carrying the fanous "long/short" pairing (the very symbol of samuraihood), but later on the laws strengthened and the katana itself was forbidden. _Of course,_ that didn't stop commoners from carrying swords that technically were not katanas, or yakuza clans (which, hilariously, were the actual government of many a town during centuries due to deals with the shogunate in exchange of support) to openly carry actual katanas. Then carrying swords, period, was forbidden by law. And as you can bet, that marks the point in history when you start finding tantōs with a length of one inch less than the legal definition of sword.
Japan: shitposting IRL since the Middle Ages.
Edit, just in case someone actually reads again that wall of text🙂: And the latter thing of the post is why the word tantō used to mean a short sword and now means a knife, to the desperation of translators worldwide. Never change, Japan.
My father commanded a PT boat in the South Pacific during WW2 and I remember him telling me stories of dumping barrels of swords and guns off the boat after they shot up landing barges. Some they kept as trading goods, but most of them went over the side.
What a waste, they could have at least recycled the metal.
@@GazB85 Nah, it would take too much to get them back to where they could be recycled.
What a waste, they could have at least brought them over so I can have Japanese surplus
“I lost all my katanas in a boating accident.”
@@CircaSriYak : Seriously underrated comment! 🤣😂😁👍
Some more advise about Type 95 NCO swords: There are NO signatures or any other marks under the handle. The handle is not meant to be removed, and if you do, chances are the sword handle will not fit as tightly as before, and it will be loose and rattle.
This is only applicable to the version that Ian has, the Early War versions are actually built more like a real/historic Katana and can be field stripped.
@@dogwoodhillbilly nonsense.Why on earth would you take one apart?
@@d.pierce.6820 Nonsense? I own one of the Type 94 NCO Shin Guntos that are meant to be taken apart when necessary, the Type 94 version is built like a traditional Katana so it is meant to be taken apart and field stripped when needed. In case you still don't know what I am talking about, the one I own is the kind that has the forger's name underneath the handle, has a bamboo peg, has the Nagoya Arsenal mark under the handle as well.
@@dogwoodhillbilly what you aparrently have is one made with an ancestral blade, not a factory built one.
@@DH-xw6jp How is it ancestral when it has the Nagoya arsenal mark on the blade?
According to some claims, Japanese went back to katana style swords for some practical reasons during the early stage of their invasion into China. As they engaged melee combat with the local polulace, they found out the western-style one handed saber had difficulties cut through the heavy winter clothing worn by the resistance force, so they specifically asked for two-handed designs when the army was commissioning for new sword designs.
I really like shin gunto. They are literally the last generation of swords that were designed for actual combat.
Correct, experience in Manchuria proved the need for a two handed grip. Nationalism and the spirit of the samurai did the rest.
actual combat against civilian resistance forces lmao
Makes sense, plus that there'd be close combat in China considering the heavily developed population centers, lots of buildings.
To be fair, one handed saber only be popular in the west when firearms were widely used, therefore western that time would rather wear good-protection armour or clothes that providing no protection but places to store bullets and gunpowder than thick-layers clothes
Since most places in asian still doin medieval things, that's not a bad idea after all
Weather requested by Japanese soldiers invading Manchuria and China or because of nationalist and militaristic governments at home, swords like this and the officer's model killed far more civilians than any armed combatant ( Ally or "retreating" Japanese ).
It always gives me a pang of sadness when I remember that my grandfather on my Japanese side (I'm Japanese-American) had to hand in the family's sword. It and a scroll that traced back our family tree were the heirlooms passed down and the sword was hundreds of years old. My father tried many years to try and track down the sword, but it was more than likely tossed into the Pacific instead of making it's way to a museum, or at the very least, someone's home.
My dad bought one of these cut down officer swords.. still insanely sharp to this day. One of my goals was to have the blade inspected and tsuka translated so I can return it to the originating family when I eventually receive it from him.
That is sad. I wonder why he didn't keep it and hide it like so many others did.
@@andrewdonovan219 Like many other Japanese people at the time, especially military, he probably felt immense shame for losing the war and decided he wasn't worthy of carrying it anymore. Can't say for sure though.
@@andrewdonovan219 He was the only officer on the tiny island he was stationed on that spoke English. He managed to negotiate the surrender on their behalf and I believe he handed it over to whoever the commanding officer was in an impromptu ceremony.
I honestly wish I knew more about it, but both he and my father have passed. I can only really go on what I remember from them talking of it in my childhood. I've tried learning more about it, but I couldn't find anything as it was one of many inconsequential islands with only like a dozen or so soldiers on it that US forces literally skipped by cause it wasn't worth fighting over.
In an equally sad event, he had actually hand written out an autobiography of his time during WW2 and of when he managed the surrender, but... the publishing house he handed over his manuscript to ended up being a scam and it was lost when they just up and disappeared.
@@bayoh777 this is terrible, even his story was taken from him.
My wife’s grandfather had one of these. Our grandfathers fought in opposite sides of WWII and I think that is fascinating.
It's great to see you do something like this to remind people that your channel name is Forgotten *_Weapons_* not Forgotten Firearms.
On another note, it's really interesting to see something that really represents the perversion of traditional Bushido in the wider Imperial Japanese society within a single object.
@@nickaschenbecker9882 There's also the fact that traditional Bushido called for showing compassion towards a defeated enemy.
I think we can all see how the Imperial Japanese treated that little tidbit.
@@pieceofschmidtgamer Very true. Even the very idea of Bushido as we know it was not the original stuff, but the late XIX - very early XX century romantized retelling of it - which is what was "sold" to soldiers and civilians alike, etc. It was a very deliberate use of traditional bushido as a propaganda tool, and I agree with the original poster that this kind of swords are, amusingly, the single object that bests represents such just by its very existence.
Then true bushido would be represented by the bow. It was the samurai's original weapon. Shinto doesn't consider swords innately holy, but they do consider bows innately holy.
@@allengordon6929 Ah, a man of culture...
The *word* Bushido was invented in, I believe, the 19th century by someone who never fought a battle in their life. Samurai weren't generous ascetics, like western knights they were little better than bandits seizing whatever they could from the peasantry. "Bushido" and similar western concepts exist because more modern descendents of these real pieces of shit wanted to romanticise their past, trying to pass off their ancestors as truly noble. It's almost entirely bunkum.
Just a note - the Japanese were still producing handmade swords throughout the war also, the folded, polished, tempered types. My first katana was a Kinmichi signed 1943 manufactured one.
You mean a gendaito, funny enough arent some guntos today illegal un japan?
@@panoctic japan has a weapons law that among other things bans swords over a certain length. this would apply to all katana theoretically however there is an exception for swords made in the "traditional Japanese art" obviously factory mass produced swords from ww2 is not traditional Japanese art so they are illegal.
These shin guntos were a few inches shorter than a katana for convenient single hand cuts because the imperial army sword training were heavy based on sabre fencing. Some officers didn't even know how to use the sword properly. It's also more curved compared to the katana.
The process used for the blades was actually pretty clever. The Japanese wanted the soft core/hard blade style of traditional katanas but without the smithing or expensive tooling, so a guy figured out how to use railroad manufacturing equipment to stick soft steel inside hard steel, then smash it into shape in very large quantities.
I'd love to read up on this, do you by chance have some material regarding it?
Yeah, 'billet steel' isn't such a bad thing. The whole sandwiching, welding, folding and differential hardening was done because the raw material wasn't great. I have a book on Japanese Swords somewhere that has an entire section giving names to flaws that arise due to the traditional forging process. Swords could be identified by, or earned names because of these flaws. Billet steel might not be as romantic, but it's pretty consistent.
I find these blades endlessly fascinating from an industrial design perspective. Taking what was once a highly rarefied status symbol and making it suitable for mass-production.
@@dreadnought8363 the Man At Arms YT channel has an episode where they show how it was done. Pretty slick setup, honestly, they took a chunk of hard round stock and machined a hole in the center, then turned a chunk of soft steel round and just a tiny bit bigger than that hole. Put the soft steel into the freezer while the hard steel is heating up, and if you got the sizes right you can just drop the soft steel into the hole. Let the two come to room temperature before you reheat the block and forge weld them.
@@dreadnought8363 Ian also has the new book he's selling but I'll second Man At Arms YT. Great stuff.
I know it’s a fairly well known book but, Eugene sledge that wrote with the old breed on Peleliu and Okinawa. In interviews described how on might think it was silly to have a sword in battle but that he had multiple buddies killed at night in fox their holes by sword, bayonet, and knife. Saying he personally saw a good friends right arm amputated by a Japanese officer.
Ian, as amazing as this may sound, there was quite a bit of swordplay (on both sides) in the Philippines during WW2. Besides the Japanese, local Philipino partisans were equipped with bolo swords, barongs, kampilans and other styles of indigenous swords. The Philippines is as much of a sword culture as Japan. On top of this, even US Army troops from the 1st and 2nd Filipino Regements, formed outside of Los Angeles, CA, were equiped and trained in the use of bolo swords made and donated by the LA area Filipino community. If you read the memoir of Sergeant Leo Giron, published in the 1970's by the decorated US veteran, he describes the tactics and motivation behind these clashes. In short, in dense jungles, main battle rifles like the Garand were a liability due to the low visibility and the potential for friendly fire. Pistols, shotguns, submachine guns and bolo swords were the weapons of choice.
Here is a 1943 Newsreel of the 2nd Filipino Regiment. At the end of the video you will see them being issued their bolo swords. The two Regiments requested, and were allowed to undergo short sword training in lieu of the standard US Army bayonet training: ua-cam.com/video/Imq6XDzjSIo/v-deo.html
They must have been some fierce, motivated fighters!
The bolo is a mean tool. It's not even really a sword. More like if a bowie knife and a hatchet had a baby. All the weight is in the blade so it's ability to chop dense material requires little effort outside of maintaining blade alignment with the target.
@@Khan.WrathOf Some bolos are knives, some are utilitarian tools (machetes), and some are swords. It all depends on the length, weight and most importantly, the grind on the blade. Some grinds are optimized for cutting vegetation, others for flesh and some take a middle of the road approach. As for balance, there are MANY different styles of bolo blades. Point of balance will differ from style to style. If you watch the newsreel, notice the length of the blades, relative to the height and body size of the Soldiers. Most of those men appear to be between 5'3 and 5'8. For people of their size, those are definitely short swords.
@@zxggwrt
Ferdinand Magellan, the explorer, met his demise on These fierce , sword wielding Filipino ancient warriors in 1521 a.d.
He was literally chopped up.. recorded by his expedition chronicler who managed to escape the carnage.. leaving Magellan's body behind.
Can't wait to see this in the range!
The spinner has met its match
He did took it to a match! (Type 94 Nambu at the Backup Gun Match) He used the sword as the "backup" backup weapon...
The sword worked batter than the nambu at that match lol
For amusement value, since the _real_ purpose of the folding was to homogenize the low or mixed quality steel that medieval Japanese swordsmiths had to work with into an useable, homogenous-quality billet for forging, some of those guntos, made industrially with modern-produced steel, are _actually better_ blades than _some_ of the old, traditional, fancy blades were.
(Angry comments of weebs failing to realize that "some" does NOT mean, nor imply, "all", in 3, 2, 1...)
I'm not surprised. Plus these got a modern heat treat.
I own a pilot's or tanker's variant or what's left of it. It came from a crash so the handle and wrap burned away, the scabbard was never found it still has a very large amount of the owners blood all over it. It very clearly used to be a family blade given the remaining fittings and the name of the smith being etched into the tang. Even blackened, blood stained and very slightly rusty it's still a beautiful blade.
There’s a push in recent years to see ancestral blades returned to their owners. If you know someone who can read Japanese script they might be able to tell you which family the sword belonged to. If they’re still alive I’m positive that family will be grateful you returned a heirloom to them
Restore it, keep it, or give it a decent museum. Forget about returning a combat weapon to a nation that disavowed ever using it again because they dishonored the "military tradition".
I have one #24497, its in really bad shape; covered with finger prints and gunk and covered with scrapes. All the lacquer is gone and is worn down to base. Thank you for sharing your example, its in much better condition!
Rebuild your sword. Colors and paints are readily available. Your sword has little value..so restore it as best you can. Like refinishing an old Win 94 beater.
Try to restore it/ find someone to restore it if you can. Im sure the sword is begging to feel shiny again
Ian crushes it in every video. It's a treat to see someone that good at his job. Extremely well researched and perfect info delivery. Also very expertise at assembly and disassembly of any weapon.
Ian actually nailed the Japanese pronunciations, just some minor accent differences but that's like tomato versus tomAto.
I've got one of these. I also have a Navy sword, called a Kai-Gunto. that one is exceedingly rare. the funny thing about my Kai Gunto is that it was made at Toyokawa naval arsenal in July of 1945. they were absolutely just wasting resources on swords all the way up until the end. my grandfather was supposedly a peacekeeper after the war, and acquired it then. I only had a single picture of him, in combat dress. he also unfortunately committed suicide when my father was 5 years old, on account of what he saw 'over there'. I say "supposedly", because I don't think a peacekeeper after the war would suffer from such PTSD to do that, and the fact that he brought back a bunch of stuff, a helmet, a rifle, a flag, and the two swords. I never saw the flag, it disappeared in the 80s probably, and the helmet, my dad gave to his friend, and I got it back only a few years ago, although his friend had completely chromed the whole thing. my father probably destroyed or sold the rifle, he hated guns. I've still got the swords and helmet, along with a bunch of stuff from the other side of the family. I'm only 25, and even I played "good guy bad guy" with them when I was a kid.
I can imagine a number of things that could cause PTSD in that period, I mean, the fact he brought back arms like these makes me feel he didn’t exactly have a desk job
@@jonathany1240 that's my thoughts exactly. we don't know much about him. the man was an Enigma. He did go to Yale, I've got his class ring. he was a very smart man, and his wife, my grandma was an Aerospace engineer and advanced mathematics teacher. I really wonder what he saw over there that would drive him to that. plus all the "booty" he brought back (as my late father so eloquently put it). everyone on that side of the family has passed, and as I was the only son, along with being basically adopted, I really didn't know much more than that. my father once suggested that he was stationed at Nagasaki. I've got a paper from the DOD saying he was there circa 1955. that still doesn't add up either. who knows? maybe he was an OSS agent. that would have been cool.
@@tankacebo9128 there was a lot of 'disciplining' carried out through the postwar period all the way into the 60s. Plenty of former soldiers and 'inspired' Yakuza were not happy with the American presence (for good reason too).
Given that, and the tendency of Japanese police to turn their eyes away from authoritarian abuse of power (a lot of police do that, not just Japan).. It's never too surprising to hear of some abuses leading to 'procured material' leaving in the hands of civilians
There was some pretty horrific sexual violence during the occupation and it happened on quite the scale, if he were to have encountered or had to deal with that then it would make sense for him to be deeply affected, especially as very few perpetrators were ever brought to justice.
Tank ,thank you for your story. Sad that swords like these were more likely to be used against civilians or unarmed prisoners than in all but the most desperate of battles against Allied soldiers.
The "folded a million times" thing is largely a myth.
In reality, folding more than 20-30 times or so was more common (which produces around 1 million layers...), as each time there is a risk of introducing pockets / impurities between layers - and any benefit is reduced.
I remember reading somewhere that the large-ish number of foldings that Japanese swordsmiths put their blades through was not to make the resulting steel a better quality than what the cultures of Europe and Middle-east had. It was done because Japanese iron ore was (is?) on average of inferior quality compared to what Europe and Middle-east have.
So maybe they had to fold *some* extra times to weed out the impurities, but not too many times so as to avoid pockets or impurities between layers? I'm not a smith or a metallurgist, so any confirmation regarding Japanese iron ore quality and the ways they had to take it into account in the forging process would be appreciated.
@@GorgeousRandyFlamethrower- from what I understand (and I'm no expert myself) the folding was also to distribute the carbon content equally.
What surprised me, was to find out some sword makers often laminated the blades with different types of steel (in addition to the folding etc.).
@@theoriginalmikaveli yes, they were blending hard steel (high carbon, sharp but brittle, used in razors) and soft steel (lower carbon, not sharp but resilient, used in hammers).
This offset their limited capacity for iron on the islands of Japan throughout their premodern history, which also effected the use of swords in combat, they primarily used archery not swordsmanship in battle
Even after industrialization, they had a limited capacity to produce iron/steel products and subsequently relied on other metals and even carpentry to realize modern production until ultimately invading other countries and stealing their resources, thus stimulating their war machine further
@@GorgeousRandyFlamethrower- In layman's termns (since you admit not being an expert), yes, that is more or less the situation. Is a simplification, but not TOO much of it. The Japanese even have a word (which I learned 30 years ago and forgot in my old age, gomen) for steel that has been folded too many times and is no longer good swordmaking material.
You fold it 20 times and you'll have 2^20 layers, which is more than a million
The japanese were absolutely correct in their assessment of swords. The katana are really cool. Edit: The scabbard is in no way representative of the average traditional katana. The scabbard is much closer to french sabers, or the Kyu Gunto of early imperial japan.
Cool
Just when I thought this channel couldn't get cooler!
To be honest, the whole "folding" thing was just because the original metallurgy wasn't up to producing sword-sized billets of decent steel, so blades HAD to be made of much smaller lumps hammered together, much the same as European pattern welded swords. A decent-quality modern steel, well heat-treated, is just as good as a moderate quality original one. (I've practiced the Tiama Ryu Naval kata. * basic moves, intended to teach non-swordsmen the basics. Unfortunately, move number 8 is a beheading. Always makes me uneasy doing that one). Nice sword!
Ya ever try #8 out on a chunk of meat? Or is that bad form?
@@PoundItNailIt With a Brush Hook, on a badly injured (punctured lung from a cat), stoat. Worked. Clean off in one blow.
As far as steel goes modern is far superior to any they did use when swords was standard equipment.
Also, there's this misconception that the number of "folds" is the amount if times it's been folded. Fold once = 2 layers. Fold twice = 4, fold thrice = 8. 16, 32, 64, 128, etc. When you hear someone say "This katana was folded 1000 times!" they really mean it was folded 10 times (1024 layers) Fold it more than... I think it's like 12 times or something? and the steel becomes really brittle and starts to delaminate.
The reason for which they made a lot of folds in the blades of the middle ages/early modern period was because their metallurgy was really poor, and what came out of the furnace had to be hand picked by color (the blacker it was, the more carbon it had) and pattern welded together, and had a lot of defects that had to be well mixed into the structure of the metal, so they wouldn't cause a catastrophic failure. On one hand the iron ore they had access to was of inferior quality, on the other their furnaces were not capable of entirely melting the ore, mixing the right amount of carbon in and floating the slag. That's why in modern times when crucible or Bessemer steel became available, that technique wasn't necessary anymore and blades could be made quicker, cheaper and of a better average quality.
Crucible steel isn't anything modern, think the oldest sword made from that material is from 6th century CE, and even the Norse had acces to that steel for a short period(probably before the trade route got closed of with Northern Iran in the 10th century CE), there is a documentary about the Norse swords, Ulfberth.
@@andreasfjellborg1810 Indeed it's not modern. It was invented probably in Southern India or Sri Lanka in the first centuries BC, and spread to the Middle East, from where ingots were traded as far as Northern Europe. They had a better quality iron ore down there, also containing some micro-elements such as tungsten and vanadium which gave it special properties. Crucible steel fully melts during manufacturing and has a predictable and uniform content of carbon and other elements, so it doesn't require pattern welding and repeated wrapping to for a good blade.
But in East Asia that technology didn't spread for various reasons. The Japanese only had access to the tatara which is basically an open furnace that can't achieve very high temperatures and the iron is slowly carburated to steel over 3-5 days of slow burning. Then the resulting tamahagane, which is similar to bloomery steel is extracted, broken up, sorted and re-mixed to create a sword or other weapon or tool as I described above.
Japan was always out of touch with the outside world throughout known history, especially with Europe, so much so that "gun" meant copies of matchlocks brought to the country in late 15th century, until only few decades before WWI. It would not be a huge stretch to call a cutting edge 6th-10th century metallurgy a modern technology in that kind of context.
@@davydatwood3158 Pretty much everyone in the world did fold the steel/iron over and over, the Norse did pattern welding much from astetics too. wrought iron as a core with wolf tooh or some twisted pattern and steel on the edges. A sword back then was a status symbol, so why not make it pretty?. :)
there's something incredibly cool to me about mass producing what's essentially a ceremonial weapon
My father who fought in the Pacific with the Australian Army liberated one of these which I still own.
It it similar but has a traditional sharkskin and bound handle held on by a peg. There is no blood groove and even to this day the blade is perfect and VERY sharp.
I have been told that it is probably a type 98 model sword.
Imagine being a Marine, armed with an M1 Garand and a 1911, the gold standards of modern combat weapons, going house to house in some village, clearing rooms, only to have a gray haired Japanese NCO explode out from behind a door screaming and swinging at you with one of these like a samurai.
The oh shit factor involved cannot be overstated.
In his book "Quartered Safe Out Here". George MacDonald Frazier talks about fighting against hand to hand with Japanese soldiers armed with swords in Burma.
Imagine being a civilian women or child at Nanking in 1937. Then, a bunch of people wielding these show up and r*p3 you and your family.
Actually happened unlike your made up little fairy tale.
For amusement value, the reason the European armies stopped using swords was NOT (as often mis-stated) their obsolescence as weapons; it was that in WWI they marked the wielder as a bullet magnet -err, officer. But swords are actually quite a dangerous thing to go against in close combat. In those weird, uncommon, anecdotal ocasions where a modern gunfight develops into a modern swordfight (like the aforementioned Burma), the "oh shit" factor _certainly_ can NOT be overstated.
Not to mention he would screaming TENNO HAIKA BANZAI!!!! at the top of his lungs.
Its especially jarring because you've gotten no training to defend against that. Knives and bayonets for sure but what the fuck do you do against a sword?
Wanted to leave joke comment that there's no literal teardown being done, but after seeing Ian describing the entire sword like his usual firearm teardown, I am mighty impressed that I'll rescind that joke 😂
Well, the handle and guard can be removed.
They are meant to be taken apart.
You just pop out the pin in the handle and pull it off.
Teardown parts: Screws, Suba, Blade,
there's no reason to take an NCO sword apart. There's nothing written on the sword tang, and you will likely never get it back together as tightly as original, so it will just rattle and be loose.
It's just a big Japanese bayonet
They aren't the only ones looking at sword traditions. The M1902 Army Officer's Saber is also still "in use", albeit practically ceremonially.
And bayonets are essentially knifes to be stuck onto rifles to turn them into spears. Also still in use. Having a cutty stabby sting is still better than a bare fist.
Both sides used "sword and lance" horse mounted cavalry till the end, you can see / find soviet produced "shashka" sabers produced in 1940, 1945, etc
The Marine Corps also still has a officers and nco sword the officers sword pattern traces its lineage all the way back to the battle of Tripoli
Tradition is often underestimated in decision making. The Marines ordered officers and NCOs to carry the m4 instead of a handgun to fit the tradition of every marine being a rifleman.
i appreciates this channel whenever they discuss a Sword especially a Japanese Swords
This channel just gets cooler and more fascinating all the time!
when you recognise "arms" isnt limited to pew pews, but cannons, swords, spears, that table, and blades capable of cutting ships in half and split causality itself
Thanks Ian! I inherited one of the short swords from my Mother. I was told it belonged to her Father who was a shop owner in Japan. He gave it to my Mother and Father after they got married after the Korean War. The one I have has a cloth wrapping and has a black wooden scarab. I would but the new book but unfortunate I also have a paper shortage, the green kind with numbers on it.
The Cherry Blossoms cast beneath the string wrapped handle were not just artistic embellishment. They were duplicating a brass or bronze ornament that was traditionally placed beneath the string wrap but over the shark/manta ray skin on the handle. They held some significance that presently escapes me. Possibly to their house or allegiance?
Chrysanthemum with was a common motif in the army and navy regulation swords is the symbol of the Imperial house, if it was a cherry blossom then those are usually associated with the nation by the Japanese, a bit like how they think black eyes and black hair mark them out (it doesn't, it's literally the most common and widespread colours), when referring to the country it will inevitably be either with reference to being an eastern island or as the land of cherry blossoms.
@@vorynrosethorn903 Chrysanthenum and Sakura. That's what I was looking for. Thank you. Didn't the various noble houses also have their own emblems that were used in this way?
@@CaptApple yes,it depended from the clan though
@@CaptApple The chrysanthemum is the symbol of the emperor's family, displaying it, means more or less "honour to serve the emperor". AFAIK, the police still uses it.
Also, the cast is called "目貫" (menuki), it helps adding grip to the handle and embellishes the sword.
Meiji Restoration is a very fascinating period in Japanese history. Thanks, Watsuki.
correction in the scabbard: the flaring on the tip is actually pretty standard for sabers. for most western sabers, it was actually done so that you didn't stab the horse you were riding. It's just to make sure it doesn't catch on things / damaging equipment / stabbing others
I have heard an interesting story about katana.
Katana was a symbol of class already in Samurai period, Tokugawa shogunate era in the 17th to 19th century.
In late 16th century, Guns were main weapon in the civil war. And Japanese had mass-produced matchlocks more than any European country at that time.
Even a samurai with best sword skill could not match farmers/foot soldiers with guns, bows and arrows or long spears. A nicely crafted sword for a samurai was a symbol of commander class.
After the civil war, the government started to disarm local feudal lords. They created the image of katana, rather inefficient close combat weapon, as a spirit of samurai and other weapons are not. Especially guns.
In short, the government fantasized katana for gun control.
I’m not good with history (and english grramer) but this theory is convincing to me.
hey that's interesting
Also the Katana, as with most short or mid length swords, was alwyas a secondary weapon.
A last defense on the Battlefield and a daily carry in peace.
The T in 'tsuba' isn't silent, but other than that your Japanese pronunciations were more or less spot on! This was a great review, a refreshing change of pace!
Really based on my research it seems like the t is silent for native Japanese speaking
@@gmg921 it's not, it's just quiet
His "kyu" sounds more like "kyo" to me, and he pronounces "shin" like the body part rather than the noise a sword makes when it comes out of a metal scabbard (but who isn't used to that), but yeah. His Japanese is fine. Tsu can be tricky for a lot of English speakers.
It depends on the individual, there is supposed to be a very slight t but with how it's pronounced some people either have such a small t that it can barely be heard or skip it all together.
@@harrybuttery2447 Yeah, I usually just pronounce it the way Ian did if I'm just saying it in English. If I'm speaking Japanese, I have to make the sound very deliberately to do it correctly, especially in the initial position. That sound usually appears at the end of a word in english, like "wants".
That is a wonderful heirloom, Ian, and you have the provenance which adds to its desirability. I can assure you the mass-produced Gunto were made of very high quality steel. I have an Arisaka bayonet and it is one of the most durable and tough blades one may find for mass production. I know this because my other Arisaka was used by my ex for everything from garden digging to chopping down shrubbery and it sustained very little damage except the blue was scratched off.
Really depends, the late war examples were said to have been made from mild steel.
Katanagari(sword hunting) was common during the occupation of Japan when allied soldiers went from house to house to collect swords as well as family antiques from civilians at gun point. My father’s side of family owned a katana that dates back from the 16th century but kept this hidden in their backyard when the American soldiers came. They also implemented anti-firearm laws for the civilians as part of the demilitarization process. Instead of giving up their katana, my grandfather’s family gave up their hunting rifles. Yes, civilian firearm laws were ALOT more loose and widely accepted in Imperial Japan than modern day.
The sword you showed is a mass Shin Gunto of sergeant type, officers were entitled to better quality swords with blades from family katanas or tachi (cut to military standard), swords of the old type of the Meiji Restoration period were called Kyu Gunto and visually resembled sabers of the European type (as far as I know, some honored officers were allowed to keep them after the transition to Shin Gunto swords).
There were two main types of new military swords, the Shin Gunto (officer's sword of high quality and sergeant's sword of maximum simplicity and cheapness) for ground troops and the Kai Gunto for the navy, with black stingray leather, scabbard in black leather and two bindings instead of one, the author compared it to a katana and indeed the blade is similar to the Tokugawa period katana, but the type of carrying and decoration refers to the tachi sword, which in Japan is much more status weapon and its history is much more than that of the popular katana.
At the moment, as far as I know, Shin Gunto/Kai Gunto with mass-produced blades, especially sergeant Shin Gunto, are not considered nihonto and have no cultural value and are considered just weapons of the Japanese armed forces of that period, like a bayonet.
10:48 - Not just Chinese. The same blades also ended the life of many innocent Filipino's...
I am forever told about a church in the Philippines where a lot of Filipino's had gone to seek sanctuary from the Japanese soldiers, a lot of old people, women and children. Only for the solders to walk through the door, attempt to kill all the people inside then bayoneted them and cut them down with their swords (if they still had one) when their ammunition ran out and they needed to finish the job. The Japanese were in the process of losing control of the island to US forces and they wanted to do as much damage to the local natives before they withdrew.
Fun fact: whether left handed or right hand you always hold it right handed as the blades are actually slightly tapered to be right handed. Left hand on the bottom right hand up high.
As far as I know samurai had to be right handed. There were probably left handed sword fighters back then but right handed was the norm every one hat to live by
I was shown the sword that belonged to the Japanese Sergeant Major, who ran Changi Prison Camp. It was not one of these, having a proper traditional finish to the handle and scabbard.
As Allied Forces approached Changi, the Japanese increased the rations to the Prisoners and handed over the Camp to them.
The Allied Officer inmates of Changi, convened a Courts Martial and the Sergeant Major was sentenced to death and beaten to death with his sword, in its scabbard, this being the most dishonourable death that he could be afforded.
The sword remains exceptionally sharp and is held by a local Regiment who were interned after the fall of Singapore.
I'm so glad he called it a fuller and not a "blood groove"
I think this actually sheds a light on another angle as to how the notion that Japanese Katana were better than European longswords came to be. So many of these made it into the US at about the same time wallhanger swords would've been getting popular. While these type 95s were cheap and made as a status symbol, they were still combat ready weapons while most European style "swords" in the US were movie replicas made from aluminum or soft steel so it's likely that many people got the impression that because the cheaply made Katana their grandpa brought home was better in every way then the shiny, elaborate movie prop they bought at a mall or convention thus Katana better.
@@vksasdgaming9472 Um... HEMA though?
Or a bohi to be precise...
Early billet steel '95s stood up to use in extreame cold weather (Manchuria) better than the handmade blades. Type 94/95 officers swords have lots of customization as they were private purchase items. One of the rarest options would be the "patent" kuchi gane saya and tsuba. Tassel colors (iirc): brown - sergeant/sergeant major, brown & blue - company/warrent officer, brown & red - field officer, brown/red & gold - general. In Japan machine made blades are considered weapons, not objects of art thus illegal to own.
New-manufacture blades can be bought in Japan -- there's a little shop in a town I visit (when I can) near Hiroshima that has been owned by a family of bladesmiths for about a hundred years or so. Their window display includes new-manufacture swords, fitted with simple wooden hilts as the purchaser will probably fit them with more elaborate hilts and furniture after purchase. Prices start at about 25 man yen (ca. 2500 dollars US) and go rapidly upwards for katanas and short-sword taichis are not much cheaper.
@@robertsneddon731Simple wooden "hilt" is a Shira saya the "proper" way to store blades. 25 will buy a pretty nice antique, looked at a rather ordinary wak in a very cool ebi (shrimp) themed saya in Ginza. Missed out on a VG slight touch up polish needed Kai hei gunto by 2.5 sold for 30. Interesting 30-50 'entry level' blades moves pretty fast. Got a friend trying to unload a very nice custom shinto from a famous smith that he's got 1000 into... not having much luck. The super high-end unexportable juyo or cultural asset level stuff usually only trades behind closed doors. I'm currently hunting for a Naval dirk.
A handful of 95s are papered in Japan. They shouldn't technically be, but they exist. And of course sell at a premium.
I appreciate the level of gravitas that Ian assumes when speaking about difficult subjects. While interesting, these sorts of things are often approached too lightly in our society. Well done.
Would love to see a comparison on here with the Kyu-Gunto and adoption of the sabre by Japan during the Meiji period. :)
Matt Easton of Scholagladiatoria has a video on the kyu-gunto
ua-cam.com/video/Pz-YSuC7oHY/v-deo.html
" these sorts of things are often approached too lightly in our society."
What do you mean?
@@vampirecount3880 Too lightly as in "Oh wow these swords are so cool, this is so much better than [this] specific sword! I couldnt care less where this is from, how it was made, why this was made, but this is perfect example of Japanese craftmanship!!"
@@DrSabot-A Sometimes a cool sword is just a cool sword. Not everything needs to devolve into some socio-economical tirade.
@@CThyran Yes, a sword is just a sword
Damn last time I was this early Forgotten weapons was still only a website.
It might be just me thinking this but i think the swords aren't just status symbols but they also give spiritual/emotional support to the people who have them~ and it's also to give a reminder what they are fighting for as a soldiers~ i might be rambling nonsense but whenever i think of the japanese especially those that came from old households, they just remind me of discipline~
Not gonna lie, that sounds kinda weeby.
@@lordmuhehe4605 What's so 'Weeby' about that~?
You might be onto something. A US Army field manual claims that the bayonet is "a useful training aid in building morale and increasing desired aggressiveness in troops." If a simple bayonet can increase morale, it's plausible that a sword could as well.
@@ragingjaguarknight86 I think a drawn sword and raised in the air would increase morale more times than a bayonet~
Btw can I know where you found that anecdote~? I am a little interested in reading it~
@@alisahutako4518 ask and you shall receive. Check out "The Psychology of the Bayonet" by Maj. William Beaudoin. Also a US Army field manual but I forgot which one.
Channel is Forgotten WEAPONS. Not forgotten firearms.
More of this please.
I have been wanting a video about shingunto for a long time. Thank you!
The scabbard latch is an interesting addition. More practical than anything else.
"Damn guns! A knife never runs out of ammo!" - Razor
Well, it is a weapon. So it fits the channel's name. I'm suddenly concerned how far this is going to go.
Just kidding. Totally ready for it.
Watching Ian gesticulating over the edge of that blade keeps making me wince.
Fantastic video! No shame in it not being a firearm, because last I checked Ian, your channel is called "Forgotten Weapons", not "Forgotten Firearms." Thank you for sharing this piece of history!
I gotta say the idea a modern army still using swords just because of tradition gives me sci-fi vibes almost
The US Military still uses swords, though for purely ceremonial purposes.
There is something deeply fascinating about this in concept. Authentic, antique, military issue, mall ninja katanas.
My friend in Japan showed me his grandpas old type 98. Half of the blade was missing, it was chopped off after the surrender. But he still got to keep it.
Really good variation for the channel Ian, thanks.
I love the way you say "A little dinky one", it's becoming one of my favorite phrases
That's a weird looking gun there
Facts
Yea, more like "Forgotten which weapons this channel is about"
Ian should make "Forgotten Melee" new channel or Series for antique melee weaponry review
Collab with scholagladitoria
Imagine him reviewing a Caveman club
Oh man, I never knew how badly I wanted to see a colab between you and one of the Swordtubers. Matt from Schola Gladiatoria has done a lot of reviews of more “modern” military swords.
Skulgrim or shadoversity would be a great idea
@@bigblockman11 Skall would be fun since he likes guns, too.
@@Dover78 he does? He doesn't seems to show much, but than again maybe it's the regulations?
@@bigblockman11 Yeah, he hasn't done much gun content on his channel but it is there. Mostly 4+ years ago.
My father was one of the very first American soldiers in the Occupation of Japan because he had been in a unit training to be the initial landing force in Kagoshima Bay in Kyushu during Operation Olympic. He stayed in the Army at the end of the war to have some adventure and also accumulate some savings as my grandparents were poor. He was quickly placed in chargw pf a small unit decommissioning Japanese miltary stores and defenses. Among other things he brought back one of these katanas which sat by our fireplace until he and my mother both died and the house was sold. The sword passed on to my brother and his family. I haven't seen in on about 20 years but I remember it being of higher quality than your weapon though clearly not a heirliim sword. It was in pristine condition and he probably got it from one of the arsenal stocks. Might have been a government issue officer's sword. I'll let my brother know and perhaps we can determine its history. Thanks.
I might also suggest covering the excellent Japanese bayonets, of which I have one with the original tubber sheath, in storage. Mine is a formidable looking pristine weapon of excellent quality and still rather sharp.
very minor pedantic detail but ww2 officers and nco's swords in regulation mounts such as this one are always mounted as tachi (edge down) rather than katana (always edge up). the pattern and ornamentation of the swords' furniture is conciously evocative of this ancient noble cavalry sword, a predecessor of the katana
That's rather interesting. Were they usually on foot? If I'm not mistaken, one of the motives for the tachi being edge down, it was easier to draw while mounted since it was longer than the katana. But the shin gunto seems to be the same length as katanas.
I was left a sword by my Grandfather, that I always thought might have been a knock off or something. Now I know it's for real. Thanks Ian!
The Type 95 is an interesting model, as the real thing looks like a knock off.
tmw you realize that the channel's name is Forgotten Weapons and not Forgotten Guns '-'
@@FurnishedIgloo Thx for the heads up, didn't even noticed
Man, how do you reload this thing?
Ian. This has been rather enjoyable and informed as per usual. Thank you.
Love non fire arms stuff too,
youtube is best when creators make videos about what interests them
"Were these actually used?"
*cries in Nanjing
... I guess they weren't really used under normal circumstances, which is why two officers (probably with very similar swords) had to hold a contest to see who can kill 100 civilians/pows with sword first...
One of the two swords used in this contest is in a museum in Taiwan, with Japanese inscription that states "Nanjing Battle.107 kills". In 2017, some lunatic in Taiwan stole this sword from the museum and tried to use it to attack the Presidential Office, injuring one guard in the process before being arrested. You can find pictures of this sword and it has a very similar grip, but different guard.
The way the sword is displayed in said museum is also very chilling, it scales up a picture of a man who's about to be beheaded by a Japanese soldier, and on this blown up 1:1 picture, they mount the sword in the hand of the soldier, and the sheath in the same place where it would be in the photo.
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""battle"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Honestly, I'd love to see modern reproductions of these blades. Something by Hanwei Forge, Cheness Cutlery, or anyone else who makes reasonably priced modern katana-type blades.
No statement on quality as I don't own one, but Kult of Athena has a few varieties of reproductions, both Shin Gunto and Kyu Gunto. As far as swords go, they're on the cheaper end price-wise, so I'm going to imagine they aren't particularly amazing.
Like Ian said a lot of very precious blades passed down for generations were fitted to type 95. Decades later they resurfaced like this, and hidden among those are state of the art blades made by very famous swordsmith, dating back to the 1600's and 1500's or even older. As practician of Battodo those are absolute gems to find.
As a matter of fact, following D day some G.I brought those swords from the pacific theater in France, and gave those to the locals, and that's how even to this day, new swords are found in old attics and caves in the french country side.
Hey jc I hate to be nit pickey but VJ or victory Japan was the end of WW2, their was still a whole lot of dying to be done after D day🙁 then VE day🙂 then just to round it all off, VP day victory peace😄 and also France was in the ETO, European theater of operations, Japan was the Pacific theater, I will shut up and go away now 🐠🏴☠️
@@karlbobthepirate5704 And French came back to Indo-China after the war to disarm the Japanese.
That's a damn beautiful cover they have on Swords of the Emperor
Forgotten bladed weapons are a nice addition to the channel. :)
My late father was a USN Lt JG on a destroyer who with his ship visited Guam in August or September 1945. Their mission was to assist with the repatriation of Japanese forces on Rota. Anyway, while at Guam someone got their hands on a mass produced katana, and they held a raffle to dispose of it. My dad won the raffle. And he brought it home and hung it on the wall in his study. As a kid I was utterly fascinated with it, what kid wouldn’t be. Anyway his had the bronze or copper hardware and a wooden handle with metal decoration and was wrapped in a red twine. It lacked the gullet and 40 years later was still scary sharp. Sadly a few years ago we lost it in a house fire.
That sounds like a Type 98; the late-war simplified version of this pattern. Definitely a shame about the fire!
Also, on another note: the x number of folding etc. comes from another issue - the Japanese didnt have enough good iron ore, so they had to get very creative. Hence the classic technique of two different types of hardening. Which also is the reason, why a classic katana is only sharpened on one side - the top has a different hardening than the blade, making it less prone to breaking, while giving it a bit more flexibility.
cu, w0lf.
Well, this is different! But very cool!!
That title...
God bless you, Ian.
Great video. I am reminded of Stephen Hunter’s “The 47th Samurai.”