Native Americans And Katana On The North Plains Frontier (1890S)

[Randy McCall]

This interesting article from the Nebraska State Historical society shows a couple of grainy pictures of late 1800s Indian scouts who carried what appear to be, and which the author of the article says, are katana in handachi furniture.  I've located a better digital image of one of the pictures (below).  One of the pictures was taken in South Dakota, the other in Alberta, Canada.

The author of the article posits that visitors from Japan traded or made gifts of swords either to merchants who then sold them on, or perhaps directly to members of these tribes.  He lists several groups or sets of Japanese dignitaries who travelled the Frontier during this period on economic, diplomatic or military missions. 

Article:  NH1987Swords.pdf

 

 

[Ray Singer]

Additional discussion here. Peter Bleed is a member of this group.

 

http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/13181-photos-of-amerinds-with-nihonto/?hl=indian&do=findComment&comment=137268

 

http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/3460-native-american-with-sword/

[Randy McCall]

Ah, old story then. So it goes...

[Vermithrax16]

Ah, old story then. So it goes...

New to me! This is amazing! Thanks for posting!

 

And as a side note; I am a very new member and there are others everyday. Yes, an exhaustive search of the archives can show something has been discussed, but when would I ever have searched for this? Great post.

[lonely panet]

So thats what happened at the end of RED SUN

[Shogun8]

This is so cool - First Nations with nihonto!

[Michaelr]

Great post and thank you. I am also new here and enjoy and learn from what may be old to some but new to me.

MikeR

[Greg F]

Great find Randy, thank you for this interesting info.

 

Greg

[Ted Tenold]

I did some research surrounding the first Japanese Ambassador's delegation to visit the US after the Ansei Trade Treaty was signed.  One of the things I happened across was a newspaper ad from about 1865 (Baltimore or New York iirc) advertising Japanese swords that could be literally be bought by the barrel.  This was several years before the Hatorei. I'm guessing that trade with the various tribes probably included swords because iron/steel weapons and tools of just about any kind were always highly valued trade goods with the Native Americans. 

[John A Stuart]

There is also a possibility it was the photographers prop. John

[Ted Tenold]

Yes John, also a very real possibility.  There are a couple more photos like this one floating about, and one showed armor in the background also iirc.  A photographer choosing Japanese swords and equipment for a Native American vignette is a little myopic, but then again we can't attempt to apply logic where logic doesn't apply either.  :-)