Bruce Pennington

From the Warrelics thread, linked above, Akira Komiya has posted regulation three regulation changes and comments. I found it interesting that prior to 1912 the officer belts, on reverse side, were to be colored leather (blue & red). Don't think I've ever seen an example of that. Also interesting was the depiction of Warrant Officer belts: "Here are drawings from the Meiji 19 (1886), Meiji 45 (1912) and Showa 13 (1938) uniform regulations showing the evolution of officers' and warrant officers' sword belts. (There were no changes to the specifications in the interim uniform regulation changes.) The biggest change is that until the 1938 regulations, warrant officers had their own sword belts; non-cavalry warrant officers with a single layer leather belt without backing nor the hook and eye adjustment, and the hanger straps lacking the carbine hooks of officers belts, and cavalry warrant officers having a leather hanger strap with carbine hook in lieu of officers chain hangers. The obverse was specified to be 護謨革, rubber coated leather = patent leather before the Showa 13 regulation changes when it became plain black leather (calf leather). The reverse of non-cavalry officers sword belts were initially specified to be of the appropriately colored leather, red for generals and field grade officers, blue leather for company grade officers, but from the Meiji 45 specifications it could be either colored leather or woolen material. The Showa 13 (1938) regulations done away with the warrant officers' sword belts and warrant officers were to wear the same belts as company grade officers with a blue backing. Also, the Showa 13 regulations show only a single hanger strap in accordance with the adoption of the Type 98 sword with a single hanger ring. "

Here is another unusual field belt posted by Geoff Ward on this Warrelics thread. It has a pocket for a folding knife with can opener:

Linking Ian's post, @Ian B3HR2UH showing field belts with unusual features:

Ian, I'm just now starting to learn about the belts, so I'm of no use here. Hopefully, someone will recognize it. I've linked your post to the pinned reference thread on sword belts. I'm starting to get the idea that these canvas field belts were highly customizable. I've posted one on the other thread with a folding knife in a small pocket

I don't want to expand our forum into uniform and field gear items, but sword belts are a popular item for guys and they are directly associated with military swords. I think anything with the word "sword.." in it's name is fair game, right? So, I've created this to be a reference thread for sword belt collectors, just like the tassel thread. Both the Fuller and Dawson books have a section on them, which I've just gone through. NCO belts were brown, all leather. These were posted by Kohima on this Warrelics Thread. There is no colored liner on the backside, as in officer belts. There is an officer belt that has no colored fabric on the backside, called the Sam Brown belt, discussed on @kissakai's thread here: Also discussed on this Warrelics Thread. They were Navy: According to Adachi, "Regarding the Sam Brown belts, they are regulation as per the naval landing force uniform regulations set forth in 1933. They are supposed to be worn by all NLF officers, even when the sword is not in use. They had already become a defacto standard by at least 1927, as almost every NLF officer in Shanghai had one." This is an example (as far as I know!) of a normal Navy belt. Posted by @tokashikibob HERE. Army officer belts were black with blue or red fabric liners. Company grade were blue, Field grade and General officer red. Posted by @IJASWORDS HERE. This picture actually shows a four army styles (from bottom) - Field grade, Company grade, NCO, and canvas Field belt, which I believe is an officer belt.

You can read up on the Navy kaigunto here: Naval Officer Sword - Ohmura Site Care and cleaning: Japanese Sword Care Navy swords sell for a bit more than army gunto as there are less of them to be found. On average, they can start as low as $1,800 USD but normally sell for over $2,000. If it's got a valuable blade, it can go even higher. So, it's important to see what's in it. They are welcome to offer it for sale on NMB's For Sale: Edged Weapons page. Otherwise you are looking at ebay or one of the many auction houses.

Supporting that idea is the nut securing the nakago on the pommel. Yes, right out of Dawson's book, pages 303-305. Identical. Dawson says the police were divided into Patrolman, Sergeant, Lieutenant, and Superintendent. This is the Patrolman/Sergeant version.

Rats. That is the difficulty in trying to find replacement parts. Almost every gunto had parts specifically fitted for it, so there is quite a range in almost every one. I don't see a problem with the spring resting on the wood, unless it doesn't push the button up high enough. You might try raising the surface of the wood by laying something firm between the wood and spring, like a piece of sheet metal or plastic. Otherwise, you're stuck with buying multiple latches, if you can't get a refund.

No, I use the thread for educational purposes. All are welcome, though, to post tassels that expand our knowledge and data base.

Not in as good of condition as John's, but another kaigunto with black leather cover. For sale on this St. Croix Blades page.

Ah, I see! It's not removable. I thought you were saying that it was "one" with the saya, like an all-leather saya, or cemented to a wooden saya. Can you tell if the material is actually leather? They were making some artificial leathers, like pressed paper and pressed fabrics.

Ok, right. He is just describing the wooden saya covered with leather. The translation system he used for that site was pretty antiquated and not real good. I would like to see some shots of your saya. Sounds unique.

Justin, I tried finding Ohmura's page on that, but couldn't. Can you post a link? Not all officers used leather covers. There are plenty of photos showing officers in the field with standard metal fittings and no covers. I've never read anything that discussed when or why an officer decided to use them. Since they had to buy their own swords, I suspect it might have come down to money. Some came from affluent families/backgrounds, some were poor. It could also simply have been a matter of taste and aesthetics. The late-war saya I've seen tend to have crudely painted wood (black). I don't think I've noticed any real difference in the leather, although there were some synthetics that showed up near the end of the war.

I fixed the photos. Hi Justin, You may already know, but you have a Type 97 Navy officer sword there, or kaigunto. You can read about them on Ohmura's site: Naval Officers Kaigunto - Ohmura This should be your smith: "KANEMORI (兼守), Shōwa (昭和, 1926-1989), Gifu – “Kanemori” (兼守), real name Nishida Rin´ya (西田林弥), born March 14th 1883, he worked as a guntō smith died September 19th 1944" Be sure not to use sandpaper or a buffer on the blade. They will ruin it. Here's a good page for care and cleaning: Japanese Sword Care. You might check up higher on the nakago (tang) for small stamps that may be up there. The saya (scabbard) is a custom job, covered in stingray skin. Would have looked really nice.

Same here. Two days without trouble.

I was initially tempted to say this was done by sailors or G.I.s on the way back home, but it looks to have plenty of wear & tear. Could have been done in the field.

Oooo, good eye John!

John, there are some guys on this forum that can talk to you about it, but you would be better off putting it on the http://Nihonto Forum.

Halfway through the first episode. It is a slow buildup as they start with the waning years of the samurai, but now they are getting into the good stuff! Never heard of the myth of Masakado. Fascinating! Masakado

Thanks, John. Someone switched the saya along the way. Lucky for you, I'd say. The current one is much nicer, and still period legit for holding an RJT star blade.

The other guys are better at ID'ing blade ages, however with "Seki" in the mei, I'd say this was made by one of the WWII Nobumitsu smiths. The fittings are civilian, and the leather cover tells us it was converted for the war. We've seen a number of wartime blades in civil fittings. I've been told that civilians were still buying swords during the war. But there were a couple of big drives to get donated swords for the war effort, and the military also was willing to buy them from owners.

It was just loading slowly for me this morning, but workable. Fine now.

Joeloe, Congrats on owning a highly coveted first edition NCO gunto! Sam said it all. Here is a link to caring for your sword: Japanese Sword Care I recommend getting a Japanese sword cleaning kit. They can be found on ebay, amazon, etc for not much money and your sword will benefit greatly from it. You can read more about your sword on Ohmura's site: Non-commissioned Officers Gunto 1935 - Ohmura As well as these articles and threads: Japanese Type 95 Military Sword Variations - Sam Scoggins Evolution of the Type 95 Gunto - Nick Komiya