Mon badge

[pcfarrar]

Hi,

 

Does anyone recognise this mon badge or what the kanji mean?

 

Not listed in the Hawley Mon book.

 

Thanks,

 

Peter

[Ichi]

It doesn't like a mon to me, but rather a "sakura" . Sorry, I just came back from a cherry blossom festa here in Tokyo, and had a bit too much sake. The first kanji is mura [village].

[Nobody]

By guesswork, the kanji on the right could be Ima (今). If that is correct, Imamura (今æ‘) could be a family name.

[pcfarrar]

Thanks! Would this type of mon have been the owners family mon going back into the edo period?

 

The blade in the mounts is quite interesting as its a nanbokucho bizen-to and it has an old sukashi tsuba (original to the mount) fitted.

[Nobody]

I do not think that it is a mon. It may be the owner's name just inscribed like a seal.

[Guest reinhard]

I agree with Moriyama-san. The silver "mon" can be attributed to the family-name: Imamura. This is a very widespread Japanese family-name and probably very hard to track individually. In the book "Military swords of Japan" by Fuller and Gregory you can find a similar example on the kabuto-gane of a Shin-GunTo (p.96). The accompagning text above says:

 

"At the surrender in 1945 many officers deliberately defaced or removed their mon, to avoid disgracing the family name."

 

The mon on your sword might be genuine, but even then it will be very difficult to find out anything about the former owner.

 

reinhard

[Guest Simon Rowson]

Here's a good example of what Reinhard is referring to regarding deliberately defaced mon:

 

 

PS: Quick explanation for copyright reasons. This gunto is not owned by me - I took this photo from the on-line catalogue of a UK Militaria dealer.

[Bugyotsuji]

At the risk of opening up the discussion too wide, I wonder if Fuller and Gregory as quoted above by Reinhard, managed to give the full and proper nuance. ..."to avoid disgracing the family name." The suggestion is that by allowing the allied troops to take their swords, they were somehow disgraced.

 

I don't know who did it or when, but one of my guns, dated 1847, had the Mon erased in two places. The silver Mon on the top of the barrel had been melted out, leaving the original pits in the steel. (I have had the pits refilled with silver to restore this Mon). Another Mon burnt into the side of the stock has also at some time been two-thirds erased.

 

Perhaps "disgracing the family name" is correct, but it could be for a number of further reasons. If the original owners of my gun were forced for example by poverty to sell it, then that could also have been embarrassing. Defacement or removal of the Mon would also surely clarify the act of cutting ties of obligation, and help to distance oneself from the object.

 

Perhaps you are lucky to have found this one with the Imamura name intact, Peter.

[Stephen]

after talking to many vets over the years at gun shows I found out that they were ordered to grind off the Mum (which many took as Mon when talking to them) off the rifles they were bring home to dishonor the Royal family chrysanthemum. Seems the Mon on tsuka's faired better than the rifles, if you have the either feel lucky.

[pcfarrar]

Is a mon badge on a gunto a definite sign that the owner came from a Samurai family?

 

In my experience at least 70% of gunto with mon badges are meiji or earlier blades

[Guest reinhard]

The explanation of Fuller and Gregory seems reasonable to me. The imperial army, though filled up with commoners, was still dedicated to "Bushi-Do" (or what was held for it) in order to encourage warrior-spirit. Every farmer or kuli drafted could imagine himself as a heir of samurai-spirit. As a boomerang of this PR of the army, the "never surrender"-attitude of the samurai of old had to be brought in accordance with the situation of defeat.

 

reinhard