Dayak Borneo tribal souvenir sword??????

[phil reid]

Hi chaps , curious piece that I'm thinking is Indonesian Malay (Borneo dayak) tribal sword that's been souvenired and carved on  with inscription, guessing alot depends on what's written on this .

 Any help with translation greatly appreciated 

[Brian]

Well, it is definitely a Dayak Mandau. Not sure why it has kanji.

[SteveM]

It says 

贈相京大佐殿

大西上等兵

 

To Colonel Aikyō

From Ōnishi PVC

 

There actually was a Colonel Masao Aikyō in Borneo at the end of WW2. 

[phil reid]

Thankyou for the translation, thought it might have been a WW2 souvenir piece from the inscription.

[Ian B3HR2UH]

That is a really interesting piece Phil . Col Aikyo commanded the Japanese forces in the North Sarawak and Brunei area. He surrendered his sword to Brigadier Windeyer on the 20th Sept 1945  . There are photos of the surrender and of the sword on the Australian war memorial website . Colonel Aikyo hung himself from the ridge pole of his tent in the Prisoner of war compound at Labuan in late October 1945 . It appears that a photograph of his body in situ exists if you are gruesome .

 

A document entitled the Japanese order of battle records that Col Aikyo was the commander of the Borneo Fuel depot . This possibly means that he was not a career officer but someone with specialist skills who was commissioned during the war. 

 

My quick reading of the relationship between the Japanese and the Dyaks indicates that they didn't interact during the occupation . When the allies landed though the Dyaks seem to have strongly supported them . There is a reference in the book The Final Campaigns to  Dyaks arriving at an Australian camp with the heads of six Japanese !

 

Ian Brooks

 

[phil reid]

Sorry gents , been offline for a bit , thank you all so much for your help

[roger dundas]

What a great piece especially with it's attribution.

A lot of these Dayak knives came back to Australia because our soldiers were given the job of clearing out the Japanese from the Island of Tarakan, at Balikpapan oilfields on Borneo, the Barito River/Banjarmasin in south Borneo and other places that probably Ian Brookes knows more about. A number came home with them. The Americans had gone on to the Philippines as well as those other hellish Pacific Islands. Hellish because of the ferocity of the fighting and the huge loss of young men from both sides. I have a small collection of these 'bush knives cum headhunters weapons- one and the same.

Roger j

[PNSSHOGUN]

Having seen Colonel Aikyo's sword in the Australian War Memorial many times this is quite interesting, thank you for sharing. 

 

https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C380347