Thoughts on Aikuchi - probable gunto officer aikuchi

[Battara]

Greetings folks.  This is my first post over on this part of the forum.  

 

I got this little aikuchi in a lot of several pieces of US and Filipino origin, including this Japanese piece.  I think this is a WWII made aikuchi for an officer.  The hamon looks oil tempered to me, and it is mumei.  

 

What are your thoughts?

 

 

Thank you in advance.

[Grey Doffin]

Hi Jose,

I believe this possibly was made as is or, more likely, fashioned from a broken sword tip with the horimono added, done shortly after WWII to sell to someone in the occupation as a trinket to take home.

Grey

[Bruce Pennington]

I'm way out of my league, but the nakago workmanship doesn't match the excellent look of the blade, so I'd side with Grey on this.

 

On another note, what is meant by "aikuchi"?  Google says it's a hilt and scabbard that meet without the handguard.  Sounds like another word for shirasaya?  Or is an aikuchi fittings for active use, whereas the shirasaya is a resting set of fittings?

[Battara]

Bruce you have a good point.  It is probably more like a tanto in shira saya mounts, though the scabbard is missing. 

 

Thank you both for you help.  

 

What got me confused is that I have seen similar examples in Fuller's book with nearly identical blade profiles. 

[Geraint]

Bruce is on the right lines; aikuchi refers to a style of mounting without tsuba, not the form of the blade.  Any blade could be mounted as an aikuchi.  Nothing to do with shirasaya though.

 

All the best.

[Battara]

One other thought/question that I hesitantly ask:  Could this possibly be a kamikaze dagger?  Yes too many shira saya tantos out there are claimed to be kamikaze, but again in  Fuller and Gregory's work, there is an example of such a dagger with a blade nearly identical to mine.  Also, if it were a cut down blade, wouldn't the tang be more squared off like other ones reused as daggers?

[Bruce Pennington]

In my extremely inexperienced mind, on the topic, it seems as plausible an idea as any other.  I have read in a couple of places of commanders awarding tanto to those pilots.  No comments as to where they got them.

[ChrisW]

I think what Grey is getting at, is that the crudeness to which the nakago was created speaks to someone who was not a swordsmith, but an enterprising individual who saw an opportunity.

[Brian]

These are one of 2 things:
Personal soldier's tanto taken to war as a general purpose knife..maybe good luck thing.
OR a souvenir made after the war. Some say they were sold as shrines, others that they were made for tourists.
Either way, very typical of the style, and not a Kamikaze dirk.