Gunto legality??

[Peter Bleed]

Are Showa era noncom swords and other arsenal-made blades legal in Japan? Can they be imported and registered today?

Peter

[PNSSHOGUN]

They can be registered, one of the reasons stated is the officer or officers family registering it and the prefecture board sympathizing with them. Unknown about being imported into Japan, but highly doubt it.

[Brian]

The chances are extremely scarce. A small handful of exceptions does not make a rule.
So for all intents and purposes, they remain illegal and not able to be imported (definitely) or registered (most likely)

[Bruce Pennington]

I have read a few stories of guys attempting to bring a gunto into into Japan with them.  In each case, the sword was confiscated by customs police and held at the airport office until the individual returned to fly back home.  So, it wasn't destroyed, but they wouldn't let the sword leave the airport, except to return home.

 

I have seen Type 95s for sale on Yahoo/Buyee, so they must be allowing registrations for export, but I don't have any info on how that is taking place.

[Peter Bleed]

Thank you for these comments. Bottom line is, - I think - that these weapons survive only outside of their homeland. I have to wonder how that will be treated in histories of Japan and Japanese swords written a century or two from now.

Peter

[SteveM]

I think there will be a change in the Japanese law, and guntō will cease to be treated as items to be destroyed (or hidden for fear of confiscation and then destruction). The number of guntō that we see with registration cards lately makes me think there is already a subtle change taking place at the ministerial level.

 

Actually the law doesn't explicitly forbid guntō from being registered. The law just says only "swords with artistic merit" can be submitted for registration. The registration criteria are also sufficiently broad as to include guntō if the authorities wish, so really all they have to do is issue new guidance saying guntō should be treated as having artistic merit (or are historically significant reference items). 

 

I've mentioned this before, but I suspect the authorities are taking a more generous view of these items nowadays (hence why we can see some for sale on the Japanese dealer sites). At some point (I think fairly soon) the official stance will shift from "we don't usually register guntō, but accidents happen" to "these are historical items and they therefore fit the criteria for registration" and we will see an official acceptance of them. 

[Peter Bleed]

Steve,

I hope you are right in predicting a shift led by a new generation. Finding support for 1) weapons and 2) War time gear may take a while. It will take a while, but it will be an interesting development.

Peter

[Ed Harbulak]

In 23 years the last NCO blades made in Japan for the war will be genuine antiques and then perhaps fall into a different category. The fake NCO style blades will still be modern fakes, but unfortunately even the fakes are getting harder to identify.