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Posted

Just me, or do the pics scroll horizontally perpetually?

If so, need some line breaks as it is difficult to read that way.

 

Brian

Posted

I like when some history is attached to these swords, most often we know nothing about them, it is important to pass on as much info as we can.

 

I also have the sword mentioned in this article below. It was donated to the Canadian War Museum and they sent it to me for restoration. It is a Naginata Naoshi, 29 inch nagasa, a beautiful blade in poor condition but will be stunning when finished. With any luck it will be on display to the public. Incidently, from a historical point of view it is a very important piece as it is the only sword ever to be surrendered by a Japanese officer (the POW camp commanding officer gave it to her) to a woman, who was also a civilian, and who was Canadian - 3 firsts. The Commanding officer was probably not a very popular person back home for doing this. There was a history channel movie or documentary made about Ms. Fletcher and how she saved both the Japanese soldiers and the Dutch Sumatrans from the Sumatran Nationalists when the war ended.

 

BAMFORD FLETCHER, JOAN (1918–79)

In 1945 REGINA’s Joan Bamford Fletcher captured headlines in Canada and Britain after shepherding some 2,000 Dutch civilian captives from a Japanese prison camp through the Sumatra jungle to safety: while commanding seventy vanquished but armed Japanese soldiers she guided the evacuees through territory swarming with hostile Indonesian rebels. This remarkable feat earned her an MBE, a Samurai sword, and public renown. Born in Regina in 1918, Bamford Fletcher came from a family of prosperous cotton merchants in England. After early years spent on their dairy farm near Regina, she attended boarding school in England in the 1920s, and took further schooling in Belgium and France. After the outbreak of WORLD WAR II Fletcher first trained as a driver in the Canadian Red Cross transport section, then traveled to Britain around December 1940 and joined the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry (FANY). In Scotland she worked as a driver for the exiled Polish army. At war’s end she was sent to Sumatra, where her rescue feat took place. Later she was posted to the British Embassy in communist-held Poland, but eventually returned to Canada, where she died in 1979.

Posted

Hi Louis,

Great stories both, very inspiring. Any chance of some pictures of the Bamford-Fletcher ladies sword? I also wonder if she was related to JCB aka John Bamford of digger fame ? Just a thought.

 

Cheers,

 

Brian.

Posted

Hi Brian, I have no idea about the relation to the fellow or not. More will come out when it is all done and hit the media here, there is some local (Canada) hype about it.

 

 

DSCN0024.jpg

Posted
Interesting story. The blade resembles Chikuzen Nobukuni school.

 

At this point I can see masame in the shinogiji and masame in a few spots on the the ji itself, but it needs a window opened to clear out the fuzzy wartime polish and the heavy burnishing. Practically no nie exist and if ko-mokume apprears in a window then Chikuzen Nobukini school is a contender for sure. The horimono is poorly carved.

 

I'll just enjoy it as it is for the time being.

 

Louis

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