How were Gunto and the like looked after in the field?

[matei]

Hi all... just curious how Japanese officers and NCOs actually looked after their swords in the field?  Were the cleaning/maintenance kits issued, or was it more or less on them to sort those?  I've seen minor field repairs - but if something like the blade were twisted, I wonder if they had to figure out repairs by themselves.  

 

The environments must've been a challenge as well - hot and humid in the Pacific islands and cold and wet in the Aleutians.  

 

As a former service person myself, I can recall that for any privately purchased kit that needed fixing/looking after, we were basically on our own.  Wonder if the Japanese troops were in the same situation?

[Brian]

I'm told there were sword maintenance guys that went around to the units performing repairs and sharpening.

[robinalexander]

Hi Mat, interesting question. 

 

I don't know but could I suggest the answer to your question was 'the best way they could'.

 

As Brian has said...Units were in circulation repairing and restoring 98/95's and in regard to 95's would have included re-matching and renumbering sayas (I have one). 

 

I imagine there would be Armourers would look after (just about) all 'military metal' but nothing to base that thought on.

 

Picture of some sword maintenance attached.  Not for any real reason....I just like it.

 

 

[BANGBANGSAN]

  On 6/5/2024 at 8:01 AM, matei said:

Hi all... just curious how Japanese officers and NCOs actually looked after their swords in the field?  Were the cleaning/maintenance kits issued, or was it more or less on them to sort those?  I've seen minor field repairs - but if something like the blade were twisted, I wonder if they had to figure out repairs by themselves.  

 

The environments must've been a challenge as well - hot and humid in the Pacific islands and cold and wet in the Aleutians.  

 

As a former service person myself, I can recall that for any privately purchased kit that needed fixing/looking after, we were basically on our own.  Wonder if the Japanese troops were in the same situation?

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There are 軍刀修理団（Gunto repair group) formed by 栗原昭秀（Kurihara Akihide), who sent many sword smiths&kendo instructors to the battlefield from Japan. Those guys are fixed tens of thousands of swords for the officers.
成瀬関次 Naruse Kanji(Gunto repair army civilian employee)wrote a book 実戦刀譚(Tales of the Sword in the Battlefield), which documented the damaged parts and causes of the thousands of military swords he repaired.
http://ohmura-study.net/925.html
http://ohmura-study.net/133.html

 

 

 

 

 

[matei]

Thanks for the detailed replies and pics as well, very interesting indeed!

[Bruce Pennington]

And then there are guys that did no maintenance. I’m trying to recall where I read the story of a young officer among other officers who were telling him he needed to take his sword out periodically and clean it. He ignored them, but one day, he tried to pull it out of the scabbard, and it was stuck!

[John C]

  On 6/6/2024 at 1:31 AM, Bruce Pennington said:

he tried to pull it out of the scabbard, and it was stuck!

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I think that was in Gladiator .

 

John C. 

[ckaiserca]

For those who may be interested, I did a quick machine translation of the article:

 

The year of Showa 12 (1937) was a great turning point for Hikosaburo Kurihara. From May, I traveled for a new Japanese sword full-fresh business trip exhibition, and soon after returning home, I went to Manchuria again. It is to see the rot of Showa swords and plan and investigate the establishment of a Japanese sword training school on site. However, the training school was not born in Manchuria. In the wake of the Sanko Bridge incident, there was an all-out war with China. Because I went in, dispatch of the Imperial Army Consolation Local Service Group (Local Service Group for Military Sword Repair) here has been decided.
 

The plan assumes that the battle period will be one year, and a group of 5 to 7 people will be formed into 20 groups, a total of 100 people, and a total of 3,000 people will be dispatched, and emergency repairs such as blade care, polishing, and handle winding will be performed once per person per day, and a total of 30,000 swings will be repaired. I'm doing. Fruit.

 

In some cases, the period and scale were more than this. Hikosaburo contracted amoeba dysentery at the Soman border in the summer of Showa 10, and since then he has often developed symptoms and has reached a critical condition. This disease is characterized by severe diarrhea, and the physical exhaustion is significant, causing complications. It seems that there was no effective treatment at that time. It is said that he was in a state of command from the hospital bed until just before he left as the leader of the first squad. It seems that he was also prepared, and he called himself the book of death "Sujuzoei" published in the middle of the business. See the portrait of that time.

 

And there is exactly the atmosphere of "the demon of the country" in the air. After the election of the House of Representatives in February 1919, Hikosaburo left politics and devoted himself to the reconstruction of the Japanese sword. And with this military sword repair business, we clearly identified the role of Japanese swords and swordsmiths, it will make "Forged Sword Hokoku" flourishing.

[matei]

  On 6/6/2024 at 5:48 PM, ckaiserca said:

For those who may be interested, I did a quick machine translation of the article:

 

The year of Showa 12 (1937) was a great turning point for Hikosaburo Kurihara. From May, I traveled for a new Japanese sword full-fresh business trip exhibition, and soon after returning home, I went to Manchuria again. It is to see the rot of Showa swords and plan and investigate the establishment of a Japanese sword training school on site. However, the training school was not born in Manchuria. In the wake of the Sanko Bridge incident, there was an all-out war with China. Because I went in, dispatch of the Imperial Army Consolation Local Service Group (Local Service Group for Military Sword Repair) here has been decided.
 

The plan assumes that the battle period will be one year, and a group of 5 to 7 people will be formed into 20 groups, a total of 100 people, and a total of 3,000 people will be dispatched, and emergency repairs such as blade care, polishing, and handle winding will be performed once per person per day, and a total of 30,000 swings will be repaired. I'm doing. Fruit.

 

In some cases, the period and scale were more than this. Hikosaburo contracted amoeba dysentery at the Soman border in the summer of Showa 10, and since then he has often developed symptoms and has reached a critical condition. This disease is characterized by severe diarrhea, and the physical exhaustion is significant, causing complications. It seems that there was no effective treatment at that time. It is said that he was in a state of command from the hospital bed until just before he left as the leader of the first squad. It seems that he was also prepared, and he called himself the book of death "Sujuzoei" published in the middle of the business. See the portrait of that time.

 

And there is exactly the atmosphere of "the demon of the country" in the air. After the election of the House of Representatives in February 1919, Hikosaburo left politics and devoted himself to the reconstruction of the Japanese sword. And with this military sword repair business, we clearly identified the role of Japanese swords and swordsmiths, it will make "Forged Sword Hokoku" flourishing.

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Thanks for that.  Even the wonky Google translation is better (and faster) than trying to do it manually w/ a Japanese-English dictionary.  

 

 

[John C]

  On 6/7/2024 at 6:32 AM, matei said:

Even the wonky Google translation is better

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Just a note. I find that microsoft translate is more accurate than google. Whenever possible, I copy and paste into a word document and translate that. 

 

John C.

 

[PNSSHOGUN]

Period picture of soldiers cleaning their Gunto, date unknown:

 

[EdWolf]

 Nice picture,  thanks for sharing. The Do and Shinai in the upper right corner is a nice detail.