Japanese Militaria at Castle-Thunder.com

[arisakadogs]

I've had this for a while. The marking, I'm told, says the following. "Iwo Jima - Effect of Winning the Battle" Lower is the date Showa 20th year 2nd month (Feb, 1945). There is more to the date but it's been mostly rubbed off.






On the back of the frog is a US Intellegence stamp and a large "Na" mark.






I can imagine two possibilities for this bayonet. One, someone in intel marked & stamped this as a souvenir for himself. The other, a Japanese soldier seeing the certain outcome of the battle marked this - knowing it would be picked up because of it's markings. Interesting how the frog was cut to fit the scabbard. The modification is old & the frog strap hasn't been moved in a very long time.
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"A woman, a dog & and a walnut tree. The more ya beat em, the better they be" (From "The Red Bagde of Courage")

[gwsiii]

Rob, that is awesome, regardless. It wouldn't really matter to me what it says. That is one fine condition specimen. I really want something trench art related that says something derogatory. I have one fake flag, and I have a line on a flag from a geisha (or "other semi-professional') dated late 45 that says something to the effect of 'I'll miss the sex'.

Modern day organizations have 'incentives' to 'increase production'. I don't guess it would be entirely out of line for a 'new bayonet and frog' to be presented to an outstanding 'grunt' for making it through the first day/days of the battle. We get 'Ice Cream Day' at work (usually in the winter) for 'surviving' the January rush. I'd probably swap you a cleaning rod, a 31" belt, and two #6 Tru Turn hooks for it. The night crawlers to go on the hooks would be extra though Trey
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I didn't pay to much for that old Arisaka, I just bought it a little bit too soon!

[arisakadogs]

Thanks Trey! It's one of my favorites. Note how the frog had to be "whittled" a little for the scabbard to fit properly. I have a couple others of this type & they won't fully seat into the frog - and it is the proper frog. That's why the bottom two in this photo are unbuckled. BTW, the bottom two are the rare JB104 & JB105.


_________________
"A woman, a dog & and a walnut tree. The more ya beat em, the better they be" (From "The Red Bagde of Courage")

[gwsiii]

Those are nice! I have an artillery short sword that is in one of those rubberized frogs. I was all set to remove the frog and put it on one of my later bayonets when I noticed a couple other artillery swords on the net that had the same bayonet frog attached, so I left it alone. Trey
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Subscribe to BANZAI!
Fill out a Japanese Rifle Datasheet.
I didn't pay to much for that old Arisaka, I just bought it a little bit too soon!

[lambo35]

Rob, the bottom frog looks like it once had a scabbard in it that had the small strap loop and thus would slide further down into the frog. The strap looks like it had been fastened long enough to leave an impression in the leather.
Somewhat hard to tell from the pictures though. What do you think?
Chuck

[arisakadogs]

Hi Chuck,
I just took a look at it & don't think it ever had a scabbard in it - at least since it hardened. The strap had been buckled, as you say, for some time. I'm not sure any of the wood scabbards (which this frog is made to fit) had a small enough loop to fit nicely into the notch.
_________________
"A woman, a dog & and a walnut tree. The more ya beat em, the better they be" (From "The Red Bagde of Courage")