Dieter3

Very nice document!

Built as, or converted?

I have always found ways to exceed storage and display limits.....

Very nice rack! Yes, Labar's book is the bible of Japanese bayonets for sure. Been awhile since I've acquired any new militaria, But I've got a collection of bayonets myself. I find it rather enjoyable to catalog them. I know it's taboo for some collectors, but whenever I get an earlier piece with screws, I always disassemble them to catalog the markings you find on the backsides of the grips panels and tang. That is, it the screws are willing to turn, I won't mung them up just to take them apart, I'm very careful....

Ha, ha! Good to see you guys are still here!

Man, it's a ghost town in here.....

Recent trip to Kyoto, and this was a MUST SEE for me, the burial mound of the Emperor Meiji. Super awesome, a beautiful place, and hardly anybody there, unlike the rest of Kyoto that was jammed with tourists.

My guess is that Izawa re-worked this rifle at some point during WWII, not originally made by Izawa, but not sure! Very interesting!

That's actually a sweet find!!

I only have 3 of these, 2 are Showa 15, one is from August of Showa 14....

Why would this person claim a real medal was a forgery that he made? Makes no sense, does it?

Hello Gentlemen! I've been gone for awhile but want to get back in touch with the forum, and start up collecting again. I've not acquired any new pieces for maybe over a year now. Hope you all are well! Forum looks fairly slow these recent months anyway......

HA HA!!! Yes, I was there at the end of March. I just showed up out of the blue without contacting ahead of time. The roll-up door was open and my friend and I shouted in there, and Hama-san showed up. Even though we simply showed up, she was happy to take us upstairs and show us around (very crowded!) - but man, what a great place! Unfortunately, the owner was antique hunting in Osaka, so we could not meet him, but there was plenty there to look at! She indicated the shop is actually going to relocate (and that may have happened already by now), I've meant to email her and find out, and thank her once again for the tour. Prices did seem a bit high on a lot of the medals, which is my primary interest, but I did not comment on that. Some interesting firearms related items too, I could use a few miscellaneous parts for some of my Arisakas. Will have to inquire about those too.....

I don't believe so. It appears that most (if not all) of his orders were actually on display in individual cases hung around the wall of the throne room at the palace. Some of the cases were empty, and some of them were not where you could actually get to, roped off. That's why I asked about the Chrysanthemum, because I couldn't see everything. But that order was not there. I assume some of these were belonged to the queen as well. There was a lot of other things on display in the basement - other medals, orders, and royal jewels that included miniatures of many of the orders that were the queen's. I should have taken photos, but I was trying to obey the rules. When I saw the Rising Sun though, I was a bad boy. I didn't get any close ups of any of the orders, but you can see some of them hanging here on the wall, no idea what they are. They were some that I could have photographed that were not roped off, but they were not Japanese, so I did not do so. Mistake in retrospect. Now I'm really interested in the king and queen and their orders!

Sorry for the crummy pics! Really wasn't supposed to take these but couldn't resist. Iolani Palace, Hawaii. Some other very cool stuff here, but I could not find King Kalakaua's Chrysanthemum Order among the collection. Not sure if it still exists?? One of the gents working at the palace was not sure if it was simply off display or if it went missing from when the monarchy was overthrown. Anybody know? Many of the other orders were on display, I assume they were originals?