My WWII Japanese Mantetsu Sword

[Bruce Pennington]

A little slow lately, so thought I'd start sharing my collection.  I started 10 years ago when my father died.  I inherited his WWII sword which I knew nothing about.  Once online, I started learning about WWII Japanese swords.  His, in particular, was made by the South Manchurian Railway sword division, or Mantetsu (which is a contraction of the Japanese SMR name).  It was missing several parts, and the tsuka (handle) had been glued on:

 

I learned that the date was "Spring 1941" and the mei (signature) said "Koa Isshin" (Asia is One Heart - the slogan for the S.E. Asia campaign for "uniting the 7 tribes") and "Mantetsu made this", serial number ナ(NA) 184.

 

 

It took me 3 years to find all the parts I wanted, but I finally got it back to how it would have looked originally.  No way to know the rank of the officer that carried it, but I was a LtCol at the time, so I found a Field Grade tassel an Aussie friend had - still unused, in the box!.

 

 

The blade obviously had a rough life.  I debated whether to have it polished or to keep it in it's current "Life of the Blade" condition.  In the end, it was my dad's sword, so I decided to have it polished.  I'm glad I did as it came out looking fabulous!  Some before and after shots:

 

 

You can read about the Mantetsu blade and the SMR operation in an article a few of us wrote, compiling all the sources we could find and documenting the research we had been doing.  We actually made a few new discoveries about the blades not found in current reference material.  Here's the free download - South Manchurian Railway - The Mantetsu Blade.

Edited August 13 by Bruce Pennington

[TracA]

Bruce,

 

Wonderful story and journey with your father's sword. Thanks for sharing.

 

All the best,

 

Tracy

[No one]

Dear Bruce,

 

Your sword is beautiful and has been restored very nicely, indeed.

 

Yours sincerely,

No one

[JewittDan]

Now this is a wonderful sword and a wonderful story Bruce