My Standard Kaigunto (Navy Sword)

[Bruce Pennington]

Of all the WWII Japanese swords, I think the kaigunto is the most attractive.  Mine has a 1943 blade made by Yoshishige, with large Seki stamp.  The model was officially released in 1937, so it's called a Type 97.  You can read about its development on Nick Komiya's post 1937 Launch of the New Navy Gunto.  Also, Ohmura has exquisite photos of them: Navy Tachi Gunto.  "Gunto" means Army (Gun) Sword (To).  So kaigunto is literally "Navy (Kai) Army Sword" Ha!  But the term "gunto" took on it's own life as a generic term for military sword by the time the Navy designed their own.  Except for the very late war version, they kept the 2 haikan (belt ring) design throughout the war, whereas the army dropped the second ring in 1938.  Metal parts were gold gilded.  Rayskin was lacquered black and the ito (handle wrap) was normally not folded.  The brown navy tassel was used by all ranks.

 

 

 

 

Edited 4 hours ago by Bruce Pennington

[TracA]

Bruce,

 

What a beautiful sword. Thanks for sharing.

 

All the best,

 

Tracy