Japanese Officer’s Gunto

UK POSTAGE ONLY

All Japanese officers in 20th-century wartime Japan were required to wear a sword as a badge of rank. Though traditional swordsmiths made exquisite blades for the highest officers, there was no way they could meet the massive demand required by the military. These katana-like blades are called ‘’Shin Gunto’’ which means ‘’new military sword’’. They existed alongside the older ‘’Kyu Gunto’’ sabres that were in emulation of western-style swords. Though more traditional in appearance, the popularity of the Shin Gunto was a later arrival and it greatly increased in popularity from the 1930s through WWII as the Japanese nationalism sought inspiration from their samurai past. This replica of a Japanese Officer’s Shin Gunto sword has a tempered blade of high carbon steel; the habaki, tsuba and hilt fittings are brass, the seppa is copper and the grip is wood with a leather cord grip wrap. The sword features a simple locking mechanism to keep the sword locked into its scabbard. The sword is paired with a steel scabbard with a brass hanging ring. While many Shin Gunto had mass-produced grips of cast metal, this reproduction replicates the higher quality Shin Gunto with finer fittings and grips with genuine cord wrap.