Late Army Type 95 NCO Sword

1,760 · November 3, 2019

Gents,

I picked up a nice late war Army Type 95 NCO sword at a militaria show this weekend that I thought I would show.

This is an example of one style of the 1944-45 period "last ditch" style of wooden handled NCO swords called the "#1 Variation" (1 of 4) by Jim Dawson in his book, "Swords of Imperial Japan 1868-1945" on pages 200-205. This early late war variation has a carved wooden grip, simple painted iron fittings, a machine made blade, and a metal scabbard. Later swords (as identified by serial numbers) were more crude and had wooden scabbards rather than painted metal ones that are similar to the earlier copper and aluminum hilt Type 95 NCO sword scabbards.

This sword was made by Nagoya Arsenal's Seki Branch Factory Workshop in Seki, Japan and has an early serial number. Other swords of this style were made in Korea and were of lesser quality. It has matching serial numbers on the blade and the throat of the metal scabbard which has a standard applied drag on the end. The hilt is carved unfinished wood made in two pieces that are secured to the blade tang by iron screws and two winged washers. The pommel is a metal casting that is soldered together and it has a large hole for the sword knot instead of a saru-te loop. The slab sided blade is rather crude steel with no fuller or temper line (hamon). The guard (tsuba) is plain black painted metal as is the scabbard lock and washers. The steel scabbard is painted olive drab and is identical to, but more crudely made, the earlier Nagoya Arsenal Type 95 NCO swords with metal grips.

Enjoy.