What is the official Japanese name for the WW2 suicide blades?

Question

My grandfather died and we found a Japanese WW2 suicide blade. I am tryin gto find out the official japanese word for this item.

Here is a picture of the actual blade. Maybe someone could help me find out what exactly it is.

http://img117.imageshack.us/img117/3924/img3332uo6.jpg
http://img117.imageshack.us/img117/8599/img3333kr6.jpg

The entire blade is 15 1/4" long.

natsugusa, I sent you an email.

If you didnt receive it, email me at [e-mail].

I am very interested in finding out more about this item.

Answer 1

The Japanese word for something like this would be "Tanken" ... "short blade" ... it's a straight-edge with no cord wrap, indicating this was a Meiji era piece or later. I've never heard of "Agiachi" - it makes no sense to me whatsoever. I can't even think of the Kanji for such a word.

Contrary to popular belief, most formal ritual suicides weren't done with wakizashi; they were done with "Shirasaya" blades (lit. "White Scabbard" - unadorned plain wood handle and scabbard) for reasons of purity. Take a look at any "Jidaigeki" (period drama) from Japan and you'll see how it works.

The five-petaled flower is a Cherry blossom, aka "Sakura". That means that the wearer expected to live a short life and die gloriously. From the looks of the manufacture, it looks like part of the kit issued out to Kamikaze pilots, though I don't remember seeing something quite this unusual myself (and I've been to Yasukuni and Ueno museums countless times). Needless to say, it would be carried for symbolic reasons only; and not for actual use. It would help if you specified where and how your grandfather acquired this piece.

I'm Japanese myself and this is a rather tragic and senseless part of my history, but the fact remains it exists. I'm not a specialist in wartime esoterica, but if you put this piece on, say, Yahoo Answers Japan, someone with more knowlege will definitely come forward. Let me know if you want that done.

EDIT: After some cursory research on request from the Questioner ...

It's definitely a post Meiji-era piece. In fact, it's an Imperial Japanese Navy dirk from the Second World War. It's a part of the uniform; definitely not battle-worthy, nor meant to be used in combat. Lots of strange ideas got floated around in that era as the Japanese copied dress elements from the Prussians and the British ...

It's a rare collector's item, but its actual value is only around $35-60, tops. All the best selling it, if that's your idea.

By the way, I'm amazed at some of the other answers in here. Really. I don't know if it's just seeing people pull random answers out of a hat to be helpful, or just make stuff up as they go along for the hell of it, but wow. Unbelievable.

Answer 2

There is no such thing as a "suicide blade".

Japanese warriors, especially from older families, carried the katana (long sword) into battle. Those who rank in the samurai (warrior) caste were also entitled to carry the wakizashi (short sword) as parting of a matching pair.

In the formal seppuku ritual, the short sword would be used to disembowel oneself, while the long blade would be used by a friend to make the final stroke severing the head. In the informal hara-kiri ritual, only the short blade was used.

But the purpose of the blade was not suicide, so the term 'suicide blade' is completely inaccurate and inappropriate.

{EDIT} That looks like an agiachi (dagger). It's difficult to tell from the picture, because there is no length or scale. But very few of the Japanese blades were straight. Most, including the ones named above, were curved.

Answer 3

Japanese Suicide Sword

Answer 4

Japanese Sword Suicide

Answer 5

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
What is the official Japanese name for the WW2 suicide blades?
My grandfather died and we found a Japanese WW2 suicide blade. I am tryin gto find out the official japanese word for this item.

Answer 6

The wakizashi is the shorter of the two blades in a daisho set, the larger being the katana. The wakizashi was used for seppuku (ritual suicide), but it was also used in situations where the katana was unavailable or inappropriate, such as close range combat.

Answer 7

http://www.geocities.com/alchemyst/nihonto.htm

There are other items listed if you just use your search engine and type in "japanese swords". You can find poictures and descriptions to help you identify exactly what kind of sword you have.

Answer 8

Katana?

Answer 9

its called a tanto its a dagger the samurai carried and that one looks very old probably worth a lot of money

Answer 10

I found this site#
http://home.earthlink.net/~steinrl/military.htm
May be it can help. Good Luck!