Here we have an extremely scarce and rarely seen Japanese Army Officers Special Short Length Sword for Pilot and Tank Officers. To be very clear about this the only officers authorized to carry this non-regulation length Sword were Pilots and Tankers who worked in very confined spaces. This particular example is an old Ancestoral family blade in full a full length leather combat cover which is in and of it’s self quite un-common. The very old 19 inch blade is from the Bizen School and is signed “Bizen Kun Ju Naga” it is in decent polish with a nicely undulating temper line. The Mounts are of iron with a Dragon motif embellished with Gold, most of which is still intact.
Very likely this belonged to a Pilot from an old Samurai Family. There were never a large number of these short swords and most that were carried in combat would have been lost. This is a fantastic example of how far the Samurai ethos pervaded Japanese Military Culture, climbing into a Tank or Plane but still wanting to be a Samurai in Spirit.
