Early Japanese Navy Dirk

Axis Powers > Japanese > Edged Weapons >

This is a nice 1883 patterned Imperial Japanese Naval Officer Dirk. The single fullered blade on this one is a nice example. The only issue I see is a spot of pitting just an inch south of the obverse blade tip. The fit is tight and the tip is perfectly pointed! The blade rates Exc++. The blade measures approx 8 1/4 inches long,(measured from the habaki). The black saya (scabbard) is wood based and covered in polished black shark-skin. likely 60% of the skin. The saya has two brass based scalloped fittings. They show wonderful detail with several leaves and cherry blossoms throughout. Both screws remain intact and the top clip works well! The brass based guilded crossguard looks good and is marked with 2 inspection marks under the crossguard. The ferrule and pommel cap are also brass based. They are nicely detailed with random pebbling a cherry blossom and leaves. The grip is tightly triple brass wire wrapped, over a white pebbled ray skin and seamed to the reverse. One wire is broke just below the reverse cherry blossom. A good example of a Japanese Naval dirk