Original Item: Only One Item Available. This is a nice late WW2 "last ditch" issue Japanese Model 30 Arisaka rifle bayonet with straight cross guard, complete with a rubberized canvas Scabbard with integral frog. This is the first time that we have had one of these rare late issue scabbards. The bayonet does not even have any arsenal markings, so rushed was production at the time this was made. Condition of bayonet is very good, though the blade is relatively thick, and has a 45 degree grind to both sides of the edge. There are no nicks in the blade, and it appears to have not really been used. Last ditch bayonets in this condition are extremely rare, as most were discarded, and they were generally not well made and broke often. Rubberized canvas scabbards like this are almost never seen, due to the material breaking down over the decades. Scabbard is in great shape, though it has some cracking at the base of one of the belt loops.

History of the Type 30 Bayonet-

The Type 30 bayonet (三十年式銃剣 sanjunen-shiki juken) was a bayonet designed for the Imperial Japanese Army to be used with the Arisaka Type 30 Rifle and was later used on the Type 38 and Type 99 rifles. Some 8.4 million were produced, and it remained in front-line use from the Russo-Japanese War to the end of World War II.

Type 30 Bayonet was a single-edged sword bayonet with a 400 millimeters (15.75 in) blade and an overall length of 514 millimeters (20.24 in) with a weight of approximately 700 grams. The Type 30 bayonet is also known as the "Pattern 1897 bayonet". Early Type 30 bayonets usually sported a hooked quillon guard that gave it a distinct look, but later models had a straight hand guard. This bayonet is of the Late War design, with a straight quillon, with a roughly contoured "birds-head" pommel. The rivet-retained wooden grip is rectangular, and does not wrap around the tang. The blade is flat without fullers and blued, and the crossguard is straight but still contoured on the side. This configuration matches the last type produced at several different arsenals.

The design was intended to give the average Japanese infantryman a long enough reach to piece the abdomen of a cavalryman. However, the design had a number of drawbacks, some caused by the poor quality of forgings used, which tended to rust quickly and not hold an edge, and to break when bent.

These bayonets were manufactured from 1897 to 1945 at a number of locations, including the Kokura Arsenal, Koishikawa Arsenal (Tokyo) and Nagoya Arsenal, as well as under contract by private manufacturers including Matsushita, Toyoda Automatic Loom and many others, including Jinsen Arsenal in Occupied Korea. Towards the end of the war, production was so rushed that markings could be left off.