Original Item: Only One Item Available. This is a very good condition early WWII issue Japanese Model 30 Arisaka rifle bayonet with a straight contoured cross guard, complete with a rare rubberized canvas Scabbard and integral frog. The bayonet bears the arsenal markings of Toyoda Jidoshoki Seisakusho (Toyoda Automatic Loom Works) under Nagoya Arsenal supervision. This company would later become Toyota Motor Corporation.

Condition of bayonet is very good, though it definitely has seen some sharpening and use after production. This has worn a little of the bluing off near the edge of the blade, however it is still correctly only sharpened on the last 2/3 of the blade's edge. There is also wear to the original blued finish from use and cleaning, and there is a bit of light rust on the surface, which could easily be removed. The rest of the bayonet is also in good shape, though there is some denting in one of the wooden grip scales, probably from the ride to the U.S..

Rubberized canvas scabbards like this are almost never seen, due to the material breaking down over the decades. The scabbard is in great shape, and unlike every other example we have seen, the body is still soft and supple! Even the frog is still partly soft, with only the belt loops having really hardened over time!

Please see Watts and White , THE BAYONET BOOK page 212, illustration 474.

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 Early War design, with a straight quillon and contoured "bird's head" pommel. The screw-retained wooden grips are the contoured type that do not wrap around. The blade is fullered and was originally blued, with a straight crossguard that is contoured on the sides. This configuration matches the 3rd of 6 patterns manufactured by Toyoda, when the production quality was still high. The bottom of the pommel is marked with serial number 83401, next to the series marking.

The design of the bayonet was originally 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.

Specifications:
Blade Length: 15 3/4"
Blade Style: Single Edge Bayonet
Overall length: 20 1/4“
Crossguard: 3 3/4”
Scabbard Length: 16 1/2"