Original Item: Only One Item Available. This is a nice very late WWII "last ditch" issue Japanese Model 30 Arisaka rifle bayonet, with straight cross guard and blade bearing arsenal markings indicating manufacture by Jinsen Arsenal in occupied Korea. The marking is very crudely done, as are most aspects of these very late issue bayonets. The bayonet comes complete with a wooden "last ditch" scabbard, made from two pieces of wood bound glued together, without even any wrappings. This is held in a leather bayonet frog, which is probably the best made part of this set.

Condition of bayonet is good, though it does show wear, possibly from use in the forests during the last days of WWII. It has bene sharpened along the full length, so it may have seen service post war. There is also damager to the wooden handle and the muzzle ring, as shown in the photographs. Last ditch bayonets extremely rare, as most were discarded, and the wooden scabbards are much less resilient than the steel ones.

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 millimetres (15.75 in) blade and an overall length of 514 millimetres (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 quillion guard that gave it a distinct look, but later models had a straight hand guard. This bayonet is of the Later War design, with a straight quillon, with the final style flat-sided rectangular pommel. The rivet-retained wooden grip is flat sided 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, which makes this the last pattern made at Jinsen Arsenal. Base of the bayonet is marked with serial number 39880, after the series marking.

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.

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"