Item Description
Original Item: Only One Available. This is a fine example complete with late war straight quillion guard, unfullered blade, and steel scabbard. 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. This example came from a collection started in the 1950s, and has not been cleaned or changed in any way since acquired. It has some areas of corrosion, and has damage to the wooden grips from decades before.
The scabbard of this bayonet is painted with information from where it was acquired:
JAP. MINDANO IS. 1945 W.W II
The island of Mindanao is the second largest in the Philippines, and was the site of a protracted battle from March 10th to August 15th 1945. U.S. Forces and allied Filipino fighters fought for months in difficult terrain to root out the well-entrenched Japanese forces, who had years to establish defensive positions.
The 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 quillon guard which 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 second style flat-sided "birds head" shaped pommel. The rivet-retained wooden grip is contoured and wraps around the tang, typical of mid-war bayonets. End of pommel bears serial number 19713. The blade is blued but unfullered, typical of late war bayonets.
This design was intended to give the average Japanese infantryman a long enough reach to pierce 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.
This excellent condition bayonet with steel scabbard was manufactured sometime between 1943 and 1945 by Matsushita Kinzoku KK, under Kokura Arsenal Supervision. Matsushita Metalworking Corp)was part of the Matsushita National Denki (Electric Corp.). Surviving group members now make electronics under the National and Panasonic brands. Sugawa estimates production at 900,000, the second-highest among the subcontractors.
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