VJ Day marks the anniversary of 15 August 1945 when Japan announced its surrender to the Allied forces. The surrender was met with relief and celebration that after six long years the Second World War was finally over. As part of our commemorations, we are sharing this blog written by by Martin Kearns, the nephew of Leslie Kearns who donated a Japanese sword to our social history collection.
This is a genuine Japanese Sword worn by a Japanese Officer in WW2, acquired in 1946 from the Officer in Saigon.
Following Japan’s surrender in 1945, Japanese swords, particularly those carried by officers, were surrendered to Allied forces as part of the disarmament process.
It was brought to Southport by Leslie Kearns of the 95th Field Security Section based in Singapore. He had been transferred to Saigon to assist the French in investigating War Crimes.
While in Saigon, he met his wife, a daughter of a Saigon Doctor, and they were subsequently married at the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd, in Singapore. The best man was also an ex resident of Southport Flt. Lieut John Atherton. They met when they both went to King George V school.
The sword was offered by Sergeant Kearns to the Museum at the Botanic Gardens, and subsequently transferred to The Atkinson in April 2011, when the museum closed.
Japanese swords, were often family heirlooms and symbols of military status, were surrendered to signify Japan’s unconditional surrender and the end of World War II. The surrender of swords was not universally agreed upon. Some Allied commanders, like Lord Mountbatten, specifically ordered the surrender of swords to emphasize Japan’s defeat.
All Japanese Officers were required to carry a sword between 1935 to 1945. The scabbard (saya) and hilt (tsuka) of the sword seem to be typical of the type of fittings that one would expect to see on standard military swords or shin-gunto as used by Japanese officers of multiple ranks before and during the Second World War The shin-gunto or ‘new army sword’ that was used by Japanese troops during the Second World War was based on the traditional tachi (a sword slung from the belt, cutting edge down, worn by warriors on horseback) which was popular during the medieval period in Japan.
There is a tradition in Japanese religion that the kami (spirits of the ancestors) live on in the swords and armour that they carried or wore during their lifetimes. For this reason, those Japanese officers who had the means to do so often had their old family blades mounted with the modern military fittings, so that their equipment conformed with army regulations, but nevertheless their ancestors and family heritage could still accompany them into battle. It is therefore not unusual to find a shin-gunto that has regulation mounts fitted to a much older blade.
Reputed to be three hundred and fifty years old the sword is richly decorated having been handed down from Japanese ancestors as the symbol of authority. Concealed in the hilt (allegedly) is a manuscript containing the swords history since it was made? The hilts have often rusted into place over time and any attempt to prise them off can result in damage to the sword, which obviously would be far from ideal.
