Any of us who have been collecting for long enough have come across a gunto or dirk that just doesn’t fit the mold. Something about it, in one fashion or another, varies from "Official Specification." There is sometimes legitimate reason to reject the item as a fake or reproduction, but quite often, the item is just too "legit" to reject.

In discussing a Senior Forestry Dirk, owned by Geoff, Nick Komiya (a man I HIGHLY respect and value) challenged me to prestent evidence that there exists legitimate Japanese war relics that have variations from the official design in ways involving rank (floral layout) or category (IJA, Railroad, Police, Red Cross, etc). It is his contention that such variations would violate Imperial dictate and would not be tolerated. — Nick correct me if I have the issue wrong in any way!

First, I’ll begin with Geoff’s Forestry dirk. It has leaf patterns on the backstrap and saya that vary from the original design specification. To my knowledge, there is no one that wants to claim his dirk is a fake or reproduction.

Next, I’ll go to both Fuller & Gregory and Dawson’s work.
a. F & G, pg 150-152, discusses an "Unidentified variation of the 1883 pattern Officer Candidates naval dirk" that has "…unusual canted pommel and engraved backstrap foul anchor…"

b. Dawson, pgs 372-381, discusses 6 "Unidentified Custom Swords" 1 is civil, but of the remaining 5 "None of the five seemed clearly to fit in any of the preceding chapters, and none are pictured in the Imperail Uniform Regulations."

Pictures attached.(sorry I have NO IDEA of how to right-side-up these pictures)

I want everyone, especially Nick Komiya, to know that I’m in no way trying to just argue with Nick! I simply enjoy these discussions, have learned a tremendous amount of knowledge from them, and would like to pursue this one for it’s potential for the growth of our understand this wonderful world we are all addicted to!

Click to enlarge the picture