Not often discusses are the military swords of Imperial Japan, which by the 1930s returned to a style reminiscent of blades samurai used to carry. In this video we examine the fascinating history of "Gunto" military swords, going all the way from the Meiji Restoration - to the end of the Second World War.
Timestamps:
0:00 Intro
3:33 The Symbolic Importance of Nihonto
5:08 The End of the Edo Period
6:54 The Rise of Western Style Swords
12:26 Into the 20th Century
13:46 Rising Nationalism and Militarism
16:33 Shin Gunto - New Military Swords
20:12 Shin Gunto Usage on the Battlefield
24:03 Japanese Defeat and Closing
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Sources Used:
"Swords of the Emperor" by John E. Plimpton
"Samurai Death Cult" by Antony Cummins
"Japanese Swords and Armor" by Paul Martin
"Japan at War" by David McCormack
"The Rise and Fall of Imperial Japan" Edited by S.L. Mayer
"Samurai Swords: A Collector's Guide" by Clive Sinclaire
"Japanese Swords" by Colin M. Roach
Further information was found using articles from the Japanese Wiki Corpus
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Music:
"Loading map 03" from Battlefield 1
"Marshes" from World of Warcraft
"Dark Ironforge" from World of Warcraft
Artwork and Images:
Classical art, which in most cases can be considered public domain.
Art from Osprey Publications.
Archival Photographs from Wikipedia
Archival Footage from British Pathe
Archival Footage from NHK
Other modern artist renditions and photographs, if you see your work in this video please contact me so that I can give you proper credit!
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#Samurai #History #Japan