Hi all,

I found this very unsual looking tanto at the Pitt Rivers museum in Oxford. When I saw it I was instantly struck by how much it resembled a broken back seax.

The broken back and swollen belly makes it very unusual for me.

Anyways here are some pictures. The museum is extremely dark and so I tried to take as many photos as I could with my phone pressed against the glass.

Interesting, William... Any information on this piece from the museum? Date, etc. ?

Cheers,

Simon

Hi Simon,

The Pitts Rivers museum is a museum of a victorian museum! As such it has precious little details on the exhibits. Most of them saying generic things like "Japanese tanto" etc... So sadly there was no information that I saw of this unusual blade.

Ah! I see. If so, would it be possible for this piece to in fact be a non-Japanese blade mounted on a tanto (or tanto-like) handle? Or even a Japanese creation but European-inspired? At the end of the 19th century, notably after the Meiji revolution, many European things were copied in Japan. Without any date available, it is quite possible that this piece falls into one of these categories. The blade and handle don't seem very old, or they are the weapon exceptionnaly well conserved.

Here is a link from another forum discussing a similar tanto. http://www.swordforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=104036

Here is an image of another example of the same type of Tanto.
It is from this site, that sells antique japanese blades:
http://www.e-sword.jp

I do not know of a name for this specific type of blade. It has interesting geometry.
This particular blade is dated to late Edo period and I think was made by the smith Yamato Nara.
Blade length is 18.2 cm.

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Here you go:

Full mounting and some close ups.
All from the said site.
I saw this some time ago, and the dagger must now have been sold. I went back myself to confirm some details, but noticed it was gone.

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Thanks, I would like to find out if there is a name for this shape of blade.