Type 30 bayonet

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Type 30 bayonet
Japan bayonet Type 30.jpg
Japanese Type 30 Bayonet
TypeBayonet
Service history
Used byJapan, China, Korea, United Kingdom, Russian Empire, Estonia, Finland, Austria-Hungary
WarsRusso-Japanese War
World War I
Second Sino-Japanese War
World War II
Chinese Civil War
Korean War
Finnish Civil War
Production history
Designed1897
Unit cost9.15 yen ($2.5 USD) in August 1939[1][2]
Produced1897-1945
No. built~8,400,000
Specifications
Mass700 grams
Length514 millimetres (20.24 in)
Blade length400 millimetres (15.75 in)

The Type 30 bayonet (三十年式銃剣, sanjūnen-shiki jūken) 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 and Types 96 and 99 light machine guns. 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. All Japanese infantrymen were issued with the Type 30, whether they were armed with a rifle or pistol, or even if they were unarmed.[3]

Description[]

Japanese soldier in Sakhalin equipped with fixed Type 30

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 J-shaped hooked quillion guard which was designed to catch and trap the enemy's blade.[4] By 1942 the quillon was eliminated to save materials and decrease production time, leaving only a straight guard.[4] Type 30 scabbards went from metal (pre-1942), to vulcanized fibre (1942-43), and finally to wood or bamboo (1944-45).[4] Scabbards were usually painted black and called a burdock sword (gobo ken) as it looked like a burdock, a vegetable.

The 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.[citation needed]

The weapon was manufactured from 1897 to 1945 at a number of locations, including the Kokura Arsenal, Koishikawa Arsenal (Tokyo) and Nagoya Arsenal, as well as under contract by private manufacturers including Matsushita, Toyoda Automatic Loom and others.

References[]

  1. ^ "兵器臨時定価、予価、表送付の件 Military catalogue of the Japanese military". National Archives of Japan. Ministry of the Army.
  2. ^ "Banking and Monetary Statistics, 1914-1941, Part I". Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
  3. ^ Rottman, Gordon L. (2005). Japanese Army in World War II - Conquest of the Pacific 1941-42. Oxford, England: Osprey Publishing. p. 47. ISBN 1841767891.
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b c Nila, Gary (2011). Japanese Special Naval Landing Forces: Uniforms and Equipment 1932-45. London, England: Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 9781780962399. Retrieved 14 March 2019.

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