Japanese Army Katana Sword Leather Grip

Japanese Army katana sword and scabbard, with bamboo surrender block. The hilt has a cotton tape binding and is covered in a tight leather cover, that is cross-laced through metal eyelets. It has a kashira-type pommel cap and an unadorned hilt collar (fuchi). A plain leather tassel is secured to the copper alloy knot loop (sarute).

The leather battle guard is fitted on a wooden scabbard with a single hanger to which is attached a bamboo surrender block. The Japanese characters on the block indicate the sword was carried by 'Army Sergeant Chiyomatsu Onoda of the Tsu Unit of the Ogawa Unit'. The guard (tsuba) is iron with simplistic decorative markings.

This is a civilian katana sword outfitted for military use. It is associated with the service of QX42782 Lance Corporal John Keith 'Bill' Weatherhead, 2/27 Battalion, AIF. At the end of the Second World War, 2/27 Battalion was part of Maccassar Force, which had the responsibility of recovering prisoners, taking the surrender and controlling the troops of the Japanese 2nd Army in the southern Celebes (now Sulawesi, Indonesia). It was here, after the surrender of the Japanese forces, that Lance Corporal Weatherhead acquired this sword, through an official ballot held within his unit.

Born at Garfield, Victoria on 24 November 1921, John Keith 'Bill' Weatherhead served in the Militia and was living in Ipswich, Queensland when he enlisted in the AIF on 2 December 1941. Weatherhead served with 2/27 Battalion throughout the war and received his discharge on 28 March 1946.