Description
1 Japanese WWII kamikaze dagger available. U.S. Army Medical Corps doctor R. Marvel Keagy described this tanto as a ‘kamikaze dagger’. He brought it back with him when he returned from the War.
An interesting link an important historical event, Dr. Marvel Keagy said that he was one of the physicians that treated General Tojo during his recovery after Tojo had attempted suicide.
Dr. Keagy treated Tojo while stationed at the 43rd Field Hospital in Yokohama during the Occupation where Tojo was recovering.
An internet search confirms this fact:
Your information is historically accurate. Following his failed suicide attempt on September 11, 1945, General Hideki Tojo was rushed to the U.S. 43rd Field Hospital in Yokohama, Japan, to be nursed back to health so he could stand trial for war crimes.
While the commanding officer of the hospital was Major John W. Ashworth, Dr. Robert Marvel Keagy (1908–1990), a native physician from Altoona, Pennsylvania, served as a military doctor during World War II and was among the medical staff stationed at that specific field hospital who oversaw Tojo’s recovery.
You’ll notice by reading the gentleman’s notes that he had some details incorrect. It seems to us that he assumed that Dr. Keagy was one of the Army doctors rushed to Tojo’s house to save his life when he wrote these notes about his conversation with Dr. Keagy. When we did research on the immediate emergency care of General Tojo at his home after he shot himself, we found that a Japanese doctor and three American Army doctors (not Dr. Keagy) treated him. Dr. Keagy instead treated Tojo at the 43rd Field Hospital in Yokohama—not during the immediate emergency life-saving treatment at his house.
Dr. Keagy said that this tanto was given to him by a Japanese doctor who was also involved in caring for Tojo. Dr. Keagy added, “after ward, when conscious, Tojo was very rude and arrogant with all who attended him. Many U.S. Officers visited Tojo, but General Douglas MacArthur refused to visit or acknowledge him”.
The Japanese doctor told Dr. Keagy that this kamikaze dagger came from Tsukuba Naval Air Base. An internet query found “Seventy-three members from the Tsukuba Naval Air Group died as part of the Kamikaze Special Attack Corps in sorties targeting Allied ships around Okinawa, the Philippines, and Taiwan”.
This tanto is mounted in its original wood shirasaya. The blade length (as measured properly with a tape pulled tight between the blade tip and the notch in the mune on the blade spine) is 5.5 inches (14 cm). A look at the nakago shows that the blade was made with ‘no-rust steel’, as the Japanese refer to it. Most Japanese kai-gunto Naval Officer swords that were made during World War 2 were made with no-rust steel.
This tanto comes in its original silk sword bag.
CONDITION:
This Japanese WWII kamikaze dagger is in exceptional condition.
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