Documentary about returning Japanese swords to Japan

[Jimja]

I haven't seen it yet, but it looks to be pretty interesting.

Description of the movie:

"During Japan's surrender at the end of World War II, numerous swords were confiscated by American officers. In order to better understand the past and build a bridge between cultures in the present, a filmmaker attempts to return one of these surrendered swords to its original owner."


Here is the Kickstarter trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-1tUrBuuWI

Documentary trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJLsdWE2gAE

[BrunRox]

Very interesting , thanks for posting.

Some years ago, a WWII Vet was actually able to track down a direct descendant of a Japanese soldier who's sword was brought back to the U.S.

He traveled to Japan with the sword, and the family member declined to take possession . It was just a grim reminder of a War that took many lives.

BTW , the movie is available for rent on YouTube and Amazon.

[jarhead714]

I imagine there has to be some level of dishonor and shame for certain Japanese to actually except it (the family sword) back into the family that was dishonored by it’s forfeiture in the first place.

[Discogodfather]

The vast majority of swords on the battlefield in WW2 came from the Showa period (all blades are classified under which emperor they were made under) and were more mass produced and used oil quenching instead of water quenching. Not really worth the effort in my opinion to return. If the sword was from another, earlier period, and is signed by the maker then maybe it's worth it- but that is much more rare.

Returning a mass produced Showa blade just reinforces all the wrong messages and literally supports Imperial Japan, which is something that should be looked down upon and scorned. It's similar to taking a Mauser K98k and returning it to a family in Germany. What's the point of that? The Empire of Japan did some horrible things. The Greater Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere cost the lives of 15+ million civilians.

If the sword was much older, then return would make more sense because that had a connection to non-Imperial Japan and Japanese families might appreciate the connection.

The Japanese sword is very misunderstood in the west. It was not some kind of "national treasure" to the Japanese, it was an individual Samurai's (warrior class only) soul. Not a symbol of his soul, but his actual soul. It also didn't symbolize pride or family status or have any group or state identity. It was a warriors soul, simply put, and that was an individual's identity.

Before the Showa period, swords were made like suits. They had to be very carefully fitted to the individual. Even 5-10mm longer or shorter and you basically were out of spec on most people. When that warrior in the family died they usually did not pass it on to their children because it wouldn't fit them, so the sword was retired and displayed. If the sword was the right size for someone, it was common for heirs to adopt the sword. Again, this is all Samurai stuff, not average rank and file soldiers.

[Dan_Eastvale]

The vast majority of swords on the battlefield in WW2 came from the Showa period (all blades are classified under which emperor they were made under) and were more mass produced and used oil quenching instead of water quenching. Not really worth the effort in my opinion to return. If the sword was from another, earlier period, and is signed by the maker then maybe it's worth it- but that is much more rare.

Returning a mass produced Showa blade just reinforces all the wrong messages and literally supports Imperial Japan, which is something that should be looked down upon and scorned. It's similar to taking a Mauser K98k and returning it to a family in Germany. What's the point of that? The Empire of Japan did some horrible things. The Greater Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere cost the lives of 15+ million civilians.

If the sword was much older, then return would make more sense because that had a connection to non-Imperial Japan and Japanese families might appreciate the connection.

The Japanese sword is very misunderstood in the west. It was not some kind of "national treasure" to the Japanese, it was an individual Samurai's (warrior class only) soul. Not a symbol of his soul, but his actual soul. It also didn't symbolize pride or family status or have any group or state identity. It was a warriors soul, simply put, and that was an individual's identity.

Before the Showa period, swords were made like suits. They had to be very carefully fitted to the individual. Even 5-10mm longer or shorter and you basically were out of spec on most people. When that warrior in the family died they usually did not pass it on to their children because it wouldn't fit them, so the sword was retired and displayed. If the sword was the right size for someone, it was common for heirs to adopt the sword. Again, this is all Samurai stuff, not average rank and file soldiers.

Yes, My uncle was wounded on Eniwetok by a satchel charge. He hated Japan until the day he died. Remember Pearl Harbor forever... They NEVER apologized.. They believed in what they were doing as well as Nazi Germany.. The Germans felt that God was with them... "Gott Mit Uns" engraved on their blades.When I was working in Germany in 87-90 many of the older citizens told me they felt Hitler was right..

Americans should not "honor" Japan's or Germany's fallen...

We can honor their current regimes and accomplishments.... But NOT those of the Empire of Japan or Third Reich..

Although a nice gesture maybe to some, it's hard to believe an American WW2 Pacific Theater veteran can "forgive". The family didn't even want the sword.. Who knows what they thought..

[Discogodfather]

Yes, My uncle was wounded on Eniwetok by a satchel charge. He hated Japan until the day he died. Remember Pearl Harbor forever... They NEVER apologized.. They believed in what they were doing as well as Nazi Germany.. The Germans felt that God was with them... "Gott Mit Uns" engraved on their blades.When I was working in Germany in 87-90 many of the older citizens told me they felt Hitler was right..

Americans should not "honor" Japan's or Germany's fallen...

We can honor their current regimes and accomplishments.... But NOT those of the Empire of Japan or Third Reich..

Although a nice gesture maybe to some, it's hard to believe an American WW2 Pacific Theater veteran can "forgive". The family didn't even want the sword.. Who knows what they thought..

Yeah, I agree mostly, their were horrible things done on both sides but I really feel as if the vast majority of the worst things were on the Japanese and German sides. I say that with a German mom who was born in 1937 and lived through it all, with an older brother (my oldest uncle) being in the Wehrmacht's 6th Army. On the other side of the family most of my Irish family ended up in the Pacific and they definitely harbored deep grudges against the Japanese, especially my great uncle who was at New Guinea.

The Allies did the right thing in that war and there is no need to apologize, in fact it's most likely the other way around. It seems like this documentary follows in that vein of "apologizing for being American" and shames war trophies. That's a soldiers right in my opinion and it was a damn shame they got rid of that (and prosecuted those that did take trophies in the Gulf Wars). If a solider took a trophy in a war it becomes part of their family history and frankly it's a great way of remembering things and honoring them.

This guy in the documentary says the swords were rotting away in some basement then they got the idea to return them? Talk about going from not caring and really being disrespectful to then apologizing and giving it back? Does anyone else think that makes no sense?

[jarhead714]

The officers and NCO’s who owned those swords should’ve been forced to watched them as they were melted down for scrap. Such was the savagery commited by these men. Don’t ever feel sorry for those little worms. Nobody owes them or that country a damn thing.

[echo1]

my Irish family ended up in the Pacific and they definitely harbored deep grudges against the Japanese, especially my great uncle who was at New Guinea.

The Allies did the right thing in that war and there is no need to apologize, in fact it's most likely the other way around.

This guy in the documentary says the swords were rotting away in some basement then they got the idea to return them? Talk about going from not caring and really being disrespectful to then apologizing and giving it back? Does anyone else think that makes no sense?

.

^^^This. I have a T38 that my Uncle captured in New Guinea. He and my Pops were in the 1st Filipino Regiment and saw a lot of action. The Japanese (of WWII) were/are not held in high regards in my household, even today. I had a friend who was captured at Corregidor, in the Death March, POW in Nagasaki (saw the BOMB). Didn't talk about it much, but when he did...The Japanese teach a whole different story in their schools about the WAR. PAX

[GlockN'Roll]

Yes, My uncle was wounded on Eniwetok by a satchel charge.

He hated Japan until the day he died.

Remember Pearl Harbor forever... They NEVER apologized..

They believed in what they were doing as well as Nazi Germany..

The Germans felt that God was with them... "Gott Mit Uns" engraved on their blades.
When I was working in Germany in 87-90 many of the older citizens told me they felt Hitler was right..

Americans should not "honor" Japan's or Germany's fallen...

We can honor their current regimes and accomplishments....


But NOT those of the Empire of Japan or Third Reich..

Although a nice gesture maybe to some, it's hard to believe an American WW2 Pacific Theater veteran can "forgive".



The family didn't even want the sword.. Who knows what they thought..

One of my relatives died on the USS Arizona, others died in Nazi camps

http://www.ussarizona.org/index.php/features/lists/uss-arizona-casualty-list?start=650

Another stupid liberal idea!



What is wrong with these people?


Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.

[Discogodfather]

I love Japanese culture, people, technology, etc. I just don't like Imperial Japan. Not only the WW2 stuff but also the Meji Restoration forward. The crimes were definitely done in the Sino-Japanese war and WW2, for sure. Millions of non combatants dead, similar to what the Nazi's did in Russia.

I love Germans too but not the Nazi's and that era. No reason to hate people out of hand, I don't think any German or Japanese families are asking for their war trophies back so this whole idea of giving them back reeks of liberal dis ingenuousness.

3 million Japanese died in the war and 2 million of those were civilians. Horrible and immoral, but perhaps justified in light of the atrocities they committed in the Philippines and China, etc. Many of those Showa swords were used by Japanese soldiers to kill prisoners of war (which was illegal) and butcher civilians, including children and babies.

[kendog4570]

No reason to build a bridge or give them back.
Being a war trophy to the victor is now part of the history of the sword.

[Springfield45]

Why give anything back as long as Japan chooses not to remember what they did during the war. Keep the swords as the trophies that they are.

[Cato]

The Japanese had a different code of war - a different chivalry. They behaved according to Bushido. I don't think there was any charity for POWs in that ideology.

Yes, they mistreated our POWs; we brought many of the war criminals to justice. But you can never say the Japanese soldier was a coward. Those banzai charges and kamikaze attacks were testaments to their bravery.



But those WW2 vets returning swords are off their rockers. Those are war prizes, earned by American blood.