Nippon-To, The Japanese Sword
Tokyo: Japan Sword Co., Ltd., 1948. Hardcover. Brown cloth, green & white & illus. dust jacket in mylar sheath, 222 pp., many BW illus., one fold-out map at rear. VG- (Has inscription to previous owners; once owned by Clare Boothe Luce, and her blindstamp is on tp.). Item #150348
"Written to answer the countless questions and to fulfill the desire for information of the hundreds of Allied military personnel who came into contact with Japanese swords during combat and later when thousands of blades (along with other weapons) were collected from the Japanese by the Occupation Forces and distributed as war trophies. Possessors of swords had nowhere to turn for reliable knowledge of the history and other facts about these extremely interesting souvenirs. As well as I have been able to ascertain there is nothing of any length in English on this subject readily available to the average person, there being only a few scattered paragraphs in this publication or that, or some little known volume in the archives of the larger museums. True, there are many books about the sword in the Japanese language, but even if it were a simple matter to have them translated (which it decidedly is not!) the results would not be satisfactory. The reason is that written matter pertaining to all things concerning the sword was intentionally vague and misleading in order to keep the subject mysterious and maintain in the commer a feeling of awe for the weapon." (preface by James F. Kreitzer).
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