Japanese Arisaka Rifle with Bayonet
Object Details
- licensee
- Arisaka, Nariakira
- Description
- Physical Description
- Japanese Arisaka Type 38 rifle, 6.5 mm with forged-steel bayonet; partially eradicated chrysanthemum stamp on receiver.
- General History
- The Japanese Arisaka Type 38 rifles were all turn bolt-operated, with five-round non-detachable staggered row box magazines. They were loaded with five-round stripper clips, a flat metal piece holding a five-round stack, which was inserted at the top of the magazine, the rounds thumbed down into position, and the metal piece sent flying when the bolt was closed. This rifle was named for Colonel Nariakira Arisaka. During the 1890s he headed a commission charged with developing a new rifle to replace earlier models such as the Murata. The Arisaka rifles were designated with the year of the current emperor's reign. Thus, the Type 38 rifle was designed in the thirty-eighth year of the reign of Emperor Meiji which would have been 1905. The rifle was stamped on the receiver with a sixteen-petal chrysanthemum, the symbol of the Japanese emperor. The chrysanthemum stamp showed the rifle was manufactured for the Imperial Japanese Army and therefore belonged to the emperor. As a face-saving gesture, Japanese soldiers who surrendered after the war made an attempt to grind the symbol off their rifles.
- Credit Line
- U.S. Department of Defense. Department of the Army. Ordnance Field Service
- ID Number
- AF.59478M
- catalog number
- 59478M
- accession number
- 214893
- Object Name
- rifle
- Other Terms
- rifle; Firearms; Center Fire; 65 Mm; Rifled; 06; 6A; 05
- Physical Description
- wood (overall material)
- steel (overall material)
- brass (overall material)
- Measurements
- overall: 6 1/4 in x 66 in x 4 in; 15.875 cm x 167.64 cm x 10.16 cm
- Place Made
- Japan
- See more items in
- Military and Society: Armed Forces History, Military
- Military
- ThinkFinity
- Exhibition
- Price of Freedom
- Exhibition Location
- National Museum of American History
- National Museum of American History
- Subject
- Firearms
- related event
- World War II
- The Great Depression and World War II
- Record ID
- nmah_415417
- Metadata Usage (text)
- CC0
- GUID (Link to Original Record)
- https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746a2-1bc5-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa
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