Markings on Japanese Arisaka Rifles and Bayonets of World War II Markings on Japanese Arisaka Rifles and Bayonets of World War II Last Updated Adapted from Japanese Rifles of World War II, by Duncan O. McCollum, 1996, published by Excalibur Publications, PO Box 36, Latham, NY, USA, ISBN: 1-880677-11-3; and Military Rifles of Japan, by Fred. Honeycutt, Jr., and F.
Patt Anthony, Fifth Edition, 1996, published by Julin Books, 5282 Ridan Way, Palm Beach Gardens, FL 33418, ISBN: 0-9623208-7-0. Bayonet information from Bayonets from Janzen's Notebook, by Jerry L. Janzen, published by Cedar Ridge Publications, 73 Cedar Ridge Road, Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, USA. ISBN: 0-9619789-1-0. Table of bayonet variations added. Production figures added.
Spelling of Col. Arisaka's name updated, based on information supplied by his great-granddaughter.
Markings on Japanese Arisaka Rifles and Bayonets of World War II The Japanese manufactured over 6.4 million rifles and carbines in the 40 years from 1906 to 1945. Most of these rifles were still in use during the Sino-Japanese War of the 1930s and the Pacific War of the 1940s. During the war and subsequent American occupation of Japan, thousands of these rifles found their way to the United States as war souvenirs, making them one of the most common foreign military firearms available in the country. The Arisaka rifles are named for Colonel Nariaki Nariakira Arisaka, who headed a commission during the 1890s which was charged with developing a new rifle to replace the 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 38th year of the reign of Emperor Meiji (1905), and the Type 44 carbine was adopted in the 44th year of his reign (1911). During the reign of Hirohito, rifles were designated by the last one or two digits of the adoption year according to the standard Japanese calendar.
Thus, the Type 99 rifle was adopted in Japanese calendar year 25 99 (1939), and the Type 2 paratroop rifle was adopted in calendar year 260 2 (1942). A chrysanthemum with 16 petals (the symbol of the Japanese Emperor) was usually stamped on the receiver of rifles manufactured for the Imperial Japanese Army, indicating that the rifle belonged to the Emperor.
The chrysanthemum resembles this: The chrysanthemum was at least partially ground off on rifles which were surrendered after the war, apparently as a face-saving gesture. Rifles captured in the field, however, normally have the chrysanthemum symbol intact.
The Type designation was stamped into the top of the receiver using the character shiki for 'type' and Japanese numerals. The shiki character and the characters for the Japanese numerals are shown in the following table.
Japanese Characters Used on Arisaka Rifles Character Meaning Type 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 A small number of Type 38 and Type 99 rifles had two concentric circles on the receiver in place of the chrysanthemum. The purpose of these specially-marked rifles is not known, although it is speculated that they were issued to paramilitary forces such as the Kempei Tai (Japanese Secret Police), other military police, and guards at prisons, embassies, and other civil instillations.
Some concentric circle rifles were remarked standard issue Type 38 and Type 99 rifles that had the chrysanthemum completely or partially removed and replaced with the concentric circle marking. These rifles were serialized separately from regular production pieces. Other rifles apparently were originally manufactured and marked with concentric circles, which looks something like this: Arsenal Marks Each Japanese rifle was marked with the symbol of either the arsenal of manufacture or the arsenal that supervised the manufacturing subcontractor. This mark can be found on the left side of the receiver at the end of the rifle serial number. Rifles manufactured by a commercial subcontractor bear the subcontractor's mark to the right of the supervising arsenal's mark.
These marks are shown in the following table. Japanese Rifle Manufacturers Symbol Arsenal/Subcontractor Period of Operation Koishikawa Arsenal (Tokyo) 1870-1935 Kokura Arsenal 1935-1945 Nagoya Arsenal 1923-1945 Jinsen Arsenal (Korea) 1923-1945 Mukden Arsenal (Manchuria) 1931-1945 Toyo Kogyo 1939-1945 Tokyo Juki Kogyo 1940-1945 Tokyo Juki Kogyo 1940-1945 Howa Jyuko 1940-1945 Izawa Jyuko 1940-1945 At various times, rifles were removed from military service and sold to other countries or transferred to Japanese schools as training weapons. Normally, the chrysanthemum on these rifles was overstamped with the Koishikawa (Tokyo) / Kokura Arsenal symbol or a ring of small circles to indicate that the rifle no longer belonged to the Imperial Japanese Army. Rifles given to schools often have an additional character stamped on the top of the receiver between the chrysanthemum and the type designation characters.
Most of these 'school-marked' rifles also have two or three zeros preceeding the serial number. The 'school' mark looks something like this: Serial Numbers All Japanese military rifles had serial numbers except extremely rare prototypes, other pre-production guns, and occasional rifles assembled very late in World War II. The serial number was stamped on the left side of the receiver, followed by the arsenal symbol. Initially, rifles make in Japanese arsenals were numbered consecutively within each Type designation. In 1933 this scheme was replaced by a system in which rifles were numbered in blocks, or series, of 99,999 each actually 100,000, according to Honeycutt, running from serial numbers 0 through 99,999.
Each series was identified by a small Japanese character ( kana) placed within a circle to the left of the serial number. Specific blocks of kana were assigned to each arsenal or manufacturer to use for a specific rifle type. The series markings are illustrated in the following table. Series Markings Series Number Series Mark Series Number Series Mark 1 24 2 25 3 26 4 27 5 28 6 29 7 30 8 31 9 32 10 33 11 34 12 35 20 37 21 40 22 45 23 Production Figures The following table, based on information from McCollum's and Honeycutt's books, provides some information about rifle production at the various arsenals, organized by type of rifle. These figures are only estimates, and are based on recorded serial number information. Blank entries indicate that the information in the entry immediately above applies to the blank entry as well. Production information for sniper rifles, paratroop rifles (Types 100 and 2), Test Type 1 rifles, and Type I rifles (produced by Italy for the Japanese Navy and not based totally on the Arisaka action) are not included.
Picked up a Arisaka Type 99 rifle yesterday, the bluing is pretty damn good, the stock has a serious 'been there done that look' and the bore is pretty good, chrome lined. Looks like the rifling might be a little weak at the muzzle.
The bolt is the only mismatched part, but it came with the dust cover, and 'wings' on the rear sight ( aircraft sights? ) The Mum is intact. From what i can find online, its a Tokyo Juki Kogyo factory built rifle, Series 37 i believe, the character reference online was close to what is stamped on the rifle to the front of the serial number. Serial number is 274XX ( obviously those XX are really numbers but i dont want to list the entire serial number here ) all that i could find for the build date was '1939-1945' which isnt helpful! Its definitely an early war rifle, i just would love to know what year it was made if possible. Thanks in advance for any help or advice!
Looking in Don Voigt's book, the TJK series 37 was made from III'42 to IV'43. You do the math to guestimate by the serial number where it might fall in that time frame. The 'X's don't count.:) In all seriousness,I have yet to see where somebody has accused someone of stealing a gun because they listed the serial number. In the case of some of these rifles, the complete number could be a factor in identifying certain parts that were only used on that particular series or period of manufacture. Dean (the other one) (I'm looking at page 28, 2010 edition of Don's book). Congrats on your first T 99, and welcome to the boards. Just be careful, they are known to be addictive!
I converted the Japanese fiscal year data to calendar quarters for us dummies; so when you read the chart it is done in 'normal' calendar quarters. The 37th series probably was a 'slow' series and mfg. Stretched longer than most 100k rifle series. Given the uncertainty of the data available, as pointed out in the T 99 book, I would guess 27K was reached sometime between Sept 1942 and March 1943.
Oh is that why people don't list all the serial numbers on their guns? I was always wondering what the concern was. I have seen a few on Gunbroker where they actually blur out the first 3 numbers, so you can't even confirm a year of manufacture, let alone a month. Regards PatThe only 'true' stories of serial numbers being abused is 2nd hand from a couple of dealers who claim that someone bought their gun (lugers in this instance), swapped their mismatched parts and sent it back as not nice enough.
As a former 'dealer' the solution is obvious, you know your gun before you send it out and if it arrives back like this, you tell them, sorry it has been messed with, NO refund. On line, it is a urban myth that you should worry about the serial number, as said above, I have never heard a true story of someone claiming it was 'theirs'. Yeah, but you have to be careful of the slings. I saws a 99 in a GA pawn shop several years ago, it had a woven rope or string sling. Later I told the late Roy Cooper of Birmingham about it, he had a son in GA and the son visited the pawn shop bought the rifle for Roy.
The rifle was in a display Roy had at a Birmingham show A viewer looked at the rifle and told Roy, 'That rifle was stolen from me, I recognize the sling.' Roy immediately told the speaker of the history of his obtaining the rifle and offered the rifle free to the former owner. The gentleman declined saying insurance had paid him more than the rifle was worth and Roy should keep the rifle. I believe it is now in the Blevins collection.
But i dont want to be the first guy that some anti gun liberal picks randomly off of the internet to mess with!!!Yes, pretty much paranoid. You will find scores of rifles ID'd by their full serial number online; here, on online auctions, in books, too many to count, of course this is JMO and the opinion of most of us on the boards. But do what you like! It's still a pretty much free country. However, a partial serial number is of little use to a researcher, so when you want info, you have to give info! These 'when was is made' questions always kinda grate on me, especially with the T-99s. They were only made for 5 years and there's an early to late regression in features so it's not that big of a deal for me & never has been.
The 6.5mm rifles are a different matter since they were made for a much longer period of timeI agree, it sure is a little odd; the second question is usually 'When was it made?' , right after the first question of 'What is it?' Sure is a lot of interest in the date of mfg. I'm much more interested in 'Where was it used/found and by whom?'
Type 99 Arisaka Serial Numbers
You need to describe the characters in preceeding the 'serial number' and give me the first digits of the serial number and I can look it up in my son's book. The characters or pictographs will tell you what arsenal made it, there is one that is supposed to be what a pile of cannon balls stacked in a pyramid would look like viewed from the top (concentric circles kinda looking like a compressed olympic logo) another looks like two fish kissing in a circle, and there are a few others.
The other will be the 'series.' Then dating them is pretty easy, because they really do NOT have a 'unique' serial number, but only a number within a 'series,' each series having 99,999 rifles in it. (In other words you will hear guys talking about 'low number' Arisakas, because the 'serial number' is only 3 or 4 digits, but in actuality that could be a 'series 26,' which means it would have been the 26th rifle with that serial number made at that arsenal!) But the series number is the most important way of dating it, the records are pretty good.like my son's T38 series places it made in 1939-1940, so you get a pretty closes date range. I haven't looked at his rifle in a while (I'll go grab it from behind the door in the corner! ) OR his book, let me go grab it and in the meantime, describe the pictographs as best you can, and any numbers on it, not the whole serial number, but something like '17xxx' and that will help. And I'll tell you with the monopod and the aircraft sights it already is worth a lot more than most, most of them were removed in service.
Does it have the dust cover? That would make it 'complete,' but MOST don't have it, that must have been the FIRST thing they ditched in the field. And the intact mum brings a premium to collectors, but it is NOT as uncommon as people think, NOR does it 'automatically' mean it was a 'battlefield pick-up,' which a lot of guys claim.
In fact, the only ones that DO have it ground or defaced in some way (which is MOST of the ones brought back to AFTER the war) were ones 1.) captured in the Home Islands, and 2.) Brought back MORE than a couple of months AFTER the war ended.if it was brought back from ANYWHERE else, China, Korea, the Philippines, or ANYWHERE else, or brought back from Japan IMMEDIATELY after the war ended, it probably HAS the mum, whether it saw service or not. By the way, I LOVE dating Arisakas even though my son is actually the resident 'expert' on them here. Years ago when he was about 15 before I had my CR, and he liked to shoot with me, and play wargames with me, so he is 'well grounded, at least 'historically,' I bought a Steyr M95 for $100 at the flea market oin Friendship from a guy with a TON of old rifles (I could have had a Swedish Mauser for the same price and passed! ) my son was also interested in the mauser. When we got home, my son asked me if we could go back tomorrow and buy the Swede for him, becausee he had 'saved up enough money.'
(He's always been good about that.' It has the 'stacked cannon ball' symbol on the left side of the receiver. Vista angkasa apartment management office. There is also a circle with a symbol inside of it that looks like a fancy 7 to the left of the ser.#.
This rifle also has the relief holes on the right side and under the receiver area, steel buttplate, floral checkering on safety handle, and release button for cleaning rod. I do not have the bolt cover. I do have a bayonet for it without the frog. I was told it is a #1 variation mfg. By Toyada Automatic Loom Works under Nagoya Super. Proving once again that EVERYBODY needs a refresher, I got that a little wrong above. The FIRST Character to the LEFT of the serial number is the 'Kana,' or Series indicator.which is actually one of the 47 characters in the Japanese alphabet, inside a circle.THEN the serial number, which will be from 1 to 99,999, THEN you will see the arsenal mark.
And since you have the AA sights, and the monopod, that means we are talking about a Type 99 7.7mm, right? SO the arsenal markings and production for each as best that I can describe are as follows, for a T99. Nagoya Arsenal (the two 'Kissing Fish in a circle'.
OK, you answered when I was posting the last long one. The three cannonballs definitely make it a Kokura Arseanl, the 2nd most common.the series number I need a little more one, only because about 8 of the 45 series 'kana' look like some sort of a '7' in the circle! There is ONE, a series 32, that is JUST a '7', and that would make it Toyo Kogyo subcontacted rifle IF it actually has the second sybol, the circle with an incomplete line through it, right after the cannonballs.does it? Could it be a '7' with two little 'legs' on the bottom right side of it, one not attached? Could it be a '7' with a shorter line ABOVE the 7 in the circle? Could it be a 'roundish' '7' with a little dot or tiny line in the middle of the 'flag' going up?
(Describing Japanese characters is FUN!!! ) The safety knob being knurled is a good indicator of an early production, and is the most common, they then went to straight lines, then smooth, then 'last ditch' where they didn't even grind off the weld blob in the middle. If you could describe the bolt handle, plum shaped or cylindrical, and the through bolt through the stock behind the finger groove, it would help too. Basicall, is it SMALL Round, LARGE Round, or SQUARE. And is the rear sling swivel held on with one screw or two?
And does the AA sight have a 'sheet metal' attachment on the front of the ladder that lookls like it was added later? And how long are each wing of the AA sights folded out? How many screws hold the front band? And finally, does it have a full length 23 3/4' cleaning rod, or a 'shorty' like only 5' or so? OR is the cleaning rod closer to 30'? (THAT would be cool, a LONG Type 99 rifle instead of the more common 'Short' one.) There is no listing for the 'Loom works' you listed, UNLESS it was another name for one of the subcontractors I listed, which is possible. The only thing is if they WERE subcontracted to Nagoya, it would have the 'Kissing fish' cicles within a circle, and not the stacked cannonballs of Kokura.but there were more subcontractors for the bayonets than rifles, so if you were referring to IT and not the rifle then it could be, I don't have a complete list of them.
Crap, I'm having so much fun looking it up, it's a shame to have to go to bed! I'm out of town tomorrow, so won't be back on until late Tuesdy, or the latest Wednesday, so it'll have to wait until then. The Book my son has is 'Japanese Rifles of World War II' by Duncan 0.
McCollum, it's a gray large but thin paperback, but with LOT'S of good pictures of all the variations. My son paid like $19.95 for it years ago,I still see it available at shows, so it must still be in print, so you might find it listed in SGN or something. It has everything you need, and you NEED a book even more than with any other rifle, they made modifications almost for every SERIES, and sometimes WITHIN series.and it's neat to find things that are 'strange' about your rifle, like my son's has the rarer semi-cupped buttplate on his series 23, that they ONLY supposedly used 'on a limited basis' in 'late series 23 and early series 24.' But his is 48xxx, so it is 'middle' not late 23. Could it be a '7' with a shorter line ABOVE the 7 in the circle?
If you could describe the bolt handle, plum shaped or cylindrical, and the through bolt through the stock behind the finger groove, it would help too. Basicall, is it SMALL Round, LARGE Round, or SQUARE. And is the rear sling swivel held on with one screw or two? And does the AA sight have a 'sheet metal' attachment on the front of the ladder that lookls like it was added later?
And how long are each wing of the AA sights folded out? How many screws hold the front band? And finally, does it have a full length 23 3/4' cleaning rod, or a 'shorty' like only 5' or so? OR is the cleaning rod closer to 30'? (THAT would be cool, a LONG Type 99 rifle instead of the more common 'Short' one.).
If anyone encounters an ARISAKA with the 'sheet metal' attatchment to the rear sight, please let me know. These guns / this modification is rather special historicaly. They were part of a modification done to rifles that were to be used in the Alutian Island campaign, and a proposed invasion of Alaska. Rudaali movie mp3 songs download.
The sheet metal band was applied / clipped to the sight in a manner that allowed a gloved hand to more easily grasp and adjust the sight under winter / cold conditions. Such a gun would be a great additiuon to any collection. Best regards, mike. Yeah, Mike, I thought I'd ask though. OK, NOW we are getting somewhere.EVERYTHING about the rifle makes sense now, I was getting a little confused, some of it didn't before if it was the series and subcontractor we first thought. You have what appears to be a 'correct' and 'complete' 'except for dustcover' Series 22 Kokura Arsenal.
DOM is never exact. BUT They started with series 20 at Kokura, so it would have been the 20284xth of the almost 600000 Kokura Type 99s made during the war! In other words the 284xth rifle in the third series (batch) of 99,999 rifles each made there. They started making Type 99 rifles in the 'Long' and 'Short' version in 1939. They only made the two types for about a year or so, then adopted the 'short' rifle as standard in 1940, which became the 99 we most see.
(a 'Long Rifle' would be ALMOST as rare as the Aleutian 'glove' sight! ) SO assuming production started in 1939 or 40 (The book is kinda unclear whether the 'Long' and 'short' rifle production is included,Kokura never made any 'long' ones, so I guess they would be) then series 20 would have been 1939-40, 21 would have PROBABLY been 1940-41, and your series 22 would PROBABLY be 1941-42 production.
And since they started discontinuing the AA sights and monopods by about late 42, and went to the shorty rods just for 'stacking' about the same time, and yours has them, I'd have had to assume it's a LOW number series 22 anyway, which would probably be a good bet to have been made in 1941-when Japan was at its HIGH point in the war, maybe even BEFORE it's zenith, so there was no reason to scrimp on anything since the war would be over and Japan would win soon, anyway, right? Yours probably also has the chrome plated bore and bolt face too, right? That particular rifle represents the high point of Arisaka development, it was not for a year or so they started to scrimp on manufacturing until they ended up with the ratty 'last ditch' ones of 44 and 45. It's probably worth more than a contemporary Nagoya arsenal one, simply because of the lesser numbers made by Kokura, BUT it's not so rare that you can't shoot it and enjoy it for what it can do.and it SHOULD be a HECKUVA shooter. The Monopod and AA sight add a nice extra to the rifle's value too.MOST 99s don't have the monopod, even if it WAS one that had one originally, and they quit making them shortly after yours was built anyway. And shortly after they made yours, they also quit putting the extensions on the AA sight, then simplified them until they were just a short ladder, or even a fixed peep on the very late ones.
Depending on it's condition, the rifle is worth a MINIMUM of $200, and that would ONLY be if it's rusty and ratty! With the monopod, sights, chrome bore, rod, in DECENT condition, it's probably worth around $300 to $350, but that'sjust a WAG, from the shows I've been at recently, Jap rifles are appreciating RAPIDLY, it could go at auction for a lot more with the right collectors there.
Thanks a million polish. I assume that there is no problems shooting this rifle based on the info.
Arisaka Type 99 Serial Numbers List
A local gunshop has just gotten a fair amount of 7.7x58mm ammo by Hornady for $25.99 a box. I wanted to get at least a couple boxes to shoot some and just have the rest on hand. It bugs me to own a firearm without ammo to go with it.
Last year I wound up with an old French Berthier that was chambered in 8mm Lebel, try finding some of that. It had the longest freaking barrel of any rifle that I've had. Sadly, though, it had gone through some major 'bubbaizing' and had lost any potential value. It was probably more useful as a boat oar than a rifle and was ugly as home made soap. Back to the Arisaka. The one I have, like I said earlier, was sent home by Grandpa in 1945 and was given to me a couple months ago by my Dad.
There were 2 of these rifles hanging on the wall in Grandpas house. He passed away in 1975 and my Grandma passed away in 2001. My Dad and his older brother got the rifles. The one my uncle has is obviously one of the 'last ditch ' models. There is no upper hand guard, no bipod, wooden buttplate, no cleaning rod, and fixed rear sight. It has the mum but other than that it looks pretty junky. He had me clean it for him a while back and I didn't know anything about it, but I have read that you shouldn't shoot the model 99's like his.
Not all 'last Ditch' rifles werre unsafe, in fact most MAY be safe to shoot too, but I've heard the stories too. GRAF`s has 6.5 JAP and 7.7 JAP brass. HORNADY 7.7 JAP is OK, but on the mild side load wise. Surplus ARISAKA ammo is not an option. Can be made from.30-06 brass.
Most of the stuff thats still floating around was pulled off of machine gun strips or belts. And at best its 61 years old.
I shoot all of my TYPE 99`s, and have used NORMA in all of them. As far as the LEBEL (1886 / 93) goes. GRAFS has 8MM LEBEL BRASS (i have 500 pcs set aside). REMINGTON made tons of LEBEL ammo right through into the 1950`s. I have fired several military loadings, KYNOCH bronze solids, and some mixed commercial. Even pulled some off of HOTCHKISS MG feed strips and fired them.
Can be made from.348 win brass. NUMRICH sells nice ARISAKA repro AA wings, monopods, cleaning rods, and dust covers. I have even purchased 3 repro slings. Best regards, mike. If anyone encounters an ARISAKA with the 'sheet metal' attatchment to the rear sight, please let me know. These guns / this modification is rather special historicaly. They were part of a modification done to rifles that were to be used in the Alutian Island campaign, and a proposed invasion of Alaska.
The sheet metal band was applied / clipped to the sight in a manner that allowed a gloved hand to more easily grasp and adjust the sight under winter / cold conditions. Such a gun would be a great additiuon to any collection. Best regards, mike. The Firearms Forum is on online community for all gun enthusiasts.
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Type 99 Arisaka Serial Number Location
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