page_title: Rinosuke Ichimaru
section_title: Ichimaru's Katana
hierarchical_section_title: Rinosuke Ichimaru / Biography / Ichimaru's Katana
caption_attribution_description: English: Photograph of Rear Admiral Rinosuke Ichimaru and his sword
context_page_description: Toshinosuke Ichimaru, also known as Rinosuke Ichimaru, was a Japanese admiral and aviator of the Second World War.
  First pioneer, then a fighter pilot of the Dai-Nippon Teikoku Kaigun Kōkū Hombu, the aeronautical service of the Japanese Imperial Navy. During the Second World War, he commanded numerous air units, participating in the Guadalcanal Campaign. In August 1944 he assumed command of the Imperial Navy forces present on the island of Iwo Jima, finding his death in combat against the US Marines on March 26, 1945.
context_section_description: During the battle, the admiral wore his family sword, an excellent blade from the Edo period. According to the testimony of his daughter Haruko, the sword had saved his life three times in the past. The first was when he was on board a plane, and got hit by a bullet that bounced off the bottom of the sword, therefore saving him. The blade was broken but Ichimaru had it repaired by a specialized blacksmith. During the fighting at Iwo Jima, he always kept his sword with him, but when his body was identified at the end of the attack, it had been taken. There was no news about the katana and in the agitation of the battle, the body of the admiral was lost, as was that of General Kuribayashi.
  Twenty years after the battle, many books on Iwo Jima were published in the United States. One of these, Iwo Jima by Richard F. Newcomb, published in New York in 1965, included an annotation on the sword of Ichimaru. A history professor, who had participated in the war, read the book and suspected that the sword he had bought for $25 as a war souvenir in New Jersey many years ago was that of the admiral. He carried out further research to identify the sword, and discovered that it was indeed the sword of Ichimaru. It was brought back to Japan by a Japanese war veteran who was visiting New York. The NHK TV organized a meeting that allowed the sword to be returned to the admiral's wife, Sueko. She donated the sword to the Karatsu Castle museum for public exhibition. Unfortunately, the museum was robbed and the sword was stolen along with other objects on display. Sueko died shortly after the robbery. About three years later a doctor bought a sword at an antique shop and, noticing its uniqueness, had it examined. The weapon was identified as the sword of Ichimaru and was returned to the family, where it is still located today.
caption: Photograph of Ichimaru and his sword
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