UBB.threads Forums General Militaria Japanese Militaria Forum some questions to WWII japanese jack knifes

I bought some WWII japanese jack knifes and I have some questions. Perhaps can one of our members help me.

Were all the three knifes private purchased or were they given by the government as a part of the uniform?

What do the letters mean on the two smaller knifes?

On the right knife is no stamp, but a small letter like a cross (+) in the circle. What does that mean?

What does the letter on the dogtag mean and for what was the leather strap?

And at least. Can you say, whether these one of these knifes were used by army or navy?

I appreciate every answer.

Best, Kolibri

these are pretty nice. i have been buying for 30 years and have never seen these. lets see what the experts think. thanks for showing them.

I've seen many of these over the years. To my knowledge these were private purchase BUT made for soldiers. Navy had a very different style of single bladed pocket knife. The one knife looks like it's attached to a brass dog tag or at least an unissued blank. The piece of leather looks familiar & was obviously sewn onto something once. Might be a pull up tab from a boot. Makes sense since I see a shoe lace with brass tips. The "+" mark might be the Japanese number 10.

Paul an Jareth, thaks for your comments.

Jareth, that really helps me. And with the leather strap, thats a good idea with the pull of a boot.

Can you read the letters on the smaller kifes? May be a factory in Japan?

Sorry I can't read Japanese. I know numbers & that's about it.

I tried to make a better pic of the letters. May be, one of our japanese members can help.

Here's some interesting info on the razors.
http://straightrazorplace.com/finer-thin...cket-knife.html

That's a good link, thank you. May be, the lettzers mean "Higonokami"? I used a little bit powder to make the letters more visible.