During the process of looking for a pre-war or Victory model K frame in 38sp, I came across this pre-model 10 for sale (to be exact a "M&P model of 1905, transitional") for a very reasonable price. I normally wouldn't jump on something like this, however the stampings on the latch side intrigued me and I couldn't pass up a good mystery.
After receiving the firearm from my FFL, I began to research the meaning of the markings and date of manufacture. This revolver was made in 1946, just as Smith and Wesson was transitioning back to civilian production. The Kanji markings as illustrated below-
roughly translate to "East (capital) Public (safety)" (thanks to the folks at Sigforum for help with the translation). Tokyo is otherwise known as the east capital (Kyoto being the old capital of Japan). I could not find any other records of revolvers marked as such, but my feeling based on the evidence is that these were sidearms lent or issued to the police forces in occupied Tokyo while being overseen by the Americans. The history of modern Japan is an interest of mine, esp. after the (happy) mistake of signing up for a grad level history course on the topic in college. The occupation was a very interesting time, considering how the two sides managed to cooperate and put the pieces of Japan back together in such a relatively short period of time.
This particular revolver has been around almost twice as long as I have and has seen a lot of things, I'm sure. The condition is worn but not abused- The finish is patchy but not pitted, I will discuss the refinish in the next post.
