Japanese police Dirk for discussion

[Bruce Pennington]

I think those are "n", so "?nown", like "known"? Sort of supports the idea that this wasn't Japanese made. Not proof, but evidence. They were known to use folded paper pieces under the folds of the cloth handle wrap. All the examples I've seen had Japanese language in the print.

On the other hand, the liner looks pretty old.

Still a mystery to me. I'm remaining firmly planted on the fence for now.

[Bruce Pennington]

Another one, for future reference and comparison:

Police dirk.

[Bruce Pennington]

And one just showed up in Russian:что за кортик? - Guns.ru Talks