Navy canteen with blue cover

[Papa Nambu]

Got this navy canteen with an unusual blue cover. At first I thought it might be an early cover to go with the blue navy uniforms, but as the strap and laces are the regular khaki, I think it may have been made as a replacement cover late war using the available cloth.



海軍 Navy 水兵長 Leading Seaman 山村 Yamamura 清 Suzu(?) 横須(?) Yokosuka (? really not sure about that second kanji) 水 (kanji for "water", maybe an abbreviation for something) 五七八三 5783

I didn't notice until after I took the photos that it also has "Yamamura" in katakana stitched into the strap, but it's khaki thread on khaki strap, so probably wouldn't photograph well anyway.

[Nick Komiya]

As I wrote somewhere before, the second kanji on navy tags is either　徴 for 徴兵(draft) or 志 for 志願(volunteer). In this case, it's a bit mushy, but it should be the former. 水is for　水兵（sailor）.

[Papa Nambu]

Thanks for your help, Nick

[Nick Komiya]

You are very welcome.