WWII Named Japanese Senninbari Vest

[Mooyman]

Hi,

This item is in hold for me by Dan Griffin (Thanks Dan and Sharon!)

WWII Named Japanese Senninbari Vest, excellent condition, cotton, front has the inked inscription "679th Company Abe 1st Lt."






I would like to find out more information about this unit.




Could anyone help me, please?

Best regards,

Ricardo.

[GeorgeP]

Hello Ricardo,


It is not so much a designation for a company as it is a unit, so Unit 679. The unit that I have down for this number is the 63rd Infantry Regiment, 10th Division. This division was in Manchuria and eventually went to the Philippines.



Tom

[Mooyman]

Thank you so much, Tom!

Regards,

Ricardo.

[GHP]

NOT a senninbari vest. That is a Kendo keikogi (training jacket) worn in kendo and jukendo [bayonet fencing]. It's too lightweight for judo.

The style of stitching is called Edo-sashi (Tokyo stitching) and it is normally worn by children nowadays:




Though, there is a very nice edosashi keikogi that adults wear today:



--Guy

[GHP]

Hello Ricardo,


It is not so much a designation for a company as it is a unit, so Unit 679. The unit that I have down for this number is the 63rd Infantry Regiment, 10th Division. This division was in Manchuria and eventually went to the Philippines.



Tom

And it's named to 1st Lt. Abe.

--Guy

[Mooyman]

Thanks again, Guy!

I'm a black belt in Karate Shotokan (2 dan) and noticed some similarity with the kendo kimonos.

Best regards,

Ricardo.

[Mooyman]

From internet:

Jukenjutsu (the art of the bayonet) is a Japanese martial art developed before the beginning of the twentieth century from spear and staff arts, for use in bayonet combat.

The Japanese soldier of WW2 received extensive close combat training, especially in bayonet fighting, and considered himself to be the finest bayonet fighter in the world. According to “Imperial Japanese Army Bayonet Fighting Tactics in World War 2″: The ordinary Japanese Army rifle company spent almost half of its time at bayonet practice. An American company commander who was caught without a training program usually sent his troops out for close order drill. The Japanese company commander in the same circumstances gave them bayonet practice. Thus, Japanese Army infantry was afforded more practice with a superior bayonet fighting technique than many other armies. After the end of World War 2 jukenjustu was banned by the allies.





Another infromation:


The Imperial Japanese Army, the infantry division practiced a lethal martial art called Jukendo.

Jukendowas the Japanese art of using bayonets in combat. The Imperial Japanese Army emphasized the importance of bayonet combat and trained their troops so hard that often they were training at a inhuman and unhuman manner. The Imperial Japanese Army felt that if troops knew how to fight in melee properly, they could hold off against impossible odds.

Jukendo consisted off being able to thrust at incredibly fast paces and at being able to charge at your enemy before they realized you were around and could fire at you. Jukendo was so effectively deadly that many American soldiers and marines well equipped with rifles would die before even realizing that Japanese soldiers were secretly sneaking up on them and going to thrust or stab at them.

For officers of the Imperial Japanese Army, they were given Katanas and taught how to wield them in combat.

Japanese soldiers training in Jukendo.

[Mooyman]

Hello Ricardo,


It is not so much a designation for a company as it is a unit, so Unit 679. The unit that I have down for this number is the 63rd Infantry Regiment, 10th Division. This division was in Manchuria and eventually went to the Philippines.


Tom

The 10th Division (第10師団 Dai-Jū Shidan) was an infantry division in the Imperial Japanese Army. Its call sign was the Iron Division (鉄兵団 Tetsu-heidan).



The 10th Division was formed on 1 October 1898, as one of the six new reserve divisions created after the First Sino-Japanese War. It consisted of troops from the Himeiji region, namely the three prefectures of Hyōgo, Okayama and Tottori, plus a portion of Shimane prefecture. The 10th Division participated heavily in the Russo-Japanese War, seeing combat at the Battle of Liaoyang, Battle of Shaho, and Battle of Mukden.

It remained stationed in Manchuria after the war, and participated in the Manchurian Incident of 1931 and in the Chinchow Operation of 1932.

During Second Sino-Japanese War, the 10th Division was in combat during the Beiping–Hankou Railway Operation, Tianjin–Pukou Railway Operation and Battle of Xuzhou where it suffered a serious reverse in the Battle of Taierzhuang. It was also in the northern pincer of the Japanese offensive in the Battle of Wuhan. It was withdrawn back to Manchukuo in 1940 and placed under the control of the Kwantung Army.



In 1944, as the situation in the Pacific War against the United States grew increasing desperate, the 10th Division was transferred to the Japanese Fourteenth Area Army in the Philippines, where it was mostly annihilated in the subsequent Battle of Luzon continued by joint the U.S. and Philippine Commonwealth forces.

Noteworthy commanders in the history of the 10th Division included: HIH Prince Fushimi Sadanaru, Kawamura Kageaki, Ando Sadami, Matsukawa To****ane, Katsu Yamaguchi, Ugaki Kazushige, Shigeru Honjō.