Interesting "Command" Helmet

[Eric Doody]

Two years ago, I picked up an interesting Japanese helmet that I had not encountered before. Since that time, I have heard and/or seen three additional such helmets.

The helmet is of the Model 90 (i.e., 1930) design and is equipped with a Model 90 liner and Model 90 chin straps. However, what makes this helmet interesting is that there is a hand painted encircled kanji on the front of the helmet which translates to "hold/maintain/take/carry/have charge of."

Outside of the encircled kanji, lack of the standard five-pointed star insignia, and extra thick brown paint, the helmet appears to be a standard Army Model 90 helmet.

Here are some photos of the helmet...

[Eric Doody]

Here is a close-up of the hand painted encircled kanji on the front of the helmet. Note the horizontal pencil (?) lines on top of the extra thick brown paint.

[Eric Doody]

Here is a photo of the inside of the helmet...

[Eric Doody]

Here is a photo of the underside of the front liner pad. The pad is manufacturer marked and dated (i.e., January 1942).

[Eric Doody]

Here are two kanji that are hand painted on the inside rim of the helmet (kanji translates to "Command/Commander")...

[Eric Doody]

Here is a photo of the rear liner band. Note the "DAI" kanji punched into the band indicating that the liner is a large sized liner.

[Eric Doody]

Finally, here is a photo of the inside rear rim of the helmet. The white painted "DAI" kanji indicated that the steel shell was a large sized shell.

[Jareth]

Rare helmet! Excellent photos Eric! I'd love to find out more about these unusual helmets. Any more out there?

[Paul V]

Helmet!

Excellent helmet! Hope you find more info!

PVON

[blinky]

Eric
I've had two helmets a bit like this. The first was a similar set-up with a front rivet instead of a star and the kanji for "engineer." It also had thick paint so it was impossible to tell if a star had ever been attached or not.
The second was another Type 90 helmet with a rivet on the front but on the back was a wide horizontal white stripe and the remains of something in kanji. The writting was damaged however by schrapnel and was unreadable.
I traded them both several years ago but I think I have pictures of them. When I find them I will post them.

eric

[Eric Doody]

Eric (a.k.a., Blinky),

Yes, the helmets you had sound interesting as well. If you find photos of the helmets, by all means, please post them on the forum.

Eric