My first IJA cap

[EDUARD]

Hello friends

I buy this cap , but I need your help
Any information are wellcome
Thanks in advance
Eduard

[EDUARD]

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[EDUARD]

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[Jareth]

Another odd cap. Wool body you'd normally associate with an early cap. Chinstrap is late war & if you judged from interior alone it looks like typical civilian cap

[EDUARD]

Thanks Jareth

may be an original civil cap war end adapted for military use?

[Jareth]

Late in the war most civilian men were wearing some type of cap or another

[Rod G]

Thanks Jareth

may be an original civil cap war end adapted for military use?

Hi Eduard,

It's unlikely the military ever adapted civilian caps for its use as there are still a great number of unissued late war IJA caps around. If quality became an issue for the Army later on quantity does not appear to have been.

Sometimes earlier clothing is found with two names written in and one crossed off. Reissued uniforms were more an expedient measure than a mark of poverty. When a unit was transferred to another front it's uniforms were exchanged for more appropriate clothes such as from China to the Pacific and the old ones could replace worn examples in other units.

Regards, Rod

http://www.scribd.com/mobile/doc/35951479

[EDUARD]

Hi Rod

Thanks for your information ,
Could you tell me your opinion about this cap? Is all original? Made after war? Or a reconstruction with a original pieces?
Thanks
Eduard

[Rod G]

Hi Eduard,

It's definitely a war time cap based on the military pattern. The green split pin rivets that secure the chin strap look like they were mean't for an army cap. The chin strap is rubberized cloth common on late war officers style caps as is the straw cloth lining. The purple tie string on the back of the cap is not original to it, that would have been close in color to the cap and thinner. I've seen the maker's stamp before on another cap that I was certain was late war officers but that one was not something made for the front lines.

Sorry I'm not able to give you a more direct answer. It may be army or for a reserve/veterans organization, the star badge is likely a later add on.

Regards, Rod

[EDUARD]

Hi Rod
Thank you For your amiability and for the information
My second cap will be a combat one
Best Regards
Eduard

[RodneyO]

Hi Eduard,
I have a cap very similar to yours except it has only two metal air vents on each side an in pretty bad shape (moth paradise). Yours has the stamp for medium (中) and the one I have big (大). Was my first field cap I picked up from Japan from a friend's uncle. it's original but i don't think military.......found out years later when I started to use the good 'ole internet and books. Gunderson Militaria has a nice one for sale.. http://www.gundersonmilitaria.com/ja...ascivilian.jpg

That’s great information Rod! Japan, a militaristic country in the 30’s and 40’s and many organizations wore uniforms similar to that of the military. (In Nakata’s book, page 222-7, Wartime civilian clothes and student uniforms.)

[RodneyO]

Newspaper under the front of the liner for better fit...

[RodneyO]

Paper stamp and ink size stamp...

[EDUARD]

Thanks Rodney

[Rod G]

Hi Rodney,

Thanks for the link and additional pics of this style of cap. They are a kind of conundrum for me, common yet without real context. I've had one or two, moth love them me not so much. As you said the product of a militaristic society and probably to fill the gap between the army and civilian society. I think some concrete background would make them a whole lot more interesting.

Regards' Rod