Unknown Japanese Armbands

[dag001]

Hello,

I bought these armbands from a Navy vet who got them in Singapore shortly after war's end. His ship was among the first allied ships to enter Singapore. Does anyone know what they are?

[blinky]

Hi Denny
The top one translates to "bokuya butai" or Bokuya Unit. I think Bokuya is a name, it translates to pastureland or ranch.
The bottom one is a bit more difficult for me, i'm not familiar with the kanji on the right but the kanji on the left translates to "cho" which is like leader or C.O.

[Eric Doody]

Denny,

I came up with the same translation that Blinky (a.k.a. Eric) did for the armband on the top (i.e. Bokuya butai or the Bokuya Unit).

The kanji on the bottom armband is Sencho which translates to ship's captain when read from right to left.

Hope this helps.

Nice job with the translations Blinky!

Eric

[blinky]

Thanks Eric, I'm really out of practice trying to read kanji. I was trying to look up the "sen" kanji using the two right side radicals but didn't have any luck.

Denny, those are great armbands. I'm not very familiar with the Japanese order of battle for the Malay/Singapore area at the end of the war but I'll keep my eyes open.

[dag001]

Thanks Eric & Blinky. You just told me way more than I knew about these armbands. I would love to learn more about these; such what they were worn for, rarity, value, etc.
The vet also had a large flag taken from the Japanese garrison in Shanghai (his story anyway), a mint type 99 rifle, a mint type I, 6 bayonets and nearly 100 rounds of 7.7mm rifle ammo.

[Eric Doody]

Denny,

Glad Blinky and I could be of some assistance to you.

I wish I could tell you how (or why) the armbands were used, but I can't. Insofar as rarity, I can only say that these are the first two armbands I have seen like this. I have seen a number of other Japanese armbands, but the armbands (that I have seen) were different from the ones you posted the photo of.

Thanks for posting the photo of the armbands as well as the photo of the hinomaru (i.e., Japanese National flag).

If you get a chance, we would love to see some photos of the other stuff that the veteran brought home as well.

Eric

[Eric Doody]

Denny,

I have a correction to the kanji on the armband on the top. Specifically, the correct kun or Japanese reading is Makino Butai or Makino Unit as opposed to Bokuya Butai or Bokuya Unit which is the on or Sino-Japanse reading of the same kanji. Sorry about the confusion and doomo arigatoo Shimada san.

Eric

[blinky]

makes sense in retrospect, Makino is a more common family name