Mystery leather straps-Japanese?

[ValhallaMilitaria]

Gentlemen,
Once again I humbly place an object on the table for review and comments, these three straps were stuffed inside a Japanese Officers backpack, I cannot locate them using online searches. Are they Japanese? they look almost like helmet chinstraps to me but I find nothing that looks like them searching with that description.
Any help is appreciated,
Thank you,
Eric

[Kohima]

They could be mapcase straps (?), though not exactly like any I have seen before.
Very distinctive 'fastening hooks '. I'll let you know if I find anything like them.
Bob

[GHP]

I was thinking it was part of a headstall or other horse tack. I can't find any images of a similar strap; the ones I find show the strap doubled.


--Guy



Modern re-enactor image from google images.

[beretta1934]

Agree with Guy - horse tack gear. NOT very collectible, and correspondingly not very valuable. I had a complete set with the gold officers medallion and nobody cared... traded it for something else years later

[GHP]

Agree with Guy - horse tack gear. NOT very collectible, and correspondingly not very valuable. I had a complete set with the gold officers medallion and nobody cared... traded it for something else years later

Beretta,

Did your headstall have that curious hook-button on the reverse side? I couldn't find any horse equipments having that hook.

Thanks,
--Guy

[beretta1934]

Guy, i honestly can't recall - its been about 15 years since I owned that set :-(
I saw the gold officers wreath badges it had on the topside listed on Ebay a few weeks ago (out of China) but they were just by themselves with no leather. Anyway it got me to thinking about them again and then lo and behold these show up.

[zachb]

I too am leaning toward tack, but my IJA officer's bridle does not have straps quite like this (i.e., with the hook). It could still be part of a bridle or halter, I will look at some other stuff and see if I can find something similar. Zach

IJA Officer Bridle.JPG

[beretta1934]

That is the item Zach! Well it's not a perfect match by any means to the item posted for sure

[ValhallaMilitaria]

Interesting idea about their being tack straps but with that strange hook? I guess it's possible. Likely that we will never really know what these were for.
Thanks for the lively discussion though.
Eric

[Kohima]

Sorry chaps, but I'm really having trouble with the tack idea...
All the metalwork would have to be on the same side for that - to avoid injury and discomfort to the horse (not that all this stuff could ever be truly 'comfortable' for a horse).
Plus, that cute little hook is hardly reliable enough.