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IJN Officer cap and storage box


MattS
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I have been hunting one of these for awhile, could use some help translating the Kanji in the cap and on the lid of the box.

Thanks!

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Hi Matt,

 

The name in the cap is of course the same as the one on the box. Taken from his card it says:

 

 

尉候補生 Officer candidate

 

Last name: 加藤 Katou

First name: 種男 Taneo

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Matts;

Once you entered the naval academy at Eta Jima, cadets wore the same service hat as an officer except for a midshipman's insignia (embroidered anchor on a black oval) sewn on the hat AND minus the "waffled" material band around the riser portion of the hat behind the insignia. Upon graduation from the academy and deployment into the field for a year you became a passed midshipmen with a single stripe on your shoulder board replacing the midshipman's anchor emblem and you wore an officers insignia plus the waffle band around the service hat. So it would seem likely (your hat) he graduated and moved into the officer's ranks at least to Passed Midshipmen.

 

As a side note, Once a midshipman became a passed midshipman, their shoulder board changed also. Warrant Officer (former enlisted man) and a Passed Midshipman shared the same style shoulder board with only a single gold stripe, the only difference being the width of the gold stripe on the should board. In theory enlisted men could move into the officers ranks up to Lt/Commander (however I personally have never seen a pair of LT/Comm. boards with thin stripes so if it happened its rare)....however enlisted could and did move up to (full) Lieutenant but the stripe on his shoulder board would be thinner than the width of the button and the number of cherry blossoms or compass stars (reserve officer) to indicate their rank.... officers who graduated from the academy had a larger stripe (slightly wider) than the width of the button. While this may seem odd it is noticeable on the shoulder boards and was done to get experienced men into the officers ranks in fields like mechanics, accounting, engineering etc. but also to denote the difference in rank. An academy officer would hold a higher position except in a specialty position. The shoulder boards with the thin stripe are seen most often in general duties officers (no color banding) on the edge of the boards and boards trimmed with purple, green, white banding.This is one of those areas where size does matter....its not the size of the actual shoulder board itself but the width of the gold stripe/s ONLY that denotes the difference. Shoulder board size did change during this era but had nothing to do with rank. The thin stripes were NOT done on the naval collar insignia.

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Thanks for the education! Boards were limited to IJN summer white uniforms, correct? I've only seen collar tabs on the blue IJN uniform.

 

In American hat parlance, the waffle material is called the cap band which encircles the cap body (or cap frame). Normally made of mohair (yarn made from the Angora goat), it was usually green on US officer's winter service caps and khaki on summer caps. The Royal Air Force uses a black mohair band on its caps.

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A lot of what the IJN did was originally copied from the French and he British navy. I used the term "waffle" band simply to be more descriptive when pointing it out because there are some Japanese collectors who didn't realize its a separate piece tacked to the hat as a symbol of rank and not a structural or decorative part of the hat.

 

While "boards" were originally designed for the Type 2 (white) uniform....they were occasionally seen on khaki shirts and shorts and even on early Type 3 green uniforms. Like most military units in war, the Japanese did improvised in the field for convenience or out of necessity . The collar tabs were made to be worn on the Type 1 (blues) they were also used as a single rank insignia worn over the shirt pocket. Many naval officers had a custom made single rank insignia with a metal clip on the back slightly larger and square shape then the collar insignia for wear over a shirt pocket. The Type 1 collar insignia were also worn on the Type 3 green uniform in both the Type 1 and Type 3 color pattern during the latter stages of the war.

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Very good information! I know hats, but very little about IJN uniforms. I knew the single tab was common on IJA tropical uniforms, did not realize the navy did it also, but that makes perfect sense as they were operating out of bases in the same environment.

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Pocket patches are a great collectible and their are a few really good collections of them out their. While naval officers did it a little with the collar insignia on the pocket, enlisted were limited because the size of their rank insignia. They usually sew a cloth patch with their name and rank written on it over the pocket. They also used a plastic oval name tag sewn to the uniform. Not anything like army pocket patches. Sorry, got away from the original thread...its still a nice hat and hat box with a matching name tag....good piece !

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