Japanese Camo

[drewthefan123]

Hello,

I was wondering, what information and pictures are there of Japanese using using Camo.I know they used nettint, never seen a good picture of it in use at battle. I have heard that the Japanese Soldiers would use a Mino(?) (Japanese 'Rain' Coat). I just want to know what all is known on it, and how common it was.

Much Thanks,

~Drew

[Akira Takizawa]

I upload some photos. A soldier on the second photo wears a camo like Mino and a soldier on the third photo wears a camo net. Note that it is not Mino, but Mino-like camo. I have never heard that Mino was used in the Army.

Taki

[Luftflotte2]

I think a well staged propaganda shot with Whippet tanks and biplanes in the background.

My source is: Gakken Volume 34, Page 170.

[Peter H]

From ebay,seller cornerstoneimages.

Guadalcanal,November 1942---US Marine models Japanese sniper gear.

It looks similar to this: http://www.lonesentry.com/articles/ttt0 ... rment.html

This type of garment is widely used in Japan as a raincoat. Those made of coconut palm fiber are used by Japanese fishermen, while the Japanese farmer makes his with reeds or rushes.

[Peter H]

From ebay,seller bannjyou

[Peter H]

From ebay,seller eby071

More camo pics here as well: http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic. ... 5&t=125560

[Peter H]

Straw

Rain cover?

[drewthefan123]

Holy Moly! Thanks everyone!!! :O This means a lot to me!

[Sewer King]

Staff officer

Peter, isnt the staff officer ... LG Ishiwara Kanji?

Then-Colonel Ishiwara seems to have a string net tied over the crown of his service cap, similar to that for a steel helmet’s foliage. Until this and some other recent photos here, I hadn’t seen enough to know that some officers did this with their caps in combat.

Also, isn't he wearing a white cap band (enemy side) for war games?

From ebay,seller dixie_auctions: Tokyo AA defenders 1935

These two different photos of machine gunners show them wearing a lot of leaf camouflage. But they are in an urban setting, up on a rooftop. So the leaves seem strange, exercise or not.

Maneuvers around Tokyo 1935

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Camouflage {humorous postcard illustration}

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One well-known but unusual hand-painted camouflage uniform. Shown in our thread about the Giretsu commandos' air-landing raid against Yontan airfield at Okinawa:

One of these troops in painted camo uniform was illustrated for Philip Jowett's The Japanese Army 1931-45 vol 2 Osprey Men-at-War volume 369 (Osprey Publishing Ltd, 2002), cover illustration, plate G2 and page 47. (the figure at left)

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From Edward J. Drea's Japan's Imperial Army: its Rise and Fall, 1853-1945 (University Press of Kansas, 2009), page 95:

Following the Sino-Japanese War the army gradually changed to a khaki uniform because the color showed fewer stains, particularly the bloodstains that had adversely affected troop morale during combat. At the time of the 1900 Boxer Rebellion soldiers still wore white trousers, but four years later everyone was outfitted in khaki ...

A more detailed look at the changeover from white summer uniform to khaki. This had taken place at about the same time as other major armies were replacing bright-colored field uniforms with drab ones, as great a change as today's wider use of camouflage-print ones.

I had never before heard of bloodstains being a factor in changing a field uniform color. Wounds and blood were common in battle from immemorial. Were they noticeably more of a morale problem this way? However, it was said that gun decks of 18th-19th century wooden warships were panted brown for the same reason.

–- Alan

[Akira Takizawa]

The reason why the IJA changed the uniform color to khaki is that the uniform in white attracts attention in the field. It became a problem during the Russo-Japanese War and khaki uniform was produced. But, it was not enough supplied and some units put a khaki smock on white uniform for camouflage.

Taki

[Sewer King]

Thanks Taki, it didn't sound so likely a reason as told. Drea is part of a new direction in English-language military study of Imperial Japan, using more Japanese-language sources. But the world's major armies change from bright to drab colors was long known as coming from the colonial wars of the late 19th century.

I cannot tell if the assertion about bloodstains is in it. But for changes in IJA equipment at this time, the author cited:

• Ōe, Shinobu. Nichi-Ro sensō to Nihon Guntai (A Military History of the Russo-Japanese War) Iwanami Shoten, 1976; page 243

.
Expedient IJA use of khaki smocks over white sounds like French soldiers covering over their red kepis and red trousers early in World War I. In field uniform color, Japan and other powers were ahead of France, which was still deciding on its drab color change at war's outbreak in 1914. Britain, the US, and Japan had already done it because it was urged by the recent wars they had fought.

-- Alan

[xikang]

Two pictures on a book.

[xikang]

Some potos found on a Chinese website. A collection Japanese raincoat.



The traditional Chinese (actually it should be Japanese) shows that it might be Army type. And size No. is 3, was made in 1938.