Japanese Arms & Services Branch Colours

[Loïc]

hello

1- what were the Arms of Services branch colours in use in 1914? It was already the same than in the years 30?
looking the plate below it is easy to recognize the traditional Japanese Army colours but others remain nebulous
Infantry red
Cavalry green
Artillery yellow
Engineers should be brown but it appears rather orange here
Transport light blue (given to the Aviation after)
Kempeitaï should be black seems grey
Intendance Account Dept a shade of pink or brownish?
Medical dark green
Military Justice white
Veterinary ?? seems darker than the black of the Kempeitaï
[Aviation and Music not forming yet separate branch colours]


2- seeing plates for post-1931 Japanese Army it seems to exist a great trouble around the right colours of 3 of them
Veterinary
Quartermaster/Intendance
Transport



in this one the Music even appears in orange (?)

and this last one despite from a Japanese book doesn't clarify at all adding others colours


so I found
Veterinary in purple - greenish - brown - violet - grey
Intendance QM in silver grey - yellowish - shade of white - pink - brown
Transport in dark blue - greenish - violet - grey - a darker shade

why there are so many differences, due to changes?

so what is the definitive accurate colours code in 1914 and after for these 3 Departments

Regards
Loïc

[Eugen Pinak]

In 1919 colors were:
Infantry - red
Cavalry - light green
Artillery - yellow
Engineers - crimson
Transport - blue
Kempeitai - black
Intendance - light grey
Military Justice - white
Medical - dark green
Veterinary - purple

[Eugen Pinak]

1910 source provides the following colors:
Infantry - red
Cavalry - light green
Artillery - yellow
>Engineers - chestnut (literally; or maroon)
Transport - blue
Kempeitai - black
>Intendance - chocolate grey
Medical - dark green
>Veterinary - dark green

[Loïc]

Thank you Eugen

it appears that the Veterinary shared the same as the Medical Dept before to have its own distintive color,
again this blue for Transport we met often,
and two shades of grey for Intendance

others as usual, well a variation with the Engineers

[Eugen Pinak]

Please, be careful with generalizations here. This or that color is named differently in different languages, so some "different" colors are in fact different translations.
One had to read uniform regulations to know the correct branch colors. Fortunately I've managed to find them.
As for 1912 revision, it was (conversion of katakana to hiragana is mine):
"陸軍服制別表の通定む 本令に於て定色と称するは
憲兵科に在りては黒色、
歩兵科に在りては緋色、
騎兵科に在りては萌黄色、
砲兵科に在りては黄色、
工兵科に在りては鳶色、
輜重兵科に在りては藍色、
経理部に在りては銀茶色、
衛生部に在りては深緑色、
獣医部に在りては紫色、
軍楽部に在りては紺青色を謂ふ
附則 本令は公布の日より之を施行す".
In 1914 it was the same.

[Hans1906]

Good morning Loïc,

I have adjusted and corrected the colors of the drawing a litte bit, and added slight sharpness, file size reduced as much as possible,
hope, this is helpful for some readers...

Used austrian freeware is "IrfanView" https://www.irfanview.com/main_what_is_engl.htm


Hans

[Loïc]

Thank you & Danke for the "refreshing"

well the Japanese seem a complicated topic even for a simple thing, we touch the Lost in translation booby-trap-door continent between Occident and Far East

[Hans1906]

With pleasure, from which source is this hand drawing inscribed in German language ?

I have never seen anything like this before, maybe from a German soldier in Japanese captivity at that time ?
My neighbor has a few photos of a German soldier who was also in Japanese captivity, ancient photos of his great-grandfather...

The few photos are amazing, considering how very old all this footage is these days.


Hans

[Loïc]

hello

probably as it is a serie of 8 pages and sketches concerning the 50 000 Japanese soldiers besieging the German garrison of Tsingtao in 1914
despite they are dated erroneously "1905" at the Brown collection where I found them
https://repository.library.brown.edu/st ... dr:245567/
https://repository.library.brown.edu/st ... dr:245577/
https://repository.library.brown.edu/st ... dr:245570/
https://repository.library.brown.edu/st ... dr:245573/

but he was someone also able to write both in japanese and german

[Hans1906]

Very interesting links, the problem was and is the poor scan quality, limited to the smallest possible file sizes to publish this material online...

You could "blow up" the images digitally, the loss of quality would be visible, of course...

Maybe at a later time, currently there is no time for all that, sorry...


Hans