The Evolution of Army Uniform Marking Regulations (1886-1945)

[Nick Komiya]

Nutshell Summary for non-Nerds

What I found very interesting in reading the 1886 accounting rules was that each Regiment had its own team of seamsters and they made the uniforms out of bolts of cloth supplied by the government, copying the design sample also supplied by the government. Furthermore each regiment took measurements of its own men to arrive at mean values to set up its own regimental standard sizes of Small, Medium and Large. So these sizes could be different from regiment to regiment.

When the marking photo in post 8 said 6th Infantry Regiment, it therefore also meant they were the manufacturer of the uniform.

The marking system was established to give some uniformity to this system of each regiment doing their own thing.

Then the Tokyo clothing depot was established in 1890 and Hiroshima in 1907. This was necessary to prevent the regiments from staying home to sew uniforms instead of fighting the Sino-Japanese war of 1894/95 and the Russo-Japanese War of 1904/05.

These depots including Osaka, gradually took over the job of making uniforms, but much of the marking regulation had remained unchanged until the regiments started to complain in the 1920s that they were soldiers and were not working for a clothing factory!

This is the story behind the A stamp in a nutshell.

A historical perspective has a lot more to offer, doesn't it ?

[Alan M]

Fantastic work and effort , thanks for this invaluable info Nick .

[Gewehr98]

Awesome work as usual, Nick!

I have a quick question for you, though. Is the "Type 3 Jacket" diagram included in the series referring to the Type 3 officers jacket made after 1943?

[Nick Komiya]

No, what is shown is not an officer's jacket. Totally disregard what is written in Wiki in English, as hardly anything on that page you link to is correct. It is the worst write up I ever read on Japanese uniforms, simply garbage.

[Gewehr98]

I see! Thanks for the information!

[grimnar]

Bloody brilliant! Another fantastic, well researched article. Never a waste of paper and ink when I print your articles out for my research folders. Thank you Nick.

[Nick Komiya]

While writing about the neck flaps for the field cap I realized that A & B markings must be for items introduced by the Emperor's Edict and those items with what I call small fry markings may be items that get launched by the authority of the Minister of the Army without having to obtain the Emperor's approval.

On 31st May 1938, an Edict launched the field cap, which comes with A&B markings. The next day, on 1st June 1938 the Minister of the Army launched the neck flap, shirts and underpants as an Ordinance, and those are small fry marked items.

I have yet to substantiate this hunch, but it sounds pretty good so far.

[Nick Komiya]

Some navy equipment marking regs here Navy acceptance marking regulations

[Nick Komiya]

Here's a peek at the Army's Main Uniform Depot.

[Type4]

Here's a peek at the Army's Main Uniform Depot.

I very interesting in the production of shoes, is one of my lovely item in japanese militaria, you have any more info up the develop of type 5 and than type 16 army shoes? Thanks