Interesting Kempeitai Armband - Occupied Area Philippines?

[christek]

Greetings all,

Has anyone seen a Kempeitai band like this one? I'm assuming its pre 1945.
I have never seen one with the 'M.P' written in above the kanji - If all is correct on this one; would have to assume used in an occupied territory such as Philippines?

[DaveR]

Another possibility is pre-war Shanghai where they had to cooperate with international police and military forces.

[ghp95134]

Found this HERE
日本軍にも憲兵は居たが、その腕章は「憲兵」 もしくは「憲兵・MP」併記が一般的だったようだ。
"Although military police existed in the Japanese army, armbands with "military police" [憲兵] or "military police · MP" [憲兵· M.P.] were common."

--Guy

[christek]

Gents - Many thanks for the info!

[tomp]

I would be interested in hearing the provenance on this armband, if possible. Kempeitai armbands have been reproduced for awhile now and authentic specimens are few and far between.


Tom

[christek]

G'day Tom,
I don't think so mate but one never knows. Purchased from a seller in Japan. He has been very reliable and knowledgeable so I would be surprised if he sold me a dressed up repro but of course he may have not known. Anything in particular you don't like on this one mate?
Cheers

[tomp]

I wish I could give you some detailed information on this type of thing, but, alas, this is not my collecting focus. I do have a peripheral interest in kempeitai though, and am always interested to hear back stories on items from this type of unit since it seems that such artifacts are uncommon to say the least. I remember hearing a few years back about a seller in Japan supposedly selling an authentic kempei. unit armband for $1,000. As to whether supply has changed over the years, maybe that is so. There were certainly large numbers of kempeitai based in Japan during the war. Hopefully there are cloth/kempei collectors who can comment further on your armband.

Tom

[christek]

Thanks Tom - I was never really worried about it. I'm pretty comfortable with my own experience on IJA items to say this is an original item mate. Unlike TR items I would assume the reproduction of IJA items is a relatively modern thing mate (aside from swords of course). That 70+ year smell is pretty hard to replicate. Then again anything is possible! Cheers for your time bud.