Japanese helmet

[dunit35]

New member and collector here. I bought a Nambu pistol and NCO sword recently and the seller gave me this helmet as a gift.

He tells me it's Japanese but he had no clue what kind of helmet it was. I have no knowledge of Japanese helmets and found this forum while researching. I was unable to find any information online. There are no Japanese markings on it and the condition looks too good to have not been repainted at some point.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[MAP]

New member and collector here. I bought a Nambu pistol and NCO sword recently and the seller gave me this helmet as a gift.

He tells me it's Japanese but he had no clue what kind of helmet it was. I have no knowledge of Japanese helmets and found this forum while researching. I was unable to find any information online. There are no Japanese markings on it and the condition looks too good to have not been repainted at some point.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Welcome to the forum Dunit. Being new and navigating a forum sometimes leads to unintentional errors. I would suggest you start a new thread about this helmet. This topic is for Nicks research.

Or maybe you can send a PM to a Moderator to move it. (Moderators are Bob Coleman and Alan M)

To start a new topic go to this link and click the green "Post New Thread" button.

https://www.warrelics.eu/forum/japanese-militaria/

In good form, in order not to distract from Nicks thread I will refrain from comments about the helmet itself.

I'm sure we would also love to see the Nambu and NCO sword (each in stand alone separate threads )

Regards,

M

[Nick Komiya]

The key question is how much does it weigh? If 2 kgs or more, it's a Type 98 bullet-proof helmet, but if it weighs less it's a civilian air-raid defense helmet.

[dunit35]

My apologies. I'm use to other forums that want to save space and not start new threads if it can be avoided.

I'll have to weigh it but it has good weight to it. I'm curious as to why it does not have any writing on it other than that "56" on the front.

[Nick Komiya]

Why should there be other markings? Civilian helmets did not have sizes, so all you needed was your personal number on it to grab the right one off the rack. If it's a good weight, it's a civil defense helmet. A special bullet proof army model should strike you as impossibly heavy, as it was only to be worn for a short duration for bunker assaults after which you changed back to the normal Type 90 helmet. It is simply impossibly heavy to wear for any length of time.

[dunit35]

I figured there would be some type of markings on it but I clearly don't know anything about Japanese militaria.

I was able to weigh it and it came in at 2.67 lbs. The seller had a $100 tag on it but gave it to me. Is it WWII period?

Thanks for the help. I've bookmarked this forum as there is a lot of great information here.

[Nick Komiya]

Yes, it is a civilian helmet from WW2 for air raids. They came in various qualities even down to resin, bamboo and papiermache versions, but yours appears to be fairly high quality with a nice leather liner (canvass liners are the norm).