WW2 Fire-fighting helmet rank distinctions

[Nick Komiya]

I came across the following chart while looking into police matters. These helmets seem to have fans among militaria collectors here, so I'll put it up for your reference.

Also of interest is that there is a rank distinction between 消防手 and 消防士 in the bottom row. Though 手 and 士 are mostly synonyms, here the latter is attributed with higher qualifications.

[luise]

Thanks Nick for taking your time to share with us everything that you are discovering in the original archives. I find that material highly interesting.

Best regards
Luis

[Geoff Ward]

Thank you Nick! Here is an example from my collection.Did the same ranking system apply on the metal bands on the helmet itself?

Regards,Geoff

[Type4]

I have a visor cap

[Nick Komiya]

Geoff, your helmet belonged to a leader in the neighborhood firefighting group 消防組 Shobougumi, which got its official insignia in 1936, but this merged into the Civil Defense Group in 1939, so it was a short lived insignia. On the other hand, the helmet rank bands I showed were for the National Police and Fire Brigade (which was one organization in those days), so the badge shown is for the police.

After the war, the fire brigade became separate from the police and got it's new insignia in 1947 and this further got a wreath added in 1950.

Though Type 4's visor cap seems to have a similar emblem to Geoff's helmet, the helmet has the 1936-39 style insignia while the visor cap is postwar with 1950 insignia. The difference is in whether the "Sasumata" Y symbol is within a cherry blossom, which is postwar fire brigade.

I also show postwar firefighting helmets with 1947 and 1950 insignia.

[Nick Komiya]

Police and Fire Brigade Insignia are confusing to many, so here is an overall summary in the form of an evolution map.

[Nick Komiya]

Like the Waffen SS started out as a police presence, not to step on the toes of the Wehrmacht, the postwar Self Defense Forces also had to be launched in low profile as an auxiliary police unit under the war & military renouncing Constitution of postwar Japan.

[Nick Komiya]

Another special police presence was the Imperial Palace Police (皇宮警察), which was set up after the 1878 mutiny of the Imperial Guards. They were given uniforms distinctly different from the national police. Here the 1886 introduction of the special uniform, featuring a Pickelhaube. The photo example features a wreath in the post 1908 police style.

[Geoff Ward]

Wow! That is the first time I have seen an example like this! Were these helmets also made of leather similar to the German pieces? or perhaps a type of composition material similar to Vulkanfiber? in any case a very interesting helmet type! Thank you for the photos!

Regards,Geoff

[Nick Komiya]

Either in lacquered leather like the German versions or in Japanese papier-mache were the official specs. According to the descriptions, the very first model seemed to be set up with a removable spike on top, which was assumed to have been used only for formal occassions.