Officer's document case with 12 kanji

[Nick Komiya]

I can clearly make out 青野＊＊部隊青村隊, which was the standard style of field unit designation used between Sept 1937 to Sept 1940, which simply means Aomura unit within the Aono unit. It can be applied to Regiment and Company or Company and Battalion. This system was dropped once the casualty rate of commanders became too high and replaced by the number code system.
See here

[bestmsdt]

Brilliant! Thanks Nick, now I understand how it works, will have a good look at your Dog Tag article as there is clearly a lot of very useful stuff in there. That's pretty much got it really. Actually there is only one kanji unidentified now, the third one. It seems to have a clear 'lid' radical but I've spent ages going over the lists to no avail - couldn't be GOU, 毫, could it?
Cheers,
Tony

[ghp95134]

... It seems to have a clear 'lid' radical but I've spent ages going over the lists to no avail -

Me too, Tony, me too! I've tried to fit various 亠 "lidded" kanji, but none worked for me.
The other kanji looks like it has the 阝 large village "tsukuri" (right side radical)
Something like 邦 or 那 .... but no cigar, I fear!

-- Guy

[bestmsdt]

What conclusions can be drawn as to when this document case was in use? Having read Nick's link given above, from September 1937 to September 1940 this naming system was used to hide the actual unit numbers for active service overseas, thus the kanji were written in this period prior to the Tsushogo codes starting in September 1940. If an item was still in use through the 1940's would the owner leave outdated unit designations on it?
Cheers,
Tony

[Nick Komiya]

So long as Aono and Aomura were alive and served as up-to-date coordinates of where to deliver the map case when lost. Of course another question is whether the owner himself could outlive his two commanders or not. There was a regimental commander by the name of Jiro Aono from March 1945, but that date is too late for this item. It could be from when Jiro was a battalion commander, but his earlier history is unfortunately unknown to me.

[bestmsdt]

Thanks Nick, that makes sense. I do like items that have markings, it gives them a unique identity and a connection to history. I far prefer a battered item that has seen service use to a pristine item that has come out of some warehouse.
Time to move onto the next treasure! You and Guy are such help with decoding the kanji.
Cheers,
Tony