Unusual raincoat

**Vpep** · 10-26-2018, 12:54 PM

Hello everyone,
First off, I have to apologize for not having photos to accompany my question, but I was unable to take any. A friend of mine has offered me what he says is a Japanese army rain coat. From a distance it looks just like the standard army rain coat, but I do not believe he is correct, since it has none of the usual military markings. Where the stamps should be is a sewn in gauze type label. It does not have the bayonet retaining strap, but instead on the back has two thin loops to retain a belt. The buttons are also the green baked clay type. Can this be a navy item or just civilian like I suspect. If I can get some photos I will try to post them. I look forward to any ideas, help or theories about this coat. Thank you in advance.
Vic

**christek** · 10-26-2018, 02:02 PM

Hello Vic,

It will be hard to identify without photos, it certainly does not sound like a standard Army coat. I can show my standard raincoat for comparison. Apologies for the shadowy light, my war room has poor lighting and it is night here.

This is a standard single breasted light cotton coat with a button-on hood. As I understand it, these were not overly popular to use as intended. Understandably I should add, as I cannot imagine it’s rain shielding attributes were too good. This example is not marked, or ink mark has faded. There is a collar tag though, showing size kanji (large) and numeral. It has a bayonet loop strap. Buttons are made from wood, the larger front lot appear dyed or lightly painted a light green; while the smaller buttons appear a natural light timber colour. There are no belt loops but two solidly sewn-in weight retaining buttons on the sides.

Cheers

**Vpep** · 10-26-2018, 02:35 PM

Hi Chris, thanks for the reply. I’m going to ask my buddy for som photos. I have an army coat as well that is identical to yours, which is beautiful by the way. Except for the differences I mentioned earlier, they look very similar. I’ve never seen a navy rain coat though, so I didn’t know if that’s what I was looking at. It could even be privately purchased by an office or just a plain old civilian model. Either way it’s cool. But I just want to have a more definitive idea of what it is before I reach for my wallet.