Kempeitai Armband Authentication

[swatmaster68]

Looking for some input on this Kempeitai armband and its authenticity. Also, translations are appreciated.

[ghp95134]

I cannot attest to authenticity, but the writing is:

東部憲兵隊
吉村分遺隊イ
川田軍曹

Stamp:
(イ)
corresponds to "Detachment イ" above.


Eastern Department Military Police
Yoshimura Detachment イ*
Sergeant Kawada

(イ)

*イ. "i", second Japanese syllable after ア "ă", perhaps equivalent to "B"? pronounced like "ē" in the word evil.

-- Guy

[Alan M]

I like the look of it although looks to have been through a washing machine , the material and the fact that there has been a lot of work put into it's production as it is all hand stitched

[Nick Komiya]

These are a nightmare to authenticate and, like the Kamikaze headbands, the majority on the market are fakes.

They started to wear such armbands in 1923 as a result of the Great Kanto earthquake that decimated Tokyo that year in September. They needed auxiliary MPs drawn from other army branches to maintain order in the capital, and these MP helpers were temporarily issued armbands.

Thus it was only non-MPs that initially wore these, and such auxiliaries were dispatched to guard the Ministry of the Army where the top brass of the army had evacuated outside to the back lot of the ministry, as further tremors were expected. When the Minister of the Army saw these MP auxiliaries, he said "What a great idea. Now we know at a glance that they are MPs. We should make all MPs wear them."

Thus an emperor's edict was issued on 13th of November to apply these armbands as a standard feature for MPs.

During WW2, the Minister of the Army issued detailed specs for the armband on 3rd July 1942 as army notice 4452 as shown below. No further specs were issued besides a note issued towards the end of the war to add "MP" under the Japanese for wear in occupied territories.

As you see, the official specs called for a length of 40 cm, while yours is 33 cm. The number of lacing holes prescribed were two, while yours is 3. The official band has two columns of lacing holes to allow size adjustment, and although the regulation says that a safety pin may be used above the logo to support the band, no sleeve for a safety pin was incorporated as of 1942.

Clearly yours does not match the regs given and as yours is marked for a MP unit responsible for the greater Tokyo area
, they would have been issued official specs and nothing like local theater variants.

Does that lead to the conclusion that yours is fake? I don't know, because for instance, majority of repros have 3 lace holes, making me wonder whether a non-documented spec change occurred between 1943-45 and fakes are based on such existing late examples.

If you are being offered that armband for purchase, it's probably best to walk away unless it has solid provenance like other MP items named to the same individual.

[Alan M]

Thanks for the great info Nick . What is your opinion about the materials and construction used ?

[Nick Komiya]

Regulations only required the base to be of double layers of white cloth (no mention of wool) and that the Japanese characters to be used were to be in Kaisho script. There was actually no requirement for the characters to be sewn on and printing would have been a more natural interpretation of the regs in view of circumstances. Of course, armbands prior to the 1942 regs could have followed the army tradition of woolen cutout characters sewn on to a wool base

As such, the example below is the closest I can find on the net to the regulations in effect for WW2, with the exception of replaced lacing, which originally should have been a round cross section cord of 2mm diameter, 40 cm long, not a tape cord as seen in the photo.

[Alan M]

Thanks for the explanation Nick , is there any mention of the pressed metallic eyelets ?

[Nick Komiya]

Official regs do not mention how the lacing holes were to be treated, so grommets or stitching were both possible. However, armbands following the 1942 regs seem to be normally found with grommets. See below for a version with "MP" added for occupied territory use.　

I will also show you specs issued for MP armbands for the Chinese army, very similar to the Japanese version, though in gothic script. The Chinese version displays issue number below the logo as proof of authenticity.

The Japanese army was less of a control freak in this regard, but formal practice was to have the stamp of the local MP HQ on the back as evidence of official issue. These are seldom seen on originals, but replicas can have them.

[Nick Komiya]

See how dangerous these armbands are.

[Jareth]

In my opinion it looks original based on the sewn on kanji compared to the more commonly printed variations plus added label etc