Lieutenant Colonel's counter shoulder straps

[BTR]

Good day to all.
What does it say on the box?
What year model?
Unusual fastening.

[BTR]

Error in the title, these are the colonel's counter shoulder straps.

[Bruce Pennington]

Waitng for Guy.
In the meantime, bottom row is numbers, maybe a phone?

2903.3671.5631 or 1365.1763.3092 depending on which direction it was written.

[ghp95134]

い號 First [Quality]
中佐 Chūsa [Lt. Colonel]

東京中橋
合名会社
越前屋
電話本局
一三六五，一六七三，三〇九二

Tōkyō Nakabashi
Gōmeigaisha [Unltd.]
Echizenya
Tel. Main Office
1365, 1673, 3092

Echizenya Ltd., located in Nakabashi, Tokyo

-- Guy

[ghp95134]

Note: though the shoulder straps are for a full colonel 大佐, the box is definitely for Lt. Colonel 中佐.

-- Guy

[Akira Komiya]

The type of shoulder straps which are worn perpendicular to the shoulder blades (or parallel to the shoulder seams) should be more appropriately called "passants" rather than "counter shoulder straps". There are what are called "counter epaulettes", which were versions of epaulettes without the fringes worn on the right shoulder so as not to get in the way of wielding swords, etc. which can be seen on uniforms from the Napoleonic wars, etc.
The attachment style of your boards is said to be of an earlier style, although I am without any information to either affirm or deny such.
The boards are missing the backing material which could have been either leather or cloth. (See the attached photo of the enlisted versions which shows both variants, although officers' boards would most likely have had a woolen backing instead of cotton as in case of my EM example.)
It is said in collector circles here in Japan that early (Type 38 - 1905) shoulder boards were larger than the later style (Type 45 -1912) shoulder boards which were in use until 1938. However, checking both the 1905 and 1912 uniform regulations, the specifications in both called for shoulder straps of 3 sun (90.9mm) in length and 9bu (0.9 sun = 27.3mm) in width. That said, the examples in my collection are indeed larger than the later style although I cannot say whether the boards in my collection are freak examples or they were more lenient in the early days.
The box in which your boards came in was clearly intended for a larger pair of boards (the boxes for shoulder boards were always an exact fit), so at least there were companies making and selling the non-regulation sized boards.
I will attach photos of the the regulation Type 45 boards of 1930s vintage (note the greener backing material of the Sho5, 1930 uniform) sandwitched by 2 earlier boards which are significantly larger than the Type 45 boards. Also, the boards on the right have metal stars with patterns imitating bullion thread, while the huge straps on the left have 2 shiny threads alternating with a pattern of 4 ordinary metalic threads to give it a high lighted effect. The latter boards came with its original uniform which is a very early, probably of Russo Japanese War vintage which has sewn on metal loops exactly matching the length of the boards as well as its original box.
I will also attach photos of a selection of enlisted/NCO straps. On bottom left are straps for a one year volunteer in the rank of superior private. Note that it has no provisions for attaching to the uniform as originally should straps were intended to be sewn on.
To the right are 2 private purchase (reservists) boards having the same style of attachments as your boards. One pair has a cloth backing and applied woolen stars while the other has leather backing and fancier embroidered stars.
Top left is an early example of the Type 45 shoulder straps for a Corporal. The early straps had 3D stars which were later changed to flat metal stars to prevent catching on equipment.

The company whose name and address appears on the box, "越前屋- Echizen-ya" is a company which was started in 1865 by a samurai from the Echizen Domain, thus the name, Echizenya, "ya" being a suffix added to shops' names. The company still exists to this day with its main line of business being handicraft supplies such as cloth, threads, etc. although it also still supplies insignia for the Self Defense Forces.

[BTR]

Indeed, the dimensions are 90.9 mm. x 27.3 mm.

[BTR]

Regarding the lack of backing.
The backing is not lost, but was originally missing, since the brass plate was secured by sewing with threads to preserve the integrity of the complete set and avoid loss.
Why this is so is not clear.

[Akira Komiya]

From the course manner in which the attachment mechanism is attached to the board, it is possible that the boards were originally made as sew on boards but were converted to detachable style later.
Although it is hard to tell from the photos, there does seem to be some kind of fabric material behind the brass plate and if the backing was eaten away by moths, you would still expect to see stitch holes from the original stitching attaching the backing to the boards.

[BTR]

There are no traces of sewing.