Japanese WWII Army Sniper Net with Original Scrim Attached

This is one of the Japanese items I kept when I sold off my WWII collection years ago. It is an original Japanese Army issue sniper's camouflage net. This net was inside a beat up Japanese Army enlisted pack and was purchased along with some USMC WWII HBTs I bought in the 1980s. It sat in a box unexposed to sunlight for 30 years or longer.

See Tadao Nakata Imperial Japanese Army and Navy Uniforms and Equipment Item 892, Page 211 for a photo of one of the few known in private collections.

This is actually a factory made issue item. It was designed to wrap around a sniper's body quickly.  The Japanese saw the need for a sniper's camouflage net that could be employed instantly, without time spent foraging for vegetation.  One can imagine these would be used by Army and Naval Landing Force Snipers as they moved from landing craft or small boats onto land in an offensive operation.  Naturally there would not be fresh vegetation on board a larger vessel.

Many snipers and marksmen used a simple fishing net cut to size. After cutting fresh vegetation it would be interlaced in the net.  The attached wartime photos illustrate the simple fishing net being employed with and without foliage.