Pre 1937 Japanese Chakasshoku Tea Brown Special Navy Landing Force Hat Cover

This is a very rare,  pre 1937, cap – hat cover worn by all Japanese Navy ground based forces, including the Special Naval Landing Force.

The common image of Japanese Special Naval Landing Force in World War II shows them wearing a four pocket tunic with button front and stand and fall collar. The image also shows a field cap with a short bill on the front. These are very similar to the army field cap.

However, prior to 1937, the uniform worn by SNLF personnel was the white ship-based uniform dyed a khaki brown color at the unit level.  This color is called chakasshoku 茶褐色tea brown color. We have shown examples of these unit dyed uniforms here.

Production of the billed field cap was not begun until the Summer of 1937.  Prior to the summer of 1937, the only authorized soft cap in the Japanese navy for ground forces was either the Donald Duck cap for Sailors; the Petty Officer’s Visored Cap for POs or the Officer’s visored cap for all officers. All of these hats were made of blue wool.  They came with a detachable white cover for wear with the white uniform.

Because neither the blue wool donald duck cap, nor the white cotton donald duck cap cover matched the chakasshoku color of the land based uniform, a special detachable cloth cover was manufactured for use with all caps worn by Navy Landing Forces.

This cap cover is correct for either a Japanese sailor’s Donald Duck cap, a petty-officer’s visored cap or an officer’s visored cap.

There are Japanese characters inside and a metal clip which appears to be galvanized steel, not brass. 

See NAKATA plate 334 for an example of this cover. Also for illustration, we have posted photographs of several Japanese ground-based sailors wearing this Chakasshoku brown cover on their caps.

Note the white T shirts & tunics which clearly contrast with the dyed chakasshoku brown shirts they are wearing.

The final shows how IJN Navy caps were issued. Of course these are not included.

This lot is only for the cover. The photos are shown for reference only.