Field Equipment [Sogu]

Japanese infantry policy was seriously based on walking rather than relying on the other transports. The background of this reality was lack of fuel and their terrain of the field, such as in China, made the use of vehicles totally unsuitable for military operations. Thus, the kind and quality of footwear available were vital to the progress of the infantry.

The Japanese military boots are very similar to the heavy duty work boot type of footwear popular today everywhere. There were three main types of short boots in the Japanese military.

The sizes of boots were measured in lengths that corresponded to the size of the Mon, a type of old coin. The size was shown on the boot and punched out in dotted holes.
For example, size 10.0 Mon would be 25cm( 10inches) and approximately 6 1/2 American size, and the size 10.3 would be 27cm(11inches), American size 7. All stitching was double stitched. The makers logo was also stamped into the leather.

There are several names of the manufacturer seen such as CHIYODA, SAKURAGUMI, OUTSUKA, and so on.
About half of the boots seen were made from cowhide, with the tanned or brown part of the leather on the outside. Yet, there were still a large number of boots using the suade side of the leather outside.
Boots without the metal studs were probably used by tank soldiers or drivers because they would not slip on iron, and by the naval landing forces.
After 1944 many of the boots were made using pigskin or sharkskin mainly because of the lack of materials. Pigskin is much weaker and does not hold up as well, and later boots were of much lower quality, made to lower standards, with only single stitching, and no markings, and no size. Very few of these survived.

It was made in cotton for summer and in wool for winter. Its color is between khaki and yellow.


In 1944 and 1945 many different kinds of helmets were made for the Naval Landing Forces because of the expansion of naval forces on the ground after the Navy lost its sea powers. Some were for guards, some were for training, and some of these helmets were made for commercial use.

Many Japanese small arms were designed with features to protect them from the dust, mud, and water of the North East part of China where they suffered severe battlefield conditions. Most Japanese rifles were equipped with full size cleaning rods under their barrels, with the exceptions of the Murata-22 which had a tubular magazine and sections stored inside the buttstock. A Japanese infantry rifle squad each had a kit of cleaning tools in a bag which contained a screwdriver, sections of a cleaning rod, a cleaning rod guide of wood which was used in place of the rifles bolt during cleaning, a muzzle guide, a cleaning brush, and a jag tip. There were various muzzle covers and action covers to protect every open portion of a weapon. Machine guns had leather or canvas gun covers for protection.

"Clean a weapon to preserve it forever" is one of the mottos of the Japanese military. Mr. Murata wrote in the manual for his Murata rifle of the 1870's that a rifle properly cared for should be preserved forever. Mr. Nambu mentioned almost the same words. Japan was a poor country so it was strict policy for troops to take good care of their weapons in all circumstances. A weapon was regarded with more importance than a man.

Japanese troops ate mainly rice for their rations. Rice was a superior food for carrying and for preserving, but it had to be cooked in good water over a fire. Rice was cooked individual soldiers for there seldom was a central field kitchen available. The mess kit was brown in color, and it had an inside liner. The cooked rice was contained in the outer container and inside container was used for side dishes. A soldier was supplied with six Gou (one Gou is about two pints) of rice per day, with a canned side dish. The ration was a tremendous amount. The average Japanese consumes only one Gou of rice per day at present.