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| The IJA troops in the right side of this photo carry their mess kits into combat. |
Prior to the Second World War the Imperial Japanese Army received training and education from Germany and Prussia. In 1885 Japan welcomed Prussian Major Klemens Wilhelm Jacob Meckel as an instructor for the IJA. Not only did Major Meckel embark on an ambitious program of training, but he reorganized the IJA in the Prussian model; making it an expeditionary army designed to conquer foreign territory. As a result, a change in the styles of field gear carried by IJA soldiers began, one that changed Japanese equipment to resemble Prussian and later German equipment. The one piece of field gear that exemplifies this change best is the mess kit used by IJA and IJN ground forces during the Second World War.
The IJA mess kit is a three piece kit with a large body (generally made of aluminum alloy), a steel bail for hanging the body/pot over a heat source, an inner tray and a top cover. The body has a small loop for tying the mess kit to the "Takoashi Kaban" Octopus rucksack. There are no handles on the inner tray or the top cover, unlike their German counterparts.
The similarity between the two countries' kits is striking, and frankly, confusing for so many modern collectors. It seems few Japanese mess kits were brought back by GIs from the Pacific Theater and the few that were are often incomplete, heavily decorated with graffiti and/or exorbitantly expensive.
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| Here you see IJA troops attaching their mess kits to the outside of their "Takoashi Kaban," Octopus rucksacks in the standard way. |
I was lucky enough to pick up an original WW2 issue IJA mess kit from a seller in Japan, and at a fairly reasonable price, so I thought I would share some pictures and info with you. As stated, this mess kit has the soldier's name scratched into the paint on it. His name is Kimura.
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| The soldier scratched his name into the mess kit, seen here on the left side of the mess kit top, it says, "Kimura". |
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| Here you see Kimura San's name scratched into the inner pan near the manufacturer's markings. |
Kimura San's mess kit also has markings indicating the date of manufacture and material it was made from.
The year of production is "2600" in the Ancient Nippon Calendar, or 1940, which is 660 years in advance the Gregorian Calendar. The material data says, "made using substitute materials," which was a common practice after 1938 due to materials shortages resulting from sanctions imposed on Japan by the United States due to the invasion of China. The material may have contained toxic metal alloys and could have been the cause of illness among Japanese soldiers during WW2.
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| In this interesting photo, all three Japanese soldiers wear their Takoashi Kaban with their mess kits attached. The two on the bank with the light machine gun have camouflage nets over their gear, the soldier on the left's mess kit is clearly visible. |
Kimura San's mess kit now resides with a historical researcher in Fredericksburg, Texas, the home of the
National Museum of the Pacific War. The researcher, COL Ted Smith, uses it to demonstrate the techniques used by Japanese soldiers to cook their meals during WW2. Due to the "substitute materials" used in its manufacture, COL Smith dos not allow the food cooked in the mess kit to be eaten for fear of toxic substances that the Japanese Army may not have fully understood, or even cared about, during WW2.
