Original Item: Only One Available. This is a solid condition Japanese Imperial Army Officer's Visor hat from just after WWI. It has a body of brown/green light canvas with a top panel seam of red piping, matching the color of the red wool cap band. The center front of cap features a brass Imperial Japanese Army Star over the black visor. It has a leather chin strap retained by unmarked brass split pins.

The interior is lined with a gauze cheesecloth type material, which also helps support the shape. The top of the lining has a standard Japanese production stamp, which has a date of 大 正 九 年 marked on both sides, read TAISHO (emperor's name) KYUU (nine) NEN (year). This date system is based on the year of the current reigning emperor, so this visor cap was made in the 9th year of Taisho Emperor Yoshihito's reign, 1920 in the western calendar.

The top of the stamp has a number 六 (roku) or six, which matches the 6 stamped into the brown leather sweatband, so we believe that is the size. We do not know what western size this would correspond to.

Condition is very good, considering the age. There is some mothing to the wool piping and cap band, as expected, and there is cracking and checking on the patent leather visor.

A very nice interwar IJA Visor cap from the Taisho Era, ready to display!

The Imperial Japanese Army (IJA "Army of the Greater Japanese Empire") was the official ground-based armed force of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945. It was controlled by the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office and the Ministry of the Army, both of which were nominally subordinate to the Emperor of Japan as supreme commander of the army and the navy. Later an Inspectorate General of Aviation became the third agency with oversight of the army. During wartime or national emergencies, the nominal command functions of the emperor would be centralized in an Imperial General Headquarters (IGHQ), an ad-hoc body consisting of the chief and vice chief of the Army General Staff, the Minister of the Army, the chief and vice chief of the Naval General Staff, the Inspector General of Aviation, and the Inspector General of Military Training.