Named WWII Full Dress Uniform of a Japanese Navy Lieutenant Commander of Engineering

The uniform is comprised of the full dress Imperial Navy officer’s tail coat; the matching trousers; and the cased full dress cocked hat and epaulettes. The sleeves of the tail coat bear the gold rank braid of a Lieutenant commander, bordered on the bottom by a band of purple, indicating service in the engineering branch of the Imperial Navy. The coat shows signs of actual wear, with a hole in the lower interior silk lining, and there are a few broken strands of bullion thread in the ornate collar embroidery, none of which is at all distracting. Interestingly, the gilt buttons on the rear of the coat retain a paper wrapping that was likely affixed to the buttons when the officer placed the uniform in storage during the war, in order to prevent those buttons from tarnishing and staining the coat before it was next worn. On the upper left breast is a long line of thread loops for the wear of a substantial medal bar. The matching trousers are, like the tail coat, very clean, and without holes, damage, or repairs. Both the cocked hat and the epaulettes show some age toning of the ornate bullion embroidery but they remain in excellent condition. The interior silk lining of the hat bears embroidered stylized kanji called “hentai-gana”with the name of the officer who owned the uniform: “Shinjō”. That officer’s name is also painted in the more traditional form of kanji on the front of the case that holds the hat and the shoulder epaulettes. Overall the set is in excellent condition, and it makes an impressive appearance as one of the most striking military uniforms of the modern era.