Original Imperial Japanese Army WWII Kwantung Army Dog Tag - Unit 5837 No. 101

Original Item: Only One Available. This is a lovely patinated and partly legible Japanese WWII brass dog tag, which looks to be from the 13th Mortar Battalion, Soldier Ta 28. Imperial Japanese Army dog tags were first introduced on 22 June, 1894 by Army Ordinance No. 63 as “Specifications and Issuing Procedures for ID tags”, immediately before the Sino-Japanese War, which broke out only a month later.

The format and information on Japanese dog tags was revised several times, with 1924 being the most notable change in regulations. Most of the dog tags that we see are in this format, which has the Unit (e.g. Regiment), Sub Unit (e.g. Company), and number going right to left in vertical lines. There were often modifiers to this system that are not entirely translated or understood, and sometimes the lines are read top to bottom, and other times bottom to top. In 1940, a new system was devised that relied more on numbers for units, instead of the Kanji describing what they were.

On October 27, 1943, the final regulation said, “The purpose of an ID tag is to identify those soldiers and civilians serving the military upon death or injury, and are to be issued to officers and below upon mobilization. It is also to be issued to officers and below, who are assigned as replacements to a field unit”. From this time, even officers were now issued tags.

As best we can tell, this tag reads (right to left, top to bottom) 五 八 三 七 (5 8 3 7), 徳 一 〇 一 (Toku 101). The Dog Tag measures approximately 1 ¾"H x 1 ¼"W, and utilizes the numeral designation for units, instead of descriptive markings. However, there is no record of a unit 5837 in the list compiled by the 1st Demobilization Bureau. There is also no center column which would usually designate the company information. The only real clue is the character 徳 (Toku) before the soldier number, which is usually associated with units from the Kwantung Army. This unit operated in occupied Manchuria, and had the nickname Toku, from the motto(德兵團 (Toku heidan or "Virtue").

The dog tag came with a very nice sheet detailing the markings on the dog tag. The War Relics forum also has a very nice thread on these markings, which is definitely a good place to start further research: Japanese Army Dog Tags.

This brass tag is in wonderful lightly patinated condition and comes more than ready for further research and display!