Action Photos

Here are some photos I have found of Japanese soldiers and officers with handguns.

This shot gives a good clear view of the soldier's Type 26 revolver. Source: Shoju-kenju-kikanju nyumon, p. 180.

The photo below shows a very young looking soldier brandishing a Type 26 revolver.

This soldier is posing in a doorway with his Type 26 and lanyard. Source: Uniforms and Equipment of the Imperial Japanese Army in World War II by Mike Hewitt (Schiffer Publishing). This is a fantastic book with tons of colour photos of every conceivable Japanese military item from tunics and helmets to toothbrushes and boots along with black and white period photos showing them being worn or used.

This photo shows Type 26 revolvers and holsters about to be issued to the puppet army Japan set up in Burma during the war. Although the revolvers are holstered, it is apparent they are Type 26s from the shape of the ammo pouches on the front of the holsters and the shape of the grips.  The title of the article was written across the top of the photo (it extended a bit onto another photo and the left part was cropped off in this scan).  The title of the article translates as "Spirits high in Burma Defense Army".  The caption to the photo translates as: "The rifle is the spirit of the soldier. Rifles and handguns have been made ready and inspection is about to begin". Source: Shashin Shuho (Weekly Photo News) dated February 17, 1943, page 4.

Here is a sailor with his Papa Nambu. Source: Shoju-kenju-kikanju nyumon, p. 186.

This 1939 shot shows four naval pilots. The one on the left has a Papa Nambu (note the tangent sight, which allows quick visual differentiation from the Type 14). Note that he uses no holster and simply tucks it into his belt, relying on the lanyard for retention. This practice seems to have been common among Navy pilots (compare with the one showing a Type 14 further down). The man on the far right has a Browning 1910 automatic in his hand. Source: Japanese Naval Aviation Uniforms and Equipment 1937-1945 by Gary Nila, p. 54. Great book for details on JNAF equipment.

A group of sailors is getting training in the two-handed shooting stance with Papa Nambus on board a ship in this shot. The Japanese seemed to be ahead of the US in teaching this stance. Other photos in the forthcoming Derby & Brown book also show two-handed training. Source: Shoju-kenju-kikanju nyumon, p. 187.

This photo shows a tanker with a T-14 on a Type 94 light armoured car in Shanghai in 1937. The photo is from: Chugoku tairiku no 1914-1945 kikaika senso to heiki, page 40.

This one seems almost like a postcard, what with the backdrop of Mount Fuji. From page 53 of Chugoku tairiku no 1914-1945 kikaika senso to heiki.

Here are two seamen doing “pistol shooting practice” with Type 14 large trigger guard models, complete with lanyards. From Kaiheidan: Teikoku kaigun suihei no kiroku, page 23.

I am told the two-handed stance came into use around 1935. Here is a soldier doing one-handed target practice with a small trigger guard Type 14 at a practice facility. They seem to be shooting cross-wise on a rifle range, as you can see the lanes for rifle practice in the background. The soldier is wearing the earlier, pre-1938 style uniform with the upright collar (later uniforms had turned-down collars. You can see another Type 14 with the barrel pointed upwards in silhouette in the background just above his upper right arm. I bought this photo on eBay, so the source is my own collection. The original photo is quite small, around 2” by 3”. It seems to be a private snapshot, not an official press photo.

This is a 1942 photo of Petty Officer Takeo Tanimizu on the aircraft carrier Junyo. He has a large trigger guard Type 14 tucked into his belt and retained by a lanyard. Apparently unless such pilots owned weapons personally they drew them from the ship’s stores for the duration of their assignment to a vessel. Source: Japanese Naval Aviation Uniforms and Equipment 1937-1945 by Gary Nila, p. 54. Great book for details on JNAF equipment.

This one shows a member of the Japanese Special Naval Landing Forces (sometimes referred to, apparently incorrectly, as the “Japanese marines”) operating a Type 3 heavy machine gun on a roof in Shanghai with a Type 14 holster in plain view. Source: Chugoku tairiku no 1914-1945 kikaika senso to heiki.

Here are two members of the Kempeitai, the Japanese military police, posing with their Type 14s. How anyone could hit anything with that stance is beyond me. From The Japanese Army 1931-1945 (2), page 17.

Most of the above photos look posed. Unfortunately, however, that was probably not the case of this soldier about to use his Type 14 to execute an unfortunate Chinese monk in Nanking, China in 1937. The soldier does, however, appear to be mugging for the camera at the moment the photo was taken. From The Rape of Nanking: an undeniable history in photographs, page 62. This book has a lot of very grisly photographs, but should be consulted by anyone with a strong stomach who wants to know what went on then.

These two photos show soldiers with small trigger guard Type 14s--this is clearer in the right photo. Source: Shoju-kenju-kikanju nyumon, p. 197.

This rear shot of a commander saluting kamikaze pilots before their departure shows his Type 94 holster quite clearly. Due to its smaller size and the more compact package its holster and accessories presented, the Type 94 was popular with those working in confined spaces like pilots and tankers, who probably never really expected to use their guns anyway except to commit suicide to avoid capture. Source: Return to the Philippines, p. 93.

This photo of a Japanese soldier in Burma comes from a UK collector, who kindly gave permission for it to be used here. If you look carefully at the right hip of the man in the left foreground, it appears he is wearing a Type 94 holster. Although this shot is rather distant from the gun, what I like about it is that it appears to be a natural snapshot, not a stiffly-posed, staged photo like may of the others shown here. Photo courtesy of the James Luto collection.

Here are two Japanese with Broomhandle Mausers, most likely captured from the Chinese forces, amongst whom this pistol was quite popular. Source: Japanese Army Handbook 1939-1945.

Last updated: November 12, 2005. All contents are copyright Teri unless otherwise specified and may not be used elsewhere in any form without prior permission. Since the photos on this specific page are old Japanese materials, I have no idea who has copyright on most of them! I do not suggest you copy or reuse them for anything other than private, non-commercial study, the purpose I have put them here.

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