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Old June 30, 2012, 06:15 PM   #1
Kingkhaos1988
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Japanese powder bag?

Hi I am really not sure where to post this if there is even a proper section at all, but I was reffed here by a member of another forum because they thought it possibly had something to do with a mortar or something of the sort. But I have a small white pouch with powder inside of it, that so far seems to be from WW2 era Japan. I have gotten some general guesses on what it could be on the other forum, but would really like to find out what it actually is. The bag is small white about the size of my palm, and has Japanese words on it, as well as 2 crossing Cannons which I was told is the mark of the Okasa Arsenal in Tokyo, and Also has what looks to be a 9g stamped mark. I will upload a picture so that no one will have to rely on my terrible description alone lol. Thank you so much for any help you can give me in finding out what this is.
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Old June 30, 2012, 09:54 PM   #2
Tom Bri
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My Japanese wife says the bit at the far left is possibly a date.
Then just right of the cannons is mysterious, 2...walk...gun...?
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Old June 30, 2012, 10:23 PM   #3
Kingkhaos1988
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Thank you for the help so far! You said your wife is japanese? If at all possible i have some papapers that are in japanese that im having trouble getting translated. If at all possible i would be really apreciative if she could help me translate them. I am on my phone rite now kus my net went out but i will post them on here later sometime when it comes back up. But if she would be willing to help when i can get it on here later i would love the help if not i understand, if its too much trouble. But let me know if it would be easier to corrispond in a different manner like emailing or anything. Again thank you, and your wife very much for the help.
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Old June 30, 2012, 10:52 PM   #4
InigoMontoya
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On a note very similar to Tom Bri's....

A "not quite literate" reader I know said that they got "2 step gun" out of it.
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Old July 1, 2012, 12:47 AM   #5
johnwilliamson062
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Not positive but I think the word being translated as walk/step is actually in reference to a unit of a given size, such as platoon, brigade, etc. This is being pulled out of a memory from time spent in an ex-japanese colony. I might be entirely wrong.
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Old July 1, 2012, 01:35 AM   #6
10-96
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I may be way off, but I saw some footage of a machine gun crew with something similar to that. Many/most of their mg's did not have forward handguards and I believe your doo-dad could very well be a heat mitt.

EDIT: My bad- looky here... http://www.militaryantiquesmuseum.co...searchfor=7121
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Old July 2, 2012, 11:04 AM   #7
doofus47
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The date at the top is 13 showa, or 1938 in US years.

the bigger print in the middle says "82 type".
The kanji beneath that escapes me. I'm going to swim against the tide and say that I don't think (but am not sure) that the next kanji says "walk," although I see the similarity.

The collectors at the forum link below are the kings of obscure militaria from Imperial Japan:
http://forums.gunboards.com/forumdis...The-Rising-Sun

One of those guys probably owns 3....
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Old July 2, 2012, 11:33 AM   #8
InigoMontoya
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In case you didn't figure it out, I threw this at another forum I frequent. After all was said and done (during the outage of The Firing Line yesterday) here are the the posts that probably are most relevant....

Quote:
The first three: 九二式 is the style or type: Type 92
The second two: 步砲 are the words for walk and gun. I can't seem to find them in combination with a definition. Even in my good kanji dictionary.
Quote:
[talking about the "walk" character being used to modify other characters] For example that character plus soldier = "foot soldier".

Or it could mean something that moves. The picture on the Wikipedia page is of gun with wheels. That mixed with the gun/cannon character makes sense since it isn't a gun that you hold.
To wrap it up: They concluded that it was a powder bag for a Type 92 Battalion Gun
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Old July 3, 2012, 05:17 PM   #9
doofus47
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sure looked like an 8 to me, but 92 definitely makes more sense. I googled type 82 and ended up looking at a truck.

Good work
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Old July 3, 2012, 07:34 PM   #10
30-30remchester
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I sure appears to be the same as a Japanese morter round I have in my collection. My sample was unfired. The previous owner removed the explosives from the bullet, and removed all the gun powder from the white bags. My sample has 5 bags in the case. From reports I got from oldtimes, these bags regulated the distance the morter firted. The bullet was loose in the case, and as many as 5 powder bags could be used if the range was distant. As the ranges got closer fewer bags were used.
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Old July 3, 2012, 10:54 PM   #11
Auto426
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Well I can't read any of the Japanese print on the bag, but to me it looks like it may be a primer charge from a larger artillery piece. Larger artillery pieces, like most battleship main guns, would use large bagged powder charges that contained large grains of gunpowder. The help these large grains start burning, smaller primer charges that looked similar to the pictured item were sewn onto the ends of the bags to help with ignition.
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Old July 4, 2012, 03:20 AM   #12
10-96
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Umm, folks can still take a peek at the link I posted in #6.
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