by Ritta Nakanishi.
Softcover (8.2×11.7 inches). 88 pages. 2025 reprint of 2023 Japanese reprint of 1985 book.
Subtitle: From the Fall of the Shogunate to the Russo-Japanese War
I’m not sure 1929 would qualify for the Russo-Japanese War circa 1905, but I suspect the uniforms used in the Russo-Japanese War continued on to 1929. The 1930s mark the beginning of the uniforms illustrated in the sequel to this book.
In any case, this is a figure painter’s paradise with two pages of intricate color illustrations followed by two pages of intricate black and white illustrations, followed by color and then black and white and so on throughout the book. There’s not much text beyond the tiny font of the captions.
By intricate, I mean individual illustrations of designs on cuffs, collars, sleeves, hats and so on. Individual weapon illustrations show the evolution of firearms used. Lots and lots of Army and Navy uniforms — the lineup of 10 uniforms is typical of the information within.
I counted 792 black and white illustrations, 631 color illustrations, two colorized black and white photos, three black and white photos, and one color photo. My totals may be off, but I think you get the idea this book has a lot of illustrations.
For example, I counted 24 illustrations on page 40: six peaked caps, one cap badge, one trouser, four tunics, three buttons, one rifle, one bullet, and two soldiers. Another reviewer might count that as six, with all caps as one illustration, all uniforms as one illustration, etc.
If you are interested in painting up a Japanese Imperial army to fight samurai in a tabletop battle out of the movie The Last Samurai, this is a great one-volume resource.
Enjoyed it.
— Reviewed by Russ Lockwood
