IJN Uniform

[EGEBOZK]

I recently won this IJN uniform in an auction. Collars appear to be for an ensign but the cuffs have a different rank. Also it looks like a line was removed from both arms which confused me. Has anyone seen something like this before? I would be really thankful if someone could help me with this. Thanks in advance! (also any additional information about the uniform would be greatly appreciated, I believe the name written inside is Suzuki.)

[ghp95134]

I can confirm the name to be
鈴木
Suzuki

I'm not conversant regarding uniforms.


-- Guy

[Akira Komiya]

The sleeve rank with the now missing medium width stripe would have been for a 少佐 (Lieutenant Commander) so it is a mismatch with the 少尉　Ensign collar tabs.
Most likely a previous owner tried to restore the tunic with the incorrect collar tab.
Although I sometimes see IJN officer's tunics for sale here with removed rank braiding, most likely for converting into civilian garments during the material shortages in the post war years, it beats me why someone would remove just the medium width braid in the middle and not the thin braid on the bottom as the next highest rank would have been that of 中佐 Commander, which had 3 stripes of the same medium width, so in case of a promotion from Lieutenant Commander to Commander, one would remove the thin stripe and repalce it with a medium width stripe.

[EGEBOZK]

Thanks a lot for the insightful reply, I really appreciate it. Do you think I should leave the uniform as it is or maybe try to get matching collar tabs to at least fix the issue of the mismatched ranks. ( although I don’t really know how I can sew it on in a period accurate way)