General question on early japanese tunics

[Akira Komiya]

when we have now two tunics for reservists with side vents my last question is if these reservists did carry sabers when wearing the uniform during official events...
You obviously misread or did not pay attention to my statement "The single side vent feature is usually reserved for officer’s tunics and it is the first enlisted example with such feature I have seen although the lack of other features make it definitely an enlisted reservist tunic."
All army tunics, whether enlisted or officers, have side vents but the difference is whereas enlisted tunics have 2 open slits on both sides of the hip, officer's tunics have only a slit on the left hip for the sword hilt to protude from with the right hip having a false glove pocket.
To show the point, I will post photos of a Type 45 officers tunic from my collection.
You can see that the officer continued to wear his uniform after his retirement as there are loops on the right chest for the Reservist Badges, one an ordinary membership badge and the other for a badge of office.
You can also see that although the hip pocket flaps are worn tucked into the pocket to give the impression of an open slit pocket, there are actually pocket flaps tucked in. From 1922 the tunic would be worn with pocket flaps out but same order abolished the red sleeve piping so it would be incorrect to show the tunic with the pocket flaps out.
You can also see the intricate pattern of stitching on the lining which resembles the pattern of stitching seen on some French made WW2 German officer tunics.

[Akira Komiya]

I will attach photos of another privately tailored EM reservist tunic in the Type 30 style from my collection.
This tunic is interesting in that it combines features of both Officer's and enlisted tunics.
Just like officer's tunics, it comes with hip pockets and had the lower edges of collar flashes rolled under the collar when assembling the tunic but had no false turn back cuffs nor the false glove pocket in the rear that officer's tunics have and has 2 side vents just as an enlisted tunic.
The original owner of the tunic must have been someone of importance in his local community such as a landlord as despite only holding an enlisted rank in the Army, he held some office in the local veteran's association judging from the loops on the right breast pocket for the special badge (there were also loops for the ordinary veteran's association badge above the right breast poocket but for some reaspon they had been torn off) as well as the fact that they turned a blind eye towards the extravagant construction of the tunic and with the collar flashes bearing numerals indicating service in the 1st Flying Regiment.
I normally do not collect reservists items but couldn't pass this one as this is the only stand collar tunic with originally sewn aviation collar flashes that I have encountered so far.

[Akira Komiya]

Unfortunately, I do not have an example of an untouched early officer's tunic to compare but have this tunic which was originally tailored as a Type 45 officer's summer tunic that was later converted into a Type 98 pattern tunic for wear after September 13, 1940 by a technical branch officer working in the Army's Aviation Headquarters. The yellow wool "M" in this instance denoted not artillery but the technical branch and the wings behind the collar tabs denote service as a Technical Officer in the Aviation Headquarters.
The tunic was converted into Type 98 specs. by attaching a stand and fall collar made of the woolen material taken from the woolen strip behind the buttons. This was a very commonly seen modification as Japanese were a very frugal people back then with uniforms being not only expensive items but also became more and more difficult to procure once the war got really heated because of material shortages.)
As can be clearly seen in the photos, the tunic has the false turn back cuffs and the false glove pocket as seen in the winter weight tunics.
Of note is that summer issue tunics, regardless of whether for officers or enlisted men lacked the red sleeve piping even before 1922.
However, many reservist's tunics and pants in light weight material (most reservist's uniforms are in summer weight cotton which was cheaper than wool) do have the pipings so if you see a light weight tunic or pants with red sleeve or side seam piping, those are for reservists.