Nambu World: Straps and Belts for Type 14 Holsters

Shoulder straps and waist belts for the Type 14 holster came in both leather and rubberized canvas versions. This page will show leather and rubberized canvas shoulder straps and a leather waist belt. Both the straps and belts are much rarer than the holsters. The waist belts are particularly scarce since they were not always used (most Japanese soldiers already wore at least one other belt around their waist) and souvenir-hunting American GIs did not often bother with the belts when they brought home their trophies. This first photo shows a leather Type 14 shoulder strap straightened out to show its full length (top); a rubberized canvas shoulder strap, which has gone hard and can’t be completely straightened out (middle); and a leather waist belt (bottom). The little things towards the right of the two shoulder straps are the studs that hold the one end together around one of the metal rings on the holster. These studs are shown in more detail below.

Here is a shot of just the leather shoulder strap, laid out as it would fit on a holster. One end is threaded through one metal ring on the holster, then goes though the buckle and then loops through the other and is closed by the brass stud you can see towards the left of the photo in between the two ends of the strap (later studs were made of laquered steel). This strap and the waist belt below came attached to a very worn Papa Nambu holster. Few original Papa straps survived, so most were replaced with Type 14 straps. The true Papa straps had welted edges and are very rare.

Here is a close-up of the brass buckle.

This is the underside of the buckle.

The end that holds the stud, together with the brass stud.

Just the stud.

Here is the buckle on the rubberized canvas shoulder strap. It is made of black-lacquered steel.

The underside of that buckle.

The other end of the strap. Note that when a rubberized canvas item goes hard, if you try to bend it, the layers of canvas will delaminate like this. I do not know of any remedy for this, but I have a couple of ideas I may try when I get the time.

Here are the two studs side by side: brass on the left, black lacquered steel on the right.

Here is the waist belt. It is about one metre (39 inches) long. Some of them had two keepers to tuck the end into, but this one only has one. Whether there were two on this one originally, I don’t know.

The distinguishing feature of these waist belts as opposed to other Japanese belts is the wide part under the buckle.

This is the underside. Sorry about the cat hair on the left. Hazards of taking photos with the living room carpet as background.

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Last updated: January 2, 2006. All contents are copyright Teri unless otherwise specified and may not be used elsewhere in any form without prior permission.