Senninbari - belt of a thousand stitches : Warrant Officer Mitsube, Imperial Japanese Navy

White rayon body belt of a thousand stitches (senninbari or sennenbari), printed in red with images of the Japanese national and imperial ensigns and four characters wishing the wearer good fortune in war. The centre bears a leaping tiger made from a thousand small embroidered knots of pale blue-green wool. The tiger has not been created free hand but follows the pattern of the template of red dots printed on the fabric, one dot for each stitch. The belt is double sided and the embroidered side has been completed before the plain white back has been machined into place. The upper and side edges are printed as a red border and are folded over and machined into place. Each short side is slightly pointed. The ties originally sewn to each point to allow the belt to be attached to the wearer's waist, have been removed. The original owner of the belt, Warrant Officer Mitsube, has written his name, rank, unit and location details to the left of the tiger's head.

This belt of a thousand stitches was made for, and worn by, Warrant Officer Seikum? Mitsube, while he was serving with the the 2nd Garrison Unit of the Imperial Japanese Navy at Tarakan. The belts were worn to give the wearer good luck in war. Traditionally the pattern of the stitches took the form of a simple grid, but Rising Sun and Tiger patterns were also popular during the Second World War and were often produced in a kit form, where a template of the image required was already printed on the fabric. A thousand women were required to sew a stitch each. However, a woman born in the Year of the Tiger was considered give special strength and fortune to the wearer and could complete as many stitches as her age.

This belt was acquired from its owner by NX202768 Private Cornelius William 'Doc' Doyle, an entertainer with the 1st Armoured Division Concert Party.