Flag of the Japanese Army (I&B4) by @Thorvald (El Thorvaldo)

SVG remake of JohannaK's original raster, uploaded to the defunct IOT Wiki in 2019.

The foundations of the modern army of Japan in Iron and Blood 4 were laid in the mid-Eighteenth Century during the conquest of Karafuto (Sakhalin) Island. Preparing to confront a Manchu expedition reinforcing local Ainu resistance, Japanese forces delivered all available cannon to the battlefield in the largest concentration of preindustrial artillery seen; the ensuing battle at Toyohara was a resounding Japanese victory that witnessed the precursor to Napoleonic line tactics. Artillery primacy was further entrenched by experience in the 1802 battle of Hiroshima during the Civil War; by game's start in 1931, military doctrine emphasized support equipment like machine guns and was investigating research into self-propelled guns. Its officer corps continued the samurai tradition, with successful commanders rewarded land grants from conquered territory; the leadership corps itself, however, suffered from attrition through recent wars and senior retirements.

Download submitted to DeviantArt October 2022; alternative download available via Patreon.