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Now in Xavier's body, Cassandra mentally forced the Xavier Institute student Beak to beat Beast into a coma after he discovered that Xavier and Cassandra shared the same DNA. Cassandra Nova then contacted the Shi'ar, whose leader was Majestrix Lilandra, Xavier's lover. Cassandra manipulated the Shi'ar Imperium, driving Lilandra insane and using her to make the Shi'ar Imperial fleet destroy the empire. Cassandra also made Lilandra send the Shi'ar Imperial Guard to wipe out the mutant population of Earth, starting with the X-Men. The Guard fought the X-Men until they were able to show the truth to the Imperial Guard.  Angered at Cassandra's treachery and realizing the danger she posed, the Imperial Guard fought Cassandra, who defeated them and headed into the mansion. She had planned on using Cerebra to eliminate all mutants. However, Jean Grey (who was becoming increasingly powerful due to a manifestation of the Phoenix entity) was able to split Xavier's consciousness into pieces and store a little part of him in every single living mutant mind. When Cassandra used Cerebra and focused on all the mutants, the pieces of Xavier's mind were brought back together; at the same time, Jean Grey telepathically attacked, successfully defeating Cassandra, and forcing her out of Xavier's body.  Without a body, Cassandra became pure psychic energy, bodiless and blind. Emma Frost tricked Cassandra into returning to what appeared to be her old body, which was in reality the alien polymorph "Stuff." Cassandra's essence entered the body and was locked into a self-repeating program in the synthetic brain. CANNOTANSWER
Cassandra also made Lilandra send the Shi'ar Imperial Guard to wipe out the mutant population of Earth, starting with the X-Men.
Cassandra Nova is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, most commonly in association with the X-Men. Created by writer Grant Morrison and artist Frank Quitely, Cassandra first appeared in New X-Men #114 (July 2001). Cassandra is a "mummudrai," a parasitic life form born bodiless on the astral plane. The mummudrai that became Cassandra became telepathically entangled with the future Charles Xavier, who possesses vast mutant telepathic powers. This granted Cassandra some psionic powers herself, including the ability to exit the womb and create a body. 

Cassandra is Xavier's ideological dark shadow, bent on destruction and genocide. She is most infamous for commanding an army of Sentinels to massacre 16 million mutants within the mutant homeland of Genosha. In 2009, Cassandra Nova was ranked as IGN's 50th Greatest Comic Book Villain of All Time, the only villain from the 21st century to make the list.

Fictional character biography

Origins
Cassandra Nova began life at the same time as Charles Xavier. Conceived without a body, Cassandra improvised one by copying Xavier's DNA to make her own body, effectively becoming his twin sister. She grew with her brother until she had fully formed hands and eyes, when she decided to try to kill Charles by attempting to strangle him with his own umbilical cord. Charles defended himself by hitting her with a psychic blast, which caused his mother to have a miscarriage, resulting in her physical body being stillborn. Despite this, the creature survived as chaotic cellular matter that clung to a sewer wall for decades, rebuilding its physical form and perfecting its effort to mimic human traits. During this time, she grew convinced that the womb in which she had fought Charles and the universe she now inhabited were one and the same, a universe in which only she and Charles were real, and that her purpose was to destroy every illusion Charles held dear: his dream, his X-Men, and his beloved Lilandra.

Jean Grey later discovered that Cassandra Nova is the mummudrai (from a Shi'ar legend, meaning 'opposite') of Charles Xavier. "Legend says each of us faces our own personal mummudrai in the womb, shortly before birth - it is our first experience of the alien, the other, the different." In reality, the mummudrai are a parasitic species born bodiless on the astral plane, and it was only through becoming entangled with Charles Xavier's developing telepathic mind that Cassandra Nova created a body for herself.

Genocide
After she was able to rebuild herself, Cassandra returned with a vengeance. She convinced the last living relative of Bolivar Trask, Donald Trask III, to activate a pair of enormous wild Sentinels and send them to destroy the mutant homeland of Genosha, killing 16 million mutants. Cassandra duplicated Trask's DNA so she could also issue orders to the Sentinels, programmed to obey only those with the DNA of a Trask. Cassandra infected her own body with millions of nanosentinels just as she was captured by Cyclops and Wolverine.

Cassandra was taken to the X-Mansion, where she broke free and defeated most of the X-Men easily. Cassandra then put herself into Xavier's machine Cerebra (an enhanced version of Cerebro) and switched minds with her brother before Emma Frost snapped Cassandra's neck (Emma had been in Genosha teaching during the attack and witnessed her students massacred). Trapped in Cassandra's broken body, Xavier was unable to warn the X-Men before Cassandra, now in Xavier's body, shot him.

Imperial
Now in Xavier's body, Cassandra mentally forced the Xavier Institute student Beak to beat Beast into a coma after he discovered that Xavier and Cassandra shared the same DNA. Cassandra Nova then contacted the Shi'ar, whose leader was Majestrix Lilandra, Xavier's lover. Cassandra manipulated the Shi'ar Imperium, driving Lilandra insane and using her to make the Shi'ar Imperial fleet destroy the empire. Cassandra also made Lilandra send the Shi'ar Imperial Guard to wipe out the mutant population of Earth, starting with the X-Men. The Guard fought the X-Men until they were able to show the truth to the Imperial Guard.

Angered at Cassandra's treachery and realizing the danger she posed, the Imperial Guard fought Cassandra, who defeated them and headed into the mansion. She had planned on using Cerebra to eliminate all mutants. However, Jean Grey (who was becoming increasingly powerful due to a manifestation of the Phoenix entity) was able to split Xavier's consciousness into pieces and store a little part of him in every single living mutant mind. When Cassandra used Cerebra and focused on all the mutants, the pieces of Xavier's mind were brought back together; at the same time, Jean Grey telepathically attacked, successfully defeating Cassandra, and forcing her out of Xavier's body.

Without a body, Cassandra became pure psychic energy, bodiless and blind. Emma Frost tricked Cassandra into returning to what appeared to be her old body, which was in reality the alien polymorph "Stuff." Cassandra's essence entered the body and was locked into a self-repeating program in the synthetic brain.

Hellfire
	
Cassandra seemed to have returned in her original form in the "Danger" story arc of Astonishing X-Men, alongside Sebastian Shaw of the Hellfire Club. However, it is revealed that she is merely an illusion created by Emma who is acting out post-hypnotic suggestions implanted during Cassandra Nova's previous appearance.

This infiltration occurred when Emma tricked Cassandra into entering what appeared to be her original body: Cassandra managed to plant a seed of her consciousness into Emma's brain. She then played up on Emma's survivor guilt over not perishing during the Genosha massacre and also her general guilt over her past life as the villainous White Queen in the Hellfire Club.

Nova implanted suggestions that exploited Frost's guilt at surviving the destruction of Genosha in New X-Men #115, and Emma convinced herself that her survival was due to Cassandra Nova catalyzing Frost's secondary mutation. In exchange, Emma was to assist Nova as part of a scheme to infiltrate the X-Men as a sleeper agent with Nova having erased the memory of their encounter at the time.

Cassandra's influence resulted in Emma creating manifestations of Cassandra in her human form, Sebastian Shaw, Emma's younger self as the White Queen (calling herself "Perfection"), and Negasonic Teenage Warhead, a former student of Emma's who was killed in Genosha.

Emma and these manifestations then proceeded to attack the X-Men; Beast was reduced to a feral animal, Wolverine regressed to his past James Howlett identity as a timid child, Kitty Pryde lost control of her phasing ability, and Cyclops lost the use of his powers and was rendered catatonic.

Meanwhile, Emma/Cassandra subjected Kitty to a cruel dystopic vision that tricked her into using her phasing powers to open the containment chamber where Cassandra, trapped in Stuff's form, had been imprisoned.

Cassandra's plans were foiled by a revived Cyclops, and other students at the Xavier Institute (including Blindfold and Hisako Ichiki). Cyclops revealed that while "Cassandra" had influenced Emma to recruit Kitty to free her from the container, Emma had subconsciously recruited Kitty to the team to kill her in the hopes that this would thwart Cassandra's plans.

Cassandra then attempted to have Emma transfer her mind into Hisako. While Cassandra was attempting to manipulate Emma on the astral plane, Scott was talking to Emma in the physical world, trying to convince her to return Cassandra's mind to Stuff. Emma's only response was to say "Go to hell," though it is unclear whether she was talking to Scott or Cassandra. It was never revealed if Cassandra's possession of Hisako was successful or if Emma returned her mind to its prison.

Mutant Extinction Agenda
After Jean Grey returns to life and sets about establishing an official mutant 'nation', she is secretly observed by Cassandra Nova, who had in fact escaped from the X-Men’s clutches by using her psychic powers to hop from host to host, and at some point she took possession of the Ambassador from the United Kingdom in the United Nations. When Jean confronted the United Nations, she unbeknownst disrupted Cassandra's finely-laid plans, and now Cassandra vows to tear down Jean's efforts. She also created a microscopic sentinel tech which she then used to controlled governments by implanting it in the brains of several humans. These infected humans become mutant-hating machines, with no self control and ready to take down any mutant who so much as looks at them and while the Red team of X-Men, still oblivious about the threat of Cassandra Nova, were able to find a way to turn off this sentinel tech, the thought of finding every single infected person is overwhelming. On the other side of the globe, Nova-controlled governments are threatening death to all mutants. The Polish army nearly succeeds, but the Red team steps in before things get bloody thanks to Jean’s telepathic powers and Namor's intervention. Cassandra Nova also had recruited an unwilling Forge to her cause and reveals that her mutant hatred is motivated by her near-death at the hands of her brother Charles Xavier. She later reveals herself to Jean Grey while the later was using Searebro (the undersea Cerebro unit) to watch as the waves of anti-mutant hatred wash over the world and simultaneously sends also an unwilling Jamie Carlson aka Teen Abomination to smash Atlantis. With the help from Avengers and the rest of Atlanteans, Jean Grey’s X-Men and their allies use mass-produced Magneto’s helmets to save Cassandra’s brainwashed victims. During the confrontation with Cassandra Nova, Nightcrawler teleports Gabby behind Cassandra’s head to de-power her, allowing Jean to succeed in cracking open Nova's psyche so she could feel all of the pain and suffering she had caused and experience empathy for the first time in her existence thus ending her terror.

Alternative plotlines
When an incarnation of Brotherhood of Mutants, led by the ex-Acolyte Exodus, attempted to attack the Institute, nurse Annie Ghazikhanian decided to leave the Mansion, along with her son Carter, as she felt the place was not safe anymore. As they leave the astral projection of an undetermined person is shown next to Carter's face. Annie seems unaware of this projection. Carter's dialogue and expression at this time hint that he is under the control of this individual. The projection was later revealed by Chuck Austen as the intended return of Cassandra Nova, but on his departure from the books, the storyline was dropped.

In an interview, Marvel writer Mike Carey stated that one of the more outlandish storylines he had considered involved Cassandra Nova and another mummudrai. A second mummudrai would arrive from space and impregnate Nova, creating a litter of "young mummudrai gestating in the minds of the X-Men." According to Carey, the storyline "...would have been fun to do, but Joss Whedon got to Cassandra before I did."

Powers and abilities
The mummudrai are usually forced to fight with the mind of their host over a body. However, given the vast potential in Xavier's genome coupled with the DNA manipulating aspects of a Mummudrai/Revenant, Cassandra Nova was able to build her own body from scratch, mimicking human traits as best she can. Cassandra Nova is able to access the full spectrum of latent mutant functions in Xavier's genome (she seemingly has the powers of Charles Xavier, the ones he could have and the ones he might receive as a result of latent mutation), granting herself vast psionic powers. These powers include telepathy, telekinesis, and a bio-phasing ability. She was able to block the considerable telepathic abilities of Charles Xavier, create psionic armor, disintegrate the complete tissue of Wolverine's arm, and make her body completely intangible to an extent that even allowed her to withstand a direct blast from Cyclops. She has all the powers of the "average" mummudrai as well, which are astral manipulation, mental possession and genetic alternation. Her telepathic capabilities are so advanced that she was able to hide her possession of Charles Xavier's body over quite some time despite directly interacting with considerable telepaths like Jean Grey, Emma Frost, and the Stepford Cuckoos at the same time. Cassandra can also manipulate the DNA she has copied to act as a rapid healing factor or to mimic the voice and DNA of others.

First using her DNA copying ability, she mimics Donald Trask III (a relative of Bolivar Trask) so that she can voice command the Sentinels (who obey the Trask family line) to attack Genosha.

Other versions

Here Comes Tomorrow
In the Here Comes Tomorrow future timeline, Cassandra's reeducation was a complete success; she had embraced Xavier's dream and went on to become Headmistress of the Xavier Institute. Instead of simply going by the name of Cassandra Nova, she added the Xavier surname to her own, now calling herself Cassandra Nova Xavier. Alongside Wolverine, the three remaining Stepford Cuckoos (now calling themselves the Three-in-One), Beak's grandson Tito Jr, E.V.A., and No-Girl (Martha Johansson), Cassandra became one of the X-Men, fighting against Sublime and its armies of Crawlers, led by Apollyon. Cassandra was destroyed by Sublime after it unleashed Phoenix on the X-Men.

However, this timeline diverged from Earth-616 when Jean Grey reached back and psychically forced Cyclops to accept Emma's offer to run the Xavier Institute together. In the 616 timeline, Cassandra remembered her original identity.

X-Men: The End
Cassandra factors prominently in the future depicted in X-Men: The End storyline (Book 3). In this timeline she remains a villain. She is primarily responsible for the Shi'ar attacks on the X-Men, which she had manipulated in the hopes of gaining control of Jean Grey and the Phoenix Force. Her hope was to bond with the Phoenix and thus be able to destroy all existence. Though she was successful, Jean and Psylocke are able to subdue Cassandra. Jean then tells Cassandra that they are all going to transcend reality. Jean uses her connection to the Phoenix to bring a host of X-Men together (both dead and living) so that they can all become one with the universe while bringing others back to Earth. Xavier and Cassandra admit that they are scared of each other, and Jean tells them that this is part of being human. Then, she and the resurrected X-Men form a giant Phoenix and become part of the universe itself.

The Great White Owl
On Earth-TRN342, Cassandra Nova has somehow survived for four thousand years and nearly conquered the world as the Great White Owl after she unleashed the Great Corruption and dropped entirely the Veil that separated the Main Reality with the reality of the Revenants, better known as the Mummundrai.

As the Revenants were unleashed on Earth, Cassandra becomes their Queen and soon enough Bishop's presence in this reality came to Cassandra's attention. Bishop had been flung into this future Earth after failing in his attempt to kill Hope Summers and soon became a Revenant Hunter, even adopting a little girl named Amber. While on a mission to track a Bull Revenant called the Demon Bear for two months, Bishop and Amber found it in the forests outside a human settlement. Little did they realize that the Demon Bear was part of a trap set by the Great White Owl herself. Bear and Owl attacked, and Bishop held them off long enough for Amber to flee to safety, but ended up being possessed by both Revenants for his heroism. The Revenant Queen intended to use Bishop as a vessel, for she wanted to travel back in time to set off the Great Corruption several thousand years earlier than it originally happened.
 
Re-materializing in the present outside Union Station in Los Angeles, California, the Owl Queen directed Bishop's body towards finding a worthy psychic to sacrifice for the Corruption's rituals. She zeroed in on a new mutant named Ginny Guzman, but the girl was already being fought over by Spiral and a team from the Jean Grey School. The Revenant Queen allowed the Demon Bear to run roughshod over the girl's defenders until she got close enough to project her own corrupted psyche into the child. She left behind a very rattled and confused Bishop and Demon Bear, who were knocked cold by Puck.

Eventually Cassandra took possession over the body of Ginny and killed another new mutant psychic to begin the Great Corruption. As the Revenants began to be unleashed by the hundreds throughout Los Angeles, Bishop and his allies attacked the Owl Queen at her base at the Griffin Observatory and, through a complicated sequence of events, trapped Cassandra in the humanized body of Psylocke's Revenant counterpart, and then sacrificed her in a ritual that reversed the Great Corruption before it fully dropped the Veil to the Underworld.

X-Men '92
During Secret Wars, the Westchester domain of Battleworld contained a version of Cassandra who ran the Clear Mountain Institute, the purpose of which was to condition formerly evil mutants into docile, non-violent people. When the X-Men came to investigate, Cassandra's forces captured them, and she exposed them to the same treatment, seeking to transform them into "pure" and perfect role models for the children of Westchester.

It was eventually revealed that this version of Cassandra is actually a female clone of Charles Xavier, created by Apocalypse, and then possessed by the Shadow King. Charles, working together with Psylocke and Cable, is able to remove Shadow King from Cassandra and destroy him, with Cassandra making her escape, and later encountering Joseph.

Possible connection with Ernst
It was hinted in Morrison's run that Cassandra Nova took on the form of Ernst once she was placed inside the body of Stuff as part of her reprogramming. In the final part of Planet X, Xorn-as-Magneto threatens a defiant Ernst and tells her he suspected there was more to her than it appeared. The final hint was in Here Comes Tomorrow, where she tells Martha Johansson, whom Ernst was always seen around, that "of course you can still call me Ernst."

Subsequent writers have tried to contradict this, under presumed editorial edict. In Chuck Austen's New X-Men, Cyclops and Beast investigate Cassandra's containment unit following the destruction of the mansion, only to never find it (and seeming not to care once they don't); this would seem to suggest she was either not Ernst or they didn't know she was Ernst (Xorn, Ernst's own teacher, did not know but suspected Ernst was more than she seemed). In Joss Whedon's third arc of Astonishing X-Men, a psychic projection of Cassandra Nova seeks Stuff's gelatinous, green form, locked inside a metal case. Whedon's plot apparently contradicts Austen's two-part arc. Likewise, Ernst has been distinctly shown alongside the student body in later publications.

References

External links
 Cassandra Nova at Marvel.com
 Cassandra Nova at Marvel Wiki

Characters created by Frank Quitely
Characters created by Grant Morrison
Comics characters introduced in 2001
Fictional characters who can turn intangible
Fictional characters with spirit possession or body swapping abilities
Fictional hypnotists and indoctrinators
Fictional impostors
Fictional mass murderers
Fictional parasites and parasitoids
Fictional telekinetics
Fictional twins
Marvel Comics characters with accelerated healing
Marvel Comics female supervillains
Marvel Comics telepaths
The Immortal Guard of Imperial Iran (), also known as Imperial Guard (), was both the personal guard force of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the last Shah of Iran, and an elite combat branch of the Imperial Iranian Army. It was created in 1942 and disbanded in 1979 following the Iranian Revolution. It was named after the Immortals, an elite unit of 10,000 Persian soldiers in the army of the Achaemenid Empire.

Origins

In 1921 a Persian Royal Guard was in existence comprising 20,000 men. A Guard Division was raised in 1925 by Reza Shah, incorporating both cavalry and infantry units. The Imperial Guard was subsequently formed in 1942 from 700 volunteers. It was originally designed and organized by General Jafar Shafaghat. The division was modeled after the French Republican Guard and the British Household Cavalry and foot guards. In 1953 the unit was expanded in size to a division under General Teymur Bakhtiar. In 1972 the Lashkari Guard Division was incorporated in the Imperial Guard together with a Conscript Brigade, expanding the Guard to a full corps of two divisions.

Structure

Javidan Guard 
The core of the Imperial Guard was the all volunteer Javidan Guard (Gârd e Jâvidân, Persian: Immortal Guard), better known as the "Immortals" after the ancient Persian royal guard or Persian Immortals. The "Immortals" were based in the Lavizan Barracks in northern Tehran. By 1978 this elite force comprised a brigade of 4,000-5,000 men, including a battalion of Chieftain tanks. It was responsible for the internal and external security of the royal palaces. A special plain-clothes unit was called Ma'mourin Makhsous.

Prior to the 1967 Imperial Coronation a Pahlavi Cavalry Guard was formed, giving the Javidan Guard a Household Cavalry type mounted escort unit for ceremonial occasions. According to differing accounts this detachment was 30 to 50-strong.

The last Commanding Officer of the Javidan Guard was Lieutenant-Colonel Yusuf-i-nijad.

Main Imperial Guard
By the late 1970s the entire Imperial Guard (including conscripts outside the Javidan units) was 18,000 strong, with artillery, armored and helicopter units. The entire Guard comprised some 6% of the army, and were the only troops stationed permanently in the capital Tehran.

Recruitment
A recruit to the Imperial Guard had to pass a series of proficiency tests, varying in subjects and difficulty. Reportedly one of the prerequisites for initiation was to be able to recite one's family history back for 23 generations from memory alone.

Uniforms and insignia
Imperial Guard units were distinguished by salmon (light red) coloured insignia. The Pahlavi Cavalry Guard had special blue and red ceremonial uniforms, including silver cuirasses and crested helmets.

Overthrow of the last Shah
The Imperial Guard remained loyal to Mohammad Reza Pahlavi until his departure for exile in January 1979. After two days of fighting on 9 through 11 February, against armed civilians and dissident Air Force and Army personnel, the Imperial Guard was withdrawn to its bases. The Guard was disbanded on 17 February 1979. The Javidan Guard was formally dissolved by the new Iranian regime, although some portions of the wider Imperial Guard remained in existence. These remaining units were stripped of their historic privileges and duties and integrated into the 21st Division of the regular Army Ground Forces. As such they saw action in the Iran–Iraq War.

Commanders of the Imperial Guard
The last commander of the Imperial Guard at the time of the 1979 Iranian Revolution was Lieutenant General Ali Neshat. One of the former Guard commanders was General Gholam Ali Oveisi (1960–1965). One of the original commanders, General Jafar Shafaghat, during the last months prior to the fall of the monarchy in 1979 was appointed by the Shah as the minister of defense (the literal translation of this post from Persian is minister of war) under Shapour Bakhtiar Cabinet until the fall of the government.

Commanders of the unit were:
 Capt. Jafar Shafaghat and Capt. Bayandor (commanders of two rival companies with rotating responsibility)
 2nd Col. Iraj Mahvi (two companies unified and expanded to a brigade)
 Abbas Gharabaghi (a new "special guard" was created under his command)
 Amirgholi Zargham
 Col. Nematollah Nassiri (1951–65)
 Maj. Gen Abdolali Badrei (1974–79)
 Maj. Gen. Ali Neshat (1979)

References

1942 establishments in Iran
1979 disestablishments in Iran
Organisations of the Iranian Revolution
Guard
Former guards regiments
Royal guards
Disbanded units and formations In Japan, the Imperial Guard is the name for two separate organizations dedicated to the protection of the Emperor of Japan and the Imperial Family, palaces and other imperial properties. The first was the , a quasi-independent elite branch of the Imperial Japanese Army which was dissolved shortly after World War II. The second is the , a civilian law enforcement organization formed as part of the National Police Agency.

Imperial Guard of the Imperial Japanese Army

The Imperial Guard of the Imperial Japanese Army was formed in 1867. It became the foundation of the Imperial Japanese Army after the Emperor Meiji assumed all the powers of state during the Meiji Restoration. The Imperial Guard, which consisted of 12,000 men organized and trained along French military lines, first saw action in the Satsuma Rebellion. It was organized into the 1st Guards Infantry Brigade which had the 1st and 2nd Regiments. The 3rd and 4th Regiments belonged to the 2nd Guards Infantry Brigade.

By 1885 the Imperial Japanese Army consisted of seven divisions, one of which was the Imperial Guard. A division consisted of four regiments containing two battalions each. The Imperial Guard division was based in Tokyo and recruited nationally.

After the Russo-Japanese War in 1905, a second Guard Brigade was formed from indigenous Formosans.  In 1920 the Guards Cavalry Regiment, Guards Field Artillery Regiment, Guards Engineer Battalion, and Guards Transport Battalion, plus other Guards service units were added.

From 1937 to 1939 the Guards Engineer Battalion was expanded into a regiment as was the Guards Transport Battalion.

Pacific War
In September 1939, the division was split into the 1st and 2nd Guards Brigades.

The 1st Guards Brigade, which contained the 1st and 2nd Guards Infantry Regiments, the cavalry regiment, and half of the support units, was transferred to South China. Here it became known as the Mixed Guards Brigade. In October 1940, it joined other Japanese units occupying French Indo-China.  In April 1941 the Mixed Guards Brigade returned to Tokyo but it did not rejoin the Imperial Guards Division.

The 2nd Guards Brigade, which contained 3rd and 4th Guards Regiments, also went to China. In 1940, it went to Shanghai before being posted to Hainan Island. In June 1941, the 5th Guards Infantry Regiment joined the 2nd Guards Brigade becoming the Imperial Guard Division again. It later saw action in the Battles of Malaya and  Singapore with Tomoyuki Yamashita's 25th Army.

In May 1943, all designated Imperial Guard units were renamed again. The Mixed Guards Brigade in Tokyo became the 1st Guards Division (which now consisted of the 1st, 2nd, 6th Guard Regiments) and the Imperial Guard Division became the 2nd Guards Division. The 3rd Guards Division, which never left Japan, was formed in 1944.  It consisted of the 8th, 9th and 10th Guards Regiments. Sources do not agree if there ever was a 7th Guard Regiment.

All military Imperial Guard Divisions were dissolved at the end of World War II.

War crimes
In Malaya and Singapore, the Guard Division was involved in several notorious Japanese war crimes such as the Parit Sulong Massacre and the Sook Ching massacre. Lt Gen. Takuma Nishimura, who was sentenced to life imprisonment by a British military court in relation to the Sook Ching killings, was later convicted of war crimes by an Australian Military Court in relation to the Parit Sulong massacre. He was executed by hanging on June 11, 1951.

Organization
  1st Guards Division (近衛第1師団, Konoe Dai-ichi Shidan)
 2nd Guards Division (近衛第2師団, Konoe Dai-ni Shidan)
 3rd Guards Division (近衛第3師団, Konoe Dai-san Shidan)

Uniform

Until 1939, the Cavalry of the Imperial Guard wore a French style parade uniform consisting of a dark-blue tunic with red Brandenburg braiding, a red kepi and red breeches. The red kepi had a white plume with a red base.  Prior to the general adoption of khaki by the Japanese Army during the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905), an all white linen uniform had been worn in hot weather.

The Infantry of the Imperial Guard wore a dark blue uniform with white leggings for both parade and service wear until 1905.  It was distinguished from that of the line infantry by a red band and piping on the peaked service cap (instead of yellow).  Officers wore a dark blue tunic with 5 rows of black mohair froggings and dark blue breeches with a red stripe down each seam.

Following the adoption of a khaki service dress, the Guard Infantry wore this on all occasions, although officers retained the blue and red uniform for certain ceremonial occasions when not parading with troops.

In the field, the army's standard khaki uniform was worn by all Imperial Guard units from 1905 to 1945. Guard units were distinguished by a wreathed star in bronze worn on the headgear, in contrast to the plain five pointed star worn by other units.

Gallery

Imperial Guard of the National Police Agency   

After the disbandment of the Imperial guard divisions, their missions were merged into the , a civilian law enforcement branch of the Ministry of the Imperial Household. In 1947, it was reorganized into the  of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, and then transferred to the . After several renaming, it became the  in 1949. With the total reconstruction of the Japanese police systems in 1954, it became a part of the National Police Agency.

At present, it consists of over 900 security police personnel who provide personal security for the Emperor, Crown Prince and other members of the Imperial Family, as well as protection of imperial properties, including the Tokyo Imperial Palace, Kyoto Imperial Palace, Katsura Imperial Villa, Shugakuin Imperial Villa (both in Kyoto), Shosoin Imperial Repository in Nara, as well as Hayama Imperial Villa and Nasu Imperial Villa.

The Imperial Guard also maintains a 14 horse mounted police unit for use by guards of honour at state ceremonies. In addition to their security duties, the Imperial Guard is also responsible for fire-fighting within the grounds of the Palace, and maintains fire engines and trained staff of this purpose.

The NPA Imperial Guards wear a dark blue or a blue-grey police uniform with white gloves while on duty with peaked caps for public duties activities. They also wear white pistol belts, lanyards, helmets, boot laces or leggings. They carry police rank insignia in their shoulder boards.

Gallery

See also
Bodyguard
Imperial guard
Manchukuo Imperial Guards
Imperial Japanese Army

References

 Madej, W. Victor, Japanese Armed Forces Order of Battle, 1937-1945 [2 vols] Allentown, PA: 1981

External links

 Official NPA IG page

Former guards regiments
Guards Divisions of Japan
Police units of the National Police Agency (Japan)
Military history of Japan
Military units and formations established in 1867
Military units and formations of the Imperial Japanese Army
Royal guards