diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/shell/SnapshotCommands.java b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/shell/SnapshotCommands.java
index 570e442c282..440d480cc90 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/shell/SnapshotCommands.java
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/shell/SnapshotCommands.java
@@ -68,7 +68,7 @@ class SnapshotCommands extends FsCommand {
         throw new IllegalArgumentException("<snapshotDir> is missing.");
       } 
       if (args.size() > 2) {
-        throw new IllegalArgumentException("Too many arguements.");
+        throw new IllegalArgumentException("Too many arguments.");
       }
       if (args.size() == 2) {
         snapshotName = args.removeLast();
@@ -110,7 +110,7 @@ class SnapshotCommands extends FsCommand {
     @Override
     protected void processOptions(LinkedList<String> args) throws IOException {
       if (args.size() != 2) {
-        throw new IOException("args number not 2: " + args.size());
+        throw new IllegalArgumentException("Incorrect number of arguments.");
       }
       snapshotName = args.removeLast();
     }
@@ -150,7 +150,7 @@ class SnapshotCommands extends FsCommand {
     @Override
     protected void processOptions(LinkedList<String> args) throws IOException {
       if (args.size() != 3) {
-        throw new IOException("args number not 3: " + args.size());
+        throw new IllegalArgumentException("Incorrect number of arguments.");
       }
       newName = args.removeLast();
       oldName = args.removeLast();
diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt
index baff0a7d2fe..9a4ff349d22 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt
@@ -319,6 +319,9 @@ Release 2.3.0 - UNRELEASED
     HDFS-5130. Add test for snapshot related FsShell and DFSAdmin commands.
     (Binglin Chang via jing9)
 
+    HDFS-5360. Improvement of usage message of renameSnapshot and
+    deleteSnapshot. (Shinichi Yamashita via wang)
+
   OPTIMIZATIONS
 
     HDFS-5239.  Allow FSNamesystem lock fairness to be configurable (daryn)
diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/snapshot/TestSnapshotDeletion.java b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/snapshot/TestSnapshotDeletion.java
index 2408b4efb8f..442cc63aaee 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/snapshot/TestSnapshotDeletion.java
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/snapshot/TestSnapshotDeletion.java
@@ -23,12 +23,15 @@ import static org.junit.Assert.assertNull;
 import static org.junit.Assert.assertTrue;
 import static org.junit.Assert.fail;
 
+import java.io.ByteArrayOutputStream;
 import java.io.FileNotFoundException;
 import java.io.IOException;
+import java.io.PrintStream;
 import java.security.PrivilegedAction;
 
 import org.apache.hadoop.conf.Configuration;
 import org.apache.hadoop.fs.FileStatus;
+import org.apache.hadoop.fs.FsShell;
 import org.apache.hadoop.fs.Path;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hdfs.DFSConfigKeys;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hdfs.DFSTestUtil;
@@ -921,4 +924,29 @@ public class TestSnapshotDeletion {
     subFile1Status = hdfs.getFileStatus(subFile1SCopy);
     assertEquals(REPLICATION_1, subFile1Status.getReplication());
   }
+  
+  @Test
+  public void testDeleteSnapshotCommandWithIllegalArguments() throws Exception {
+    ByteArrayOutputStream out = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
+    PrintStream psOut = new PrintStream(out);
+    System.setOut(psOut);
+    System.setErr(psOut);
+    FsShell shell = new FsShell();
+    shell.setConf(conf);
+    
+    String[] argv1 = {"-deleteSnapshot", "/tmp"};
+    int val = shell.run(argv1);
+    assertTrue(val == -1);
+    assertTrue(out.toString().contains(
+        argv1[0] + ": Incorrect number of arguments."));
+    out.reset();
+    
+    String[] argv2 = {"-deleteSnapshot", "/tmp", "s1", "s2"};
+    val = shell.run(argv2);
+    assertTrue(val == -1);
+    assertTrue(out.toString().contains(
+        argv2[0] + ": Incorrect number of arguments."));
+    psOut.close();
+    out.close();
+  }
 }
diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/snapshot/TestSnapshotRename.java b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/snapshot/TestSnapshotRename.java
index 386563bea1f..58fa1ffc407 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/snapshot/TestSnapshotRename.java
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/snapshot/TestSnapshotRename.java
@@ -22,10 +22,13 @@ import static org.junit.Assert.assertFalse;
 import static org.junit.Assert.assertTrue;
 import static org.junit.Assert.fail;
 
+import java.io.ByteArrayOutputStream;
+import java.io.PrintStream;
 import java.util.List;
 
 import org.apache.hadoop.conf.Configuration;
 import org.apache.hadoop.fs.FileStatus;
+import org.apache.hadoop.fs.FsShell;
 import org.apache.hadoop.fs.Path;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hdfs.DFSTestUtil;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hdfs.DistributedFileSystem;
@@ -226,4 +229,29 @@ public class TestSnapshotRename {
       }
     }
   }
+  
+  @Test
+  public void testRenameSnapshotCommandWithIllegalArguments() throws Exception {
+    ByteArrayOutputStream out = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
+    PrintStream psOut = new PrintStream(out);
+    System.setOut(psOut);
+    System.setErr(psOut);
+    FsShell shell = new FsShell();
+    shell.setConf(conf);
+    
+    String[] argv1 = {"-renameSnapshot", "/tmp", "s1"};
+    int val = shell.run(argv1);
+    assertTrue(val == -1);
+    assertTrue(out.toString().contains(
+        argv1[0] + ": Incorrect number of arguments."));
+    out.reset();
+    
+    String[] argv2 = {"-renameSnapshot", "/tmp", "s1", "s2", "s3"};
+    val = shell.run(argv2);
+    assertTrue(val == -1);
+    assertTrue(out.toString().contains(
+        argv2[0] + ": Incorrect number of arguments."));
+    psOut.close();
+    out.close();
+  }
 }