Nambu World: Ribbons & Bars for Japanese Medals

            I have two bars. One has ribbons that represent five medals and the other, three. The Japanese term for a military ribbon is ryakuju. One of the bars I bought was labelled in Japanese ryakujusho (same sho as in kisho), so I guess that is the term for these bars in Japanese. That one had three ribbons and was described as sanren (“three-in-a-row”). I got both of these at antique markets in Japan.

 

            This first bar represents five medals. Top Row (left to right): Order of the Golden Kite, Order of the Rising Sun and Order of the Sacred Treasure. Bottom Row (left to right): Manchurian Incident Medal and China Incident Medal. Each of the two horizontal bars is about one centimetre (3/8”) high. The upper one is 113mm wide (4-1/2”) and the lower one is 74mm wide (2-15/15”). I tested it with a magnet and the framework is made of steel.

 

            I set up this rather strange looking photo to juxtapose the ribbons and the medals they represent. The colour match is quite close except for the middle band on the ribbon for the Manchurian Campaign, which is quite a bit more brown than the orange-ish colour on the medal.

 

Here is the back of the bar. The rust confirms the magnet test. It looks like the framework was blued originally.

 

This is how the closure works (on far left of previous photo).

 

            With the closure bar open you can see how the whole thing is constructed. Each ribbon is sewn onto a background strip of metal. Each of these strips has tabs at each end. The tabs fit into slots on the framework bar and are bent over to keep the ribbon-bearing strips in place.

 

            Here is my other bar, which represents three medals: Order of the Rising Sun, Order of the Sacred Treasure, and China Incident service medal. The width and height are the same as the upper bar in the previous set.

 

            Since there is only one row of medals to match up, this shot doesn’t look as strange as the one for the five-ribbon bar. The ribbons on this one are fairly badly soiled. This is especially visible on the China Incident ribbon on the right, which shouldn’t be as dark as it is.

 

            Here is the back of the three-ribbon bar with the closure in the open position. The overall style of construction is the same, but this one is still shiny. It is not attracted to a magnet. It is too heavy to be aluminum and the edge is yellowish, so I think it is nickel-plated brass.

 

To return to the Nambu World page on Japanese Medals and Badges, please click here: Nambu World: Japanese Medals and Badges

To return to the Nambu World section on “Other Japanese Militaria”, please click here: Nambu World: Other Japanese Militaria

To return to the Nambu World main page, please click here: Nambu World: Teri’s Japanese Handgun Website

 

Last Updated: July 27, 2006. All contents are copyright Teri unless indicated otherwise and may not be duplicated elsewhere without prior written permission.