Nambu World: Boxer Rebellion (Relief of Peking) Service Medal

            In the late 1800s anti-foreign sentiment in China grew due to the rough-shod way foreign powers extracted and then abused concessions from the weak and corrupt Chinese government of the time. A nationalist group of Chinese known as the Boxers, with support from some elements of the government, put pressure on the foreign diplomatic legations in Peking (now Beijing), culminating in a loose siege from June 20, 1900 to August 14, 1900. Foreign troops landed in China and marched on Peking to relieve the besieged delegations. By far the largest contingent was from Japan, which contributed about 9,000 men, mostly from the Fifth Division. They comprised roughly half of the entire relief force. This medal is one of the rarest of the Japanese service medals and rather expensive. It is covered on page 45 of OMJAS, which says that it was awarded to everybody in the military at the time, not just the ones who marched into Peking.

Here is the back of the medal, showing the usual type of clasp found on Japanese medals.

 

            The bar has four old-style characters that are read from right to left: shin-koku-ji-hen, meaning “China Incident”. Note that the characters used for China are different than those used for the China Incident of the 1930s (shi-na-ji-hen). China under the Manchu dynasty was referred to as shin-koku, while it was called shi-na during the pre-war period. The proper term nowadays is chu-goku.

 

            The four characters on the front are read top right-bottom right-top left-bottom left: ju-gun-ki-sho, or “medal for serving in the military”. The medal is 30mm (1-3/16”) in diameter.

 

            The back reads from right to left. The top line is: dai-nip-pon-tei-koku (Great Japanese Empire). The bottom line is Mei-ji-san-ju-san-nen, Meiji 33, i.e. the 33rd year of the reign of the Meiji Emperor, which was 1900 according to the Western calendar.

 

Here is the medal in its case. The top of the case is missing and the right edge has been broken off.

 

            I got the medal in an auction which featured a Boxer Rebellion certificate at the same time. I won the medal, but not the certificate. However, I did get this picture of the certificate, which I think was probably the one that came with my specific medal (i.e. I think the same individual probably received both, since the chances of these two rare items coming up at the same time otherwise are slim). The two large black characters in the upper centre of the certificate say ho-choku, i.e “service to the Emperor”. The certificate was awarded to a man with the surname (family name) Ejiri. His given name could be pronounced either Kahei or Kahyoe. He was an kai-gun-it-to ki-kan-hei, i.e. first class naval stoker/fireman (guy who fed coal into the engines of a naval ship ). This was certificate 11092. The left side has the names of officials in the Board of Decorations. The far left column has the name and stamp of  Secretary Zengen Fujii (family name Fujii). The second column from the left has the name of another secretary of the Board, Kanae Yokota (family name Yokota). The line immediately to the left of the big round red Greater Japanese Empire stamp in the middle is the name and stamp of the President (so-sai) of the Board of Decorations (sho-kun-kyoku). He was a shishaku (viscount). His surname has over a dozen possible pronunciations, most likely Daikyu or Okyu. His given name also has several possible pronunciations: Tsune, Hisashi, Hitoshi and Wataru, for example. Since he was a big shot, I may eventually be able to look him up in a Who’s Who-type directory in Japan and clarify the exact pronunciation. The names of the same officials appear on my Russo-Japanese War service medal certificate.

 

The certificate was issued on May 10, Meiji 35 (1902).

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Here is a close-up of the artwork at the bottom centre.

 

            If you would like to know more about the Boxer Rebellion, I recommend Peking 1900: The Boxer Rebellion, an Osprey publication by Peter Harrington, for a readable summary of the conflict.

 

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Last updated: July 20, 2006. All contents are copyright Teri unless otherwise specified and may not be used elsewhere in any form without prior permission.