Nambu World: Order of the Golden Kite

This order was awarded for distinguished military service in war only and could be received only by Japanese. There were seven classes. It is covered on pages 14-21 of OMJAS. The one I have and that is shown here is the Seventh Class, i.e. the lowest. Your rank determined which classes you were eligible to receive. Based on the period photos I have, it seems that even military men got it much less often than the other two orders. The Japanese term for the Order of the Golden Kite is kin-shi kun-sho. Kin means gold and shi (also pronounced tobi) means “kite” in the sense of a bird that is part of the hawk family (not the kind of kite that kids fly on windy days; that is called a tako). Kun-sho, as above, means “meritorious deed medal”. The reference to a golden kite is an allusion to a famous incident in Japanese ancient history/mythology in which the bird advised Emperor Jimmu, the first Emperor of Japan, to attack from the east at dawn. The golden bird perched above the Emperor so that its reflection blinded the enemy and Jimmu won, thereby establishing the imperial lineage which has lasted over 2600 years. Here is a closer shot of the main part of the medal. It measures 45 mm wide by 53 mm high (1-3/4” X 2-1/8”).

The back is blank, with no inscription or markings. Note that the medal is attached to the ribbon with a ring, unlike the service medals. It seems to be made of silver.

Here is the box, which is made of black lacquerware. The characters on the box say ko-nana-kyu-kin-shi-sho. The box is 58mm wide by 90mm long by 24mm thick (2-5/16” X 3-9/16” X 15/16”). This is smaller than the service medal boxes.

The box closes by means of a clasp that consists of a little hinged flap on the top half that fits over a peg on the bottom half. I am not sure what metal this closure mechanism is made of except that it is not steel based on a magnet test.

Here is the medal in its box, which is plush lined. Note that the ribbbon is folded underneath itself at the top, with the top going into a little compartment underneath the level that the medal rests on, unlike the service medals and the other two orders shown on this site, which lay flat in their boxes.

The certificate for this medal is quite large. It measures 596mm X 458mm (23-1/2” X 17-7/8”). It has watermarks in the upper right and lower left corners (shown below), but nothing is written or stamped on the back of the certificate.

The most important information is on the right side, which records the recipient’s name and the date of the award. The writing is in vertical (top down) columns, starting at the right and working across towards the left. Here is the text in Japanese, followed by a translation:

First column on right: ten-yu-o-ho-yu-shi-ban-sei-ik-kei-no-tei-so-o-fu-meru

Second column from right: dai-nippon-tei-koku-ten-no-wa-yama-zaki-ban-ta-ro-o

Third column from right: mei-ji-kun-sho-no-ko-nana-kyu-ni-jo-shi-kin-shi-kun-sho

Fourth column from right: o-ju-yo-su-sunawa-chi-kono-i-ni-zoku-suru-rei-gu-oyo-bi

Fifth column from right: tok-ken-o-yu-seshimu

Sixth column from right: jim-mu-ten-no-soku-i-ki-gen-ni-sen-go-hyaku-kyu-ju-nana-nen

Seventh column from the right: sho-wa-ju-ni-nen-shichi-gatsu-ni-ju-nano-ka-kyu-jo-ni-oi-te

Last column on left: ji-o-?-seshimu [I could not identify the third symbol from the top, though the meaning is clear both from the context and the OMJAS translation].

I was somewhat lucky because OMJAS translates a certificate for this very medal on pages 20-21. However, I have not followed their translation very closely both because I preferred my own style of wording and because there is at least one major error in their translation. They translate kyujo, Imperial Palace, as “Miyagi Prefecture”, even though this makes no sense in the context and the word for prefecture does not appear. Anyway, here is my translation:

“The Emperor of Greater Japan, having come to the Imperial throne in an unbroken Imperial line with divine guidance, confers the Meiji Order of Merit, Seventh Class, and awards the Order of the Golden Kite to Bantaro Yamazaki [surname Yamazaki] along with the honours and privileges appurtenant thereto. The Imperial Seal has been affixed in the Imperial Palace on this 27^th day of July, Showa 12 [1937], the 2597^th year since the ascension to the throne of Emperor Jimmu”. Jimmu was the mythical first Emperor of Japan, whose reign is said to have begun in 660 BC. One of the Japanese systems of reckoning dates that was in use in the 1930s takes this date as the starting point, so 2597 is equivalent to 1937 AD (1937 +660=2597). The nationalistic government of the time tried to phase out use of the Western AD (nowadays sometimes called CE) system in favour of this indigenous Japanese system, but today nobody uses it.

The left side has the formalities from the Board of Decorations. Surnames are underlined in the following translations. The big round red seal at the top says dai-nip-pon-tei-koku-sho-kun-kyoku-in, “Seal of the Board of Decorations of the Empire of Greater Japan”. The first column on the right has the date, July 27, Showa 12 (1937). The second column says sho-kun-kyoku-so-sai-ju-san-i-kun-it-to-shimo-jo-yasu-maro: “President of the Board of Decorations Yasumaro Shimojo, Junior Third Rank, and holder of the First Order of Merit. The third and fourth columns say dai-ju-san-man-roku-sen-rop-pyaku-kyu-ju-roku-go-o-motte-ko-kyu-bo-satsu-ni-ki-nyu-su: “We have entered number 136696 in the Register of Grades of Merit” (this is the number of the certificate). The last column on the far left says sho-kun-kyoku-sho-ki-kan-ju-go-i-kun-go-to-u-tsu-nomiya-ko-hei: “Secretary of the Board of Decorations Kohei Utsunomiya, Junior Fifth Rank, Holder of the Fifth Order of Merit”. The square-ish red seals at the bottom repeat the titles (President and Secretary) of the individuals whose names are affixed. Such seals are often used instead of signatures in Japan even today, though usually nowadays they have the person’s name.

Here is a close-up of the artwork in the top middle of the certificate, with the Imperial chrysanthemum in the centre.

The big red seal in the centre reads from upper right down, then upper left down. First (right) column: dai-nip-pon. Second (left) column: koku-ji. Together it means “Imperial Seal of Greater Japan”. The kanji in the lower left, ji=Emperor’s seal, gave me some trouble, as it is rather rare and written in an ancient fancy script style. I finally realized that it was the same as a printed character on the right side of the certificate and was able to find it on page 55 of Nelson’s Japanese-English Character Dictionary, Second Revised Edition, where it is kanji #71.

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

This is the watermark in the upper right corner. It is the Imperial Chrysanthemum. The photo appears very orange because I had to put an incandescent lamp directly behind the certificate to get the watermark to show up and to have enough light to get a shutter speed that would allow a clear, sharp shot.

This is the much smaller watermark in the lower left. It is a sakura (cherry) blossom with the character in (short for insatsu=printing) inside it. I think that means the certificate was printed by the Government Printing Department of the Empire of Greater Japan.

The sakura watermark is in the lower left corner. This shot of that area shows the border pattern, which alternates between the Imperial chrysanthemum and another Imperial symbol, paulownia leaves.

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Last updated: July 29, 2006. All contents are copyright Teri unless otherwise specified and may not be used elsewhere in any form without prior permission.