Nambu World: Sino-Japanese War Medal 1894-95

            Although Japan had sent a punitive expedition to Formosa (now Taiwan) as early as 1874, the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 was the start of Japan’s serious efforts to expand the Empire in Asia by military means. The Japanese thrashed the Chinese army and won in less than a year. Japan got to take over Formosa and Korea. This medal is covered on page 44 of OMJAS. The edict establishing this medal said it was to be made of metal from melted down cannon captured from the enemy, but I don’t know whether I actually was or not. The above photo shows the front, which displays two crossed military flags with a chrysanthemum, the symbol of the imperial family, at the top.

 

Here is the back. All the Japanese medals I have use this type of hook-and-eye attachment.

 

Here is a close-up of the front. It is about 30mm (1-3/16”) in diameter.

 

The back has four characters in the middle. They read top to bottom, right column first: ju-gun-ki-sho, meaning “war medal”. The ones around the edge start in the lower right and go counter-clockwise: mei-ji-ni-ju-nana-hachi-nen, meaning Meiji 27-8 year. This is the date of the war according to the Japanese system. The 27th and 28th years of the reign of the Meiji Emperor correspond to 1894-1985. Meiji was the grandfather of Emperor Hirohito, with whom most Westerners are much more familiar.

 

Unlike most later war medals, the bar has no inscription. Later medals had ju-gun-ki-sho on the bar rather than on the back.

 

This is the box. OMJAS says it was of black lacquer on page 41 and of dark brown lacquer on page 44. In any case, it is markedly different from the later medals, which came in unpainted wooden boxes.

 

It is held shut by a clasp in the same way as the boxes for orders (kunsho) shown in the section that covers them.

 

            Here is a Sino-Japanese War Medal award certificate. It is 364mm (14-5/16”) high by 456mm (a shade under 18”) wide. It has no watermarks and no stamps or other marks on the back. The paper is like parchment, so even though it is thin it is fairly stiff. Sino-Japanese War certificates are pretty scarce, and this one has special interest because the recipient was a Captain in the Kempeitai, the Japanese military police, who had wide-ranging duties that made them much feared in occupied areas. The paper is rather yellowed, so even when I used colour-correction software the paper has a yellowish cast in most of the photos.

 

            This close-up of the writing on the right side of the certificate is an exception; the paper isn’t actually this white. The writing is in the traditional vertical style, reading from top to bottom, starting in the upper right corner and moving left and starting at the top again once you reach the bottom of each column.

            Here is what it says in Japanese:

First column on the right: Nip-pon tei-koku Mei-ji-ni-ju-nana-hachi-nen-ju-gun-ki-sho-no-sho

Second column from the right: Riku-gun-kem-pei-tai-i-sho-nana-i-kun-go-to-Taka-hashi-To-go

Third column from the right: Mei-ji-ni-ju-nana-hachi-nen-ju-gun-ki-sho-jo-rei-ni-yori

Fourth column from the right: Riku-gun-dai-jin-no-so-seio-in-shi-mei-ji-ni-ju-hachi nen-ju-gatsu-yo-ka

Fifth column from the right: Choku-tei-no-ju-gun-ki-sho-o-ju-yo-su

Last column on left: Mei-ji-san-ju-kyu-nen-shi-gatsu-ju-hachi-nichi

            A rough translation is as follows:

First column on right: “Japanese Empire Certificate for Medal for Military Service during Meiji 27-8 [1894-5]”

Second column: “Army Military Police Captain Togo Takahashi, 7th Rank, Holder of the 5th Order of Merit  [this is the name of the recipient; Takahashi, meaning literally “high bridge”, is his surname]

Third to fifth columns: “The Minister of War [literally “of the Army”] has petitioned the Emperor and received permission in accordance with the regulations regarding the Meiji 27-8 military service medal to award [you] this military service medal established by Imperial Edict on October 8, 1895”.

Last column on the left: “Dated January 8, 1895”.

 

The left side has the formalities from the Board of Decorations.

            Here is a transliteration of the Japanese characters from right to left:

First column (far right): sho-kun-kyoku-so-sai-sho-san-i-kun-it-to-shi-shaku-dai-kyu [or o-kyu]-Tsune [or Hisashi, Hitoshi or Wataru—there are several possible pronunciations of the given name].

Second column: Kono-sho-o-kan-sa-shi-dai-hachi-man-go-sen-ni-ju-go-o-mot-te

Third column: Mei-ji-ni-ju-nana-hachi-nen-ju-gun-ki-sho-bo-satsu-nito-roku-su.

Fourth column: Sho-kun-kyoku-sho-ki-kan-sho-go-i-kun-yon-to-yoko-ta-ka-nae.

Fifth column (far left): Sho-kun-kyoku-sho-ki-kan-sho-nana-i-fuji-i-zen-gen.

            Roughly translated, this means:

First column (far right): President of the Board of Decorations, Third Rank, Holder of the First Order of Merit, Viscount Tsune Daikyu [family name Daikyu]

Second & third columns: “Having verified this certificate, we have recorded it as number 85020 in the register of Meiji 27-8 military service medals”.

Fourth column: Secretary of the Board of Decorations, 5th Rank, Holder of the 4th Order of Merit, Kanae Yokota [family name=Yokota].

Fifth column: Secretary of the Board of Decorations, 7th Rank, Zengen Fujii [family name=Fujii].

            Here are close-ups of the small red seals that appear at the ends of these columns in each case where it contains a name. These name stamps are often used instead of signatures in Japan even today. They have the same characters as are in the names of the officials on the certificates. However, they look totally different, often almost unrecognizably so, because they are in a old-fashioned seal script now used almost exclusively on seals (some medals and their boxes also use this form of script).

            Here is the first one on the right, the name stamp of Viscount Tsune Daikyu.

 

The name stamp of Kanae Yokota.

 

Zengen Fujii.

 

Here is a close-up pf the Imperial Chrysanthemum that appears at the top centre of the certificate.

 

            This is the large seal that appears just below that. It has three columns of characters and is read column by column, right to left, starting in the upper right. It says Dai nippon teikoku shokunkyokuin. That means “Seal of the Empire of Greater Japan Board of Decorations”.

 

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

 

            I have another item from the Sino-Japanese War and this is as good a place to show it as any. The following photo is a woodblock print entitled Nisshin gekisen wagun daishori no zu (“Great Victory by the Japanese Army in the Hard-Fought War Against China”). Including the border it is 506 mm by 343 mm (20” by 13.5”). At the bottom it says it was printed on September 8, Meiji 27 (1894), and published (released) on September 10 of that year in Nagoya. I find it to be a fascinating combination of Japanese art style and modern subject matter. The scene is probably generic, done by someone who had never been to any of the battlefields. It was obviously part of a set of heroic scenes, as it says Dai yon zu (Picture number 4) at the top.

 

            In this close-up of the lower right of the print Japanese soldiers have their rifles by the muzzles and are wielding them like clubs as they chase the stereo-typed Chinese soldiers with pigtails. One Japanese soldier below the flag with the wavy red lines fends off an attack by a Chinese spear with one hand while wielding his rifle by the muzzle like a club with the other.

 

            In this close-up of the upper right of the print there are several intact bodies and a Chinese banner blown into the air above the point of impact of the cannon shot.

 

            If you would like to know more about the Sino-Japanese War, I highly recommend the book The Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895: Perceptions, Power and Primacy by S.C.M. Paine (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2003).

 

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Last updated: March 15, 2007. All contents are copyright Teri unless otherwise specified and may not be used elsewhere in any form without prior permission.