Nambu World: Women’s Paramilitary Association Badges

(under construction-much more to come!

This is a small silver-coloured pin complete with its original red cardboard box. The pin has an anchor to represent the Navy and a star to represent the Army. It was for a tsu-jo kai-in, or “ordinary member” of the Ai-koku fu-jin-kai, or “Women’s Patriotic Association”. This was the older of the two paramilitary organizations for women. It tended to have the middle and upper class women and was not nearly as active as the organization that later came to dominate, the Dainippon Kokubo Fukinkai (Greater Japan Defense Women’s Association).

Here is the back. The column in the centre says Ai-koku-fu-jin-kai, or Women’s Patriotic Association. The columns on the right and then the left are read together. The left column says tsu-jo, “ordinary”, and the column on the right says kai-in, “member”.

The box says tsu-jo (top two characters, left to right) kai-in-sho (central column of three characters, top to bottom), or “member’s badge”.

I will also be posting many more badges from this organization as well as the Women’s National Defense Association and the Japan Women’s Association, theorganization formed when the earlier two merged in 1942

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

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

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

Last updated: July 15, 2006. All contents are copyright Teri unless otherwise specified and may not be used elsewhere in any form without prior permission.