Gordon Williamson Posted May 12, 2005 Share Posted May 12, 2005 Introduced 10 April 1875. Awarded to both civilians and military. The majority of the lower grades as shown here were military. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gordon Williamson Posted May 12, 2005 Author Share Posted May 12, 2005 (edited) Obverse shows a cluster of Paulonia leaves with flowers above. Edited May 12, 2005 by Gordon Williamson Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gordon Williamson Posted May 12, 2005 Author Share Posted May 12, 2005 Plain reverse with Kanji characters spelling out "Order of Merit Decoration" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gordon Williamson Posted May 18, 2005 Author Share Posted May 18, 2005 Seventh grade. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gordon Williamson Posted May 18, 2005 Author Share Posted May 18, 2005 Close up obverse. Design as for 8th Class but inlaid with green enamel on the leaves and purple on the flowers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gordon Williamson Posted May 18, 2005 Author Share Posted May 18, 2005 Reverse Close Up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ulsterman Posted May 19, 2005 Share Posted May 19, 2005 Nice. Do you have more information about who got what class of award?When did you start collecting Japanese stuff? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gordon Williamson Posted June 4, 2005 Author Share Posted June 4, 2005 6th Class Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gordon Williamson Posted June 4, 2005 Author Share Posted June 4, 2005 Obverse close up Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gordon Williamson Posted June 4, 2005 Author Share Posted June 4, 2005 Reverse. Although it looks black in the scan, the centre is deep red enamel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gordon Williamson Posted June 4, 2005 Author Share Posted June 4, 2005 Info on them isn't that easy to come by. I've only found one really useful book so far "Orders and Medals of Japan and Associated States" by J W Peterson.There were three main Orders, the Rising Sun ( for general merit both military and civil), the Sacred Treasure ( also both military and civil, usually awarded as a long service type decoration) and the Golden Kite which was purely military.As far as I can see, awards were by rank. For example, the Golden Kite -Generals 1st Grade to 3rd Grade, Field Grade Officers ( Majors, Colonels etc) 2nd to 4th Grades, Junior Officers 3rd to 5th Grades, NCOs 4th to 6th Grades, and enlisted men 5th to 7th Grades.I only recently developed an interest but got hooked pretty quick for several reasons, first the quality is superb, second apart from some of the really high grade Japanese awards which went to royalty etc they aren't much faked so originals are easy to find and best of all they aren't too expensive though the really high grades can fetch in the thousands. Certainly cheaper than 3rd Reich pieces !Nice. Do you have more information about who got what class of award?When did you start collecting Japanese stuff?← Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Darrell Posted June 4, 2005 Share Posted June 4, 2005 Nice stuff Gordon. I've always been tempted to dive into Japanese Orders, but I'm already into about 10 countries as it is Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gordon Williamson Posted June 4, 2005 Author Share Posted June 4, 2005 Yes, the temptation is very strong. I've a whole load of others "in the pipeline". To be honest, I think I actually prefer this stuff to the German.The award docs are sometimes available too, problem is trying to figure out what they are for, in Japanese characters !!! :speechless-smiley-004: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gordon Williamson Posted June 11, 2005 Author Share Posted June 11, 2005 Another, earlier 6th Class. The shape of the white sunburst rays was changed in 1940. This is the earlier version. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gordon Williamson Posted June 11, 2005 Author Share Posted June 11, 2005 Close up obverse Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gordon Williamson Posted June 11, 2005 Author Share Posted June 11, 2005 Reverse Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gordon Williamson Posted June 11, 2005 Author Share Posted June 11, 2005 The change in shape is more apparent when the two are compared side by side. This was done because the old shape for the 6th Class was identical to the 5th Class but for the outer rays being pale gilded. Visually the two were too similar to tell apart unless you were close up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gerd Becker Posted June 11, 2005 Share Posted June 11, 2005 These are really beautiful awards, Gordon. Here is a medalbar, which i found on a dealers site with a Order of the Rising Sun 6th class. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gordon Williamson Posted June 11, 2005 Author Share Posted June 11, 2005 Hi Gerd,Nice group. Thats actually a 7th Class, not 6th. Next is a China Incident Medal, the Commemorative Medal for the 2600th Anniversary of the foundation of the Japanese Empire (celebrated in 1940) and a Japanese Red Cross membership medal. Certainly the group of a WW2 junior ranking soldier (Enlisted man or a Corporal etc). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gerd Becker Posted June 11, 2005 Share Posted June 11, 2005 Hi Gerd,Nice group. Thats actually a 7th Class, not 6th. Next is a China Incident Medal, the Commemorative Medal for the 2600th Anniversary of the foundation of the Japanese Empire (celebrated in 1940) and a Japanese Red Cross membership medal. Certainly the group of a WW2 junior ranking soldier (Enlisted man or a Corporal etc).←Hi Gordon,thanks for correction and info. I don?t recall, that i have ever seen one of the higher grades on medalbars. I would love to see a photo.Grd Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gordon Williamson Posted July 20, 2005 Author Share Posted July 20, 2005 A rather well worn fifth class. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gordon Williamson Posted July 20, 2005 Author Share Posted July 20, 2005 On this grade the metal parts are gilded except for the diagonal rays which remain silver. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gordon Williamson Posted July 20, 2005 Author Share Posted July 20, 2005 Reverse Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gordon Williamson Posted August 7, 2005 Author Share Posted August 7, 2005 Spotted on E-Bay. Although these Japanese awards ( apart from the very rare high grades) haven't really been targetted by fakers (yet!!), some were apparently made outside Japan, France having been named as one country where some were made up for French nationals entitled to the award. These "foreign" made pieces are often innacurate as seen on the suspension of this piece. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Brian von Etzel Posted August 7, 2005 Share Posted August 7, 2005 Here are a couple. Sorry when I photographed the lesser on the right the ribbon wasn't on it.These are my mother's favorites. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now