Awards of Admiral Togo and General Nogi

[Dieter3]

What happened to the orders and medals awarded to these two men? Did they end up in a museum or other institution? :unsure:

[RichC]

Off the top of my head, with no facts to back up what I say, I imagine that one of two scenarios happened. 1. In a museum 2. Still in the family. I tend to think #2 is most likely.

[Paul L Murphy]

Most of Togo's are on display in the Mikasa at Yokotsuka. I say "most" since from memory they are missing his Marshal's Badge. No idea where Nogi's are.

[Dieter3]

Did either of the men have descendants (that survived the war years, early and late)? They still have family today?

Mikasa Park is on my list of many places to go when I head back to Japan next year (hopefully....) - my poor wife, she's gonna be so bored! :rolleyes:

[Verdun1916]

I just came back from Japan 3 weeks ago and visited the Mikasa with a friend of mine, Warren Sessler. They have a new display in the center of the ship, two floors down, with all of Admiral Togo's awards, including the Marshal's badge. My friend Warren, once had the largest Japanese Orders and Medals collection in the world in the late 1960s, and worked with Peterson on the OMSA monograph (first edition). Most of the pieces in the book once belonged to Warren. He stated that the last time he visited the Mikasa, only a small portion of Togo's pieces were present, but it now appears that they have decided to display them all. I highly recommend visiting the ship if you go to Tokyo. It's only about an hour and a half to two hour train ride away.

[beriwilliams]

I visited the Mikasa in 2010 and noted that several Orders were missing from the display: Order of Merit, military division (Great Britain); Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order (Great Britain); Grand Cross of the Order of Naval Merit (Spain); Grand Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta (Poland); Order of St Anne, 1st class (Russia, awarded concurrently with the Order of the White Eagle); and Order of St Stanislas, 1st class (Russia, awarded concurrently with the Order of the White Eagle). The missing British Orders are explainable because they may have been returned on the death of the recipient. As for the other missing awards, I don't know where they ended up...

[Dieter3]

These following photos are all from Mikasa, October 2010. But are these Togo's awards? I was led to believe that the first photo actually named the recipient of these awards, but maybe not:

[Dieter3]

[Dieter3]

[Dieter3]

[Dieter3]

And then these I think were there as just random examples of Russo-Japan War era medals. Pretty faded, unfortunately:

Edited November 21, 2012 by Dieter3

[Dieter3]

[JapanX]

And then these I think were there as just random examples of Russo-Japan War era medals. Pretty faded, unfortunately:

By the way, this 5th class from R-J war completely coincide with my classification

Cool photos! :cheers:

[pieter1012]

Hi All,

I haven't visited the Mikasa for some time, but originally the awards displayed in the middle section, and of which Dieter shows the photographs, are the orders of fleet admiral Prince Fushimi. In one of the pictures (#9) you can also see the ultra rare non Christian version of the Russian order of St Andreas, which was never awarded to admiral Togo.

Just after the war, the well known Japanese collector Nakabori bought all the orders, including the documents, of admiral Togo from his family, who were in dire financial straits like all military families. When SCAP came to Japan all Japanese military were dismissed without pension or other income from the State. I presume also the relatives of deceased military, such as Togo, inadvetrrtedly also did not receive pension anymore. Togo came from a modest family and left no big money when he died.

In the books Nakabori published some of Togo's orders and certificates were always published, such as his collar of the Chrysanthemum, Golden Kite and British order of Merit (military). Mr. Nakabori used to have an antique shop in Ginza (Hattoya) many years ago which I visted several times when I was living in Japan and once in a while he would display some of Togo's orders. I speak of many years ago and Mr. Nakabori must have passed away already. Reading Verdun's post and if he is certain they were Togo's orders, apparently his family has sold or donated the Togo orders to the Mikasa foundation, and I will certainly visit the Mikasa when I visit Japan again next year.

Pieter

Edited November 21, 2012 by pieter1012

[pieter1012]

Looking at Dieter's pictures again, I remember what suprised me then, is that also the extremely rare grandcross of the order of Kamehameha of Hawaii was displayed. I recognize it again in picure #8 above the marshall's badge. What I wondered then, and still now, is that Prince Fushimi must have received this order at very young age. He was born in 1875 and the Hawaiïan kingdom ceased to exist in 1893. But then among kings and princes anything is possible.

Pieter

[JapanX]

... the order of Kamehameha of Hawaii was displayed ...

Certainly looks like one

Thanks for all this info Pieter :cheers:

[Dieter3]

By the way, this 5th class from R-J war completely coincide with my classification

Indeed!!

Hi All,

I haven't visited the Mikasa for some time, but originally the awards displayed in the middle section, and of which Dieter shows the photographs, are the orders of fleet admiral Prince Fushimi. In one of the pictures (#9) you can also see the ultra rare non Christian version of the Russian order of St Andreas, which was never awarded to admiral Togo.

Just after the war, the well known Japanese collector Nakabori bought all the orders, including the documents, of admiral Togo from his family, who were in dire financial straits like all military families. When SCAP came to Japan all Japanese military were dismissed without pension or other income from the State. I presume also the relatives of deceased military, such as Togo, inadvetrrtedly also did not receive pension anymore. Togo came from a modest family and left no big money when he died.

In the books Nakabori published some of Togo's orders and certificates were always published, such as his collar of the Chrysanthemum, Golden Kite and British order of Merit (military). Mr. Nakabori used to have an antique shop in Ginza (Hattoya) many years ago which I visted several times when I was living in Japan and once in a while he would display some of Togo's orders. I speak of many years ago and Mr. Nakabori must have passed away already. Reading Verdun's post and if he is certain they were Togo's orders, apparently his family has sold or donated the Togo orders to the Mikasa foundation, and I will certainly visit the Mikasa when I visit Japan again next year.

Pieter

Verdun's post was from October 2009 though, so I don't think this could be anything of Togo's. I'm guessing he saw the same thing shown in the above photos and perhaps assumed these were Togo's, unless the collections were swapped between October 2009 and October 2010.

Nogi's Golden Kite and Scared Treasure Cordons were on display in a separate area, same deck. Pictures of those are elsewhere on the forum here.

Do let us know what you discover next year Pieter!

[pieter1012]

Dieter,

you are right about Verdun, I didn't look at the date of his post. He must have seen the same orders as you, because these have been displayed at the Mikasa for many years.

By the way, reading my post again fresh in the morning, the assumption about the pension of Togo's relatives is of course wrong because the wife of Togo died not long after Togo in 1934 and his children, two sons and a daughter were already in their sixties at the end of the war. I wrote the post very late yesterday night and that must have blurred my thinking. It could be that the two sons were also in the navy and that their income or pension was cut after the war as with all military personnel, but I have no information on their careers.

As for general Nogi, his two sons were junior officers in the Russo-Japanese war and both were killed in action. They were still unmarried. I have a prewar Japanese postcard showing Nogi's orders and medals, as well as those of his sons. Both received posthumously the fifth class Golden Kite. The postcard shows a.o. the grandcross Golden Kite, grandcross Rising Sun with Paulonia as well as his grandcross Bath, including the collar. It looks like a photo from a display, and it could be that they were displayed before the war at the Nogi shrine in Tokyo, where also his wooden house still stands, and have been moved to the Mikasa when it became a museum.

Pieter

[Dieter3]

Also from Mikasa, some of Togo's uniforms:

[Dieter3]

[Dieter3]

Good view of the slits for the breast stars:

[JapanX]

Sweet! :beer:

[Paul R]

Thank you for sharing these great photos. To be able to see that must have been a once in a lifetime experience.

[Claudio]

Here a painting I have seen on the Mikasa in Tokyo of Admiral Togo... Enjoy! ;-)

[Alex K]

Hi looking at the image posted by Claudio, I don't recognise this particular star, looks like a mix between a Paulownia star and a Chrysanthemum, but is it a special grade?

 

thanks

 

Alex K