General Nogi's Pour le Merite

[DarthZealous]

General Togi received the Pour le Merite from Imperial Germany in 1905 or 1906, depending on the source,  but does anyone know what happened to his insignia? Is it on display somewhere? And are their any images of him wearing it all?

Given the Kaiser's dislike of the Japanese I was really surprised to see it listed that he received the honour, but Wilhelm II might have been spurred on given the General's martial success, and the fact that the British Order of Merit in its military class had been bestowed on several other leading Japanese military figures.

[Nick Komiya]

Nogi's orders are on display at Nogi Shrine and other items at Yasukuni. His Blue Max should also be at one of those places.

As to the timing and reasons for ironically stoking the fire of the "Gelbe Gefahr" by presenting the order to Nogi,,you can hear that directly from the horse's mouth below. He was merely making up for the mistake he made in having awarded General Stessel the same previously; to a man the Russians later sentenced to death for cowardice.

At Nogi Shrine you can also see the sword that he and his wife killed themselves with following the Emperor's death.

[JapanX]

11 hours ago, Nick Komiya said:

He was merely making up for the mistake he made in having awarded General Stessel the same previously; to a man the Russians later sentenced to death for cowardice.

 

 

Nope, he wasn`t.

They got their awards simultaneously

A short note from Russian newspaper "Russian Word", December, 30, 1904 (January 12, 1905 by the new style)

BERLIN, December, 29, 1904 (January 11) Emperor Wilhelm awarded generals Stessel and Nogi with order "pour le merite" in token of their bravery and heroism during Port Arthur siege. Emperor made a request by telegraph to His Emperor Majesty and mikado asking them to give their consent to this awarding.

Original russian text

БЕРЛИН, 29-го декабря, 1904 (11-го января) Император Вильгельм пожаловал генералам Стесселю и Ноги в знак внимания к их храбрости и героизму во время осады Порт-Артура орден "pour le merite" ("За заслуги"). Император обратился по телеграфу к Государю Императору и микадо с просьбой дать согласие на это пожалование.

 

[JapanX]

 

 

Source

 

[pieter1012]

I checked several Japanese books and found one photo of general Nogi with, I am almost sure, the Pour le Merite. Unfortunately, the order is not clearly visible, but the shape is exactly the same. As Nogi is also wearing the grandcross star of the Sacred Treasure, the photo must be taken before the end of the Russo-Japanese war, because after that he received the grand cross of the Golden Kite and again later the Rising Sun with Paulonia Flowers.

I also have a prewar postcard of the orders and medals of general Nogi, as used to be exhibited in his house after his death. As you can see no Pour le Merite is included, perhaps because of WWI? By the way, the posthumous medals of both his sons are also shown. 

I visited the Nogi shrine beginning of this year for "shogatsu" and in the display room only the grand cross Golden Kite was exhibited. His other decorations may be at the Yasukuni shrine museum. I haven't been there for a while, but will try to visit it coming January and will check if Nogi's other orders/medals are there.

Regards, Pieter

[JapanX]

28 minutes ago, pieter1012 said:

I checked several Japanese books and found one photo of general Nogi with, I am almost sure, the Pour le Merite. Unfortunately, the order is not clearly visible, but the shape is exactly the same.

Here comes a better photo.

Dear Pieter, hope you are well   

Stessel with his "blue max"

Edited October 8, 2017 by JapanX

[DarthZealous]

Brilliant. Many thanks to everyone who commented and provided images. 

[pieter1012]

Hello Nick,

that is a very nice photo of general Nogi with the Pour le Merite. Haven't seen that one before.

here everything is OK with me, spending my time between Europe and Japan. As for our common hobby, collecting Japanese stuff has become so expensive that most is beyond the means of a retired civil servant. On ebay a prewar Showa grandcross document of the Rising Sun recently sold for over 3000 US$! Yahoo Jp is not much better. But I am content with what I have and enjoy it.

I am now interested in the history of Papal medals and documents related to the Risorgimento, when Pope Pius IX lost most of his temporal power. Many Dutch young catholics joined the zouaves to defend the Pope, so from time to time nice items show up here for a reasonable price.

Regards, Pieter

[JapanX]

Yes, prices are way too high.

It's good to know that you're fine.

Best of luck with Papal medals

Best,

Nick

[DarthZealous]

I happened to find this photo of the General during a visit to Berlin, where he can be clearly seen wearing his honour.