The 1900 War Medal / 明治三十三年従軍記章

[No one]

Dear Gentlemen,

 

In his excellent monograph "Orders & Medals of Japan and Associated States" James W. Peterson wrote about the bar of the "1900 War Medal", I quote "... and the attached bar is of the usual form, with four seal characters translating "China Incident"". I think that the four seal characters stand for "Qing Dynasty Incident".

 

 

Yours sincerely,

No one

[JapanX]

It is absolutely true.

 

清國 - Qing Dynasty (清 was constantly used as synonym to "Qing Empire"/"China Empire" on unofficial 1894-95 medals https://asiamedals.info/forums/1894-95-sino-japanese-war-unofficial-medals.735/)

事變 - Incident; Hostility

 

Best,

Nick

 

 

Edited January 27, 2023 by JapanX

[No one]

Dear JapanX,

 

Thanks again for this link, I didn't know there were so many unofficial 1894-95 medals.

Your work is very impressive, it's a real pleasure to study it.

Yours sincerely,

No one

[TracA]

Greetings,

 

I thought that I would add to this wonderful and informative post started by No One and contributed to by JapanX.

 

Below is my recently obtained 1900 War Medal/Boxer Rebellion Medal. To me what makes this example special is the handwritten kanji and clearly what appears to be a stamped red circle with two kanji inside, all on the underside of the lid. As usual I struggle with the kanji transcription and interpretation. So, I’ll have questions to go along with the picture of the underside of the lid.

 

Thank you.

 

Tracy

 

Obverse:

 

 

Reverse:

 

 

Box lid with the gilt inscription 明治三十三年従軍記章 for “Meiji Year 33 War Medal”. 1900 was the 33rd year of Meiji:

 

 

Underside of the lid. The right column is 従軍記章え?番号. I cannot figure out what the sixth kanji is or what it and the fifth could mean together. I believe that the other kanji translate to “War medal…number”.

 

The left column is 第四十貮百六拾?師. I believe that the first eight kanji translate to “Number 4260”. I cannot figure out what the eighth kanji is but I have an inkling that it and the ninth kanji might be a surname. Perhaps 若師, Wakashi?

 

 

Close-up of the two kanji inside a circle, all stamped in red: I believe that the first kanji is 岩 and the second kanji is possibly, maybe 岸 for a combined 岩岸, meaning Iwakishi? Could this be a manufacturer’s stamp? Maybe a place name, perhaps the city of Iwaki in Fukushima prefecture, a place where the recipient was issued the medal?

 

[No one]

Dear TracA,

 

 

 

Yours sincerely,

No one

[TracA]

Dear No One,

 

Thank you so much for your assistance. Although I was able to figure out that 貮 and 拾 are document kanji for numbers, I failed to realize, among other things, that 壱 is also.

 

Regarding the red stamped surname Iwaki, I assume that is the surname of the official (?) who actually certified that this was medal No. 4261.

 

Thank you again.

 

All the best,

 

Tracy

[hxihiu111]

Perhaps the name of manufacturer.

[No one]

Dear TracA,

 

" Regarding the red stamped surname Iwaki, I assume that is the surname of the official (?) who actually certified that this was medal No. 4261. "

 

Yes, I think so. This seal is the equivalent of a signature and makes the text official.

 

As for the last kanji "𭈹"  it is more often/commonly written  "號".

 

 

Yours sincerely,

No one

Edited September 2, 2023 by No one

[TracA]

On 01/09/2023 at 20:18, hxihiu111 said:

Perhaps the name of manufacturer.

 

At first that's what I thought, but when I couldn't find reference to that manufacturer at Medals of Asia (https://asiamedals.info/#japan.459) and after No One helped me translate the kanji, I then figured that the stamp was that of the certifying official.

 

Tracy

On 01/09/2023 at 22:15, No one said:

Dear TracA,

 

" Regarding the red stamped surname Iwaki, I assume that is the surname of the official (?) who actually certified that this was medal No. 4261. "

 

Yes, I think so. This seal is the equivalent of a signature and makes the text official.

 

As for the last kanji "𭈹"  it is more often/commonly written  "號".

 

 

Yours sincerely,

No one

 

No One,

 

You read my mind. I was having much difficulty transcribing that last kanji as I could only find it as two separate characters and not a single character. 

 

Thank you, as always.

 

Tracy