The third time’s the charm, The Boxer Rebellion Medal of 1900

[Nick Komiya]

What is your point in item 6? Why first class for the Emperor? You mean when the emperor's already have much higher orders?
Presentation of the first class kite to Emperor Taisho was authorised on Sept 6th 1912.

By the way in 1897 there was a bit of a scandal when a Japanese army officer noticed that a German enlisted man was in possession of a breast star of the Grand Cordon of the Chrysanthemum. He discussed this with the general and was able to recover it. It turned out to be the one presented to the Chinese Emperor, which the German got as loot.

[JapanX]

You would like this too. The order adding the rosette to the 4th class dated 1937 Oct 5th

You know me too well

Thanks a lot!!!
Very useful and important information for kite-man

[JapanX]

What is your point in item 6? Why first class for the Emperor? You mean when the emperor's already have much higher orders?
Presentation of the first class kite to Emperor Taisho was authorised on Sept 6th 1912.

By the way in 1897 there was a bit of a scandal when a Japanese army officer noticed that a German enlisted man was in possession of a breast star of the Grand Cordon of the Chrysanthemum. He discussed this with the general and was able to recover it. It turned out to be the one presented to the Chinese Emperor, which the German got as loot.

Nice story Nick. Thief's are everywhere!

My point concerning Emperors - this is a pure military award. I mean what the heck?!
Emperor or no Emperor.... But it seems that it doesn't bother them ...

By the way, I am sure that you notice that at some photographs Meiji and Hirohito wear with 1 classes side by side 8 class of sacred treasure and rising sun.
Why is that? Demonstration purposes... But what demonstration purposes?

[Nick Komiya]

Your point 4, why no citations after 1940 is because they switched to issuing provisionary certificates for all orders after the massive awarding for the China Incident with the 1940 April 29th date. And these certificates also got dropped towards the end. The regulation change is worded in complicated legal terms with super-long sentences, etc, so I need to reread them carefully until I understand them fully, but it's the same story as the German Knight's Cross citations.

[Nick Komiya]

I haven't read it yet, but there was also an order issued on how guards and sentries needed to salute holders of the Golden Kite. If you start getting into these it never ends.

[kaigunair]

Archived! Another great article, well 2 articles in one!

My future medal topic request: how to date cases (hinge design, case script, lining/lacquering (?))

[b-m-n_animal]

NIck I just want to say thanks for all the work you put in to these explinations.

Paul.

[Nick Komiya]

Archived! Another great article, well 2 articles in one!

My future medal topic request: how to date cases (hinge design, case script, lining/lacquering (?))

That sounds dangerously close to the bird call for summoning Kite Man! I'm sure
he can teach you a lesson or two. POW! Wham!

[JapanX]

If you start getting into these it never ends.

It would be cool...
Never ending golden kite-quest.

That sounds dangerously close to the bird call for summoning Kite Man! I'm sure he can teach you a lesson or two. POW! Wham!

My tights aren't ready yet

[Nick Komiya]

I just uploaded unto the emperor's signature thread the reason why you don't find citations in general after 1940, including the total absence thereof for the "Chinese Collaborator's" medal.

Kite Man's other questions will probably be answered at some later time, more incidentally rather than through a targeted search, as I don't see any document titles that look promising. You just have to slug it out and read them all. However, I did find a few clues worthy of further study. Regarding the question why emperors wore Golden Kite 1st classes, there is a Q&A document filed from the days when Japan was still contemplating the establishment of orders and one of the questions was "on what authority did foreign sovereigns wear those high class orders?" The A for this Q explains that in European countries the sovereigns were often the head of an Order and as such qualified for the order simply for holding that position, not through merit. Anyway, this means that the Japanese understood that the emperor simply couldn't choose orders to wear to match his complexion. Unfortunately this Q&A comes from a time of transition when Japan was switching from brush to pen for writing official reports and some of the earlier pages are in the extreme cursive writing in brush, which even I cannot read easily.
Regarding the question of whether one could win Golden Kites in between wars, there is a regulation established in 1894 that lists in detail the acts of bravery that count for a Golden Kite. For instance, article 24 says, when one brings decisive victory in a battle by personally risking ones life to infiltrate enemy lines to gain critical information. Article 55 in a Navy scenario, qualifies the act of clearing mines to open a route for war ships to gain victory, etc. It goes on until Article 80 to pin down concrete criteria for consideration of a Golden Kite. I don't know whether any of those acts can be achieved in peace time, but if one reads it all one should be able to answer the question. I hate reading legal documents, so I won't get into it, but chances of winning a Kite in peace time looks slim to me. I thank the Kite Man for posing some interesting questions that yielded some very illuminating facts.

[JapanX]

I thank the Kite Man for posing some interesting questions that yielded some very illuminating facts.

At last! Sweet taste of success!
Maybe somebody will even print out my questions?!


Really appreciate your help.
Thank you man!

If you need anything just turn on the searchlight...



KiTe MaN