Kamikazi Sake cup

[Paul G]

Hello everyone,
I have heard of these style sake cups reffered to as Kamikazi sake cups. Is there any truth to this? Is it sellers hype or wishful collectors? Any input is appreciated. Thanks

PG-

[Stu W]

Hi Paul,

Nice looking cup.

I can't answer your question but have two links in my files that may prove helpful if you don't get an answer here at WAF.

http://www.imperialjapansakecups.com/

and

http://historicalconsulting.com/mybook.html

Regards,
Stu

[GeorgeP]

I echo Stu about Rich's site: imperialjapansakecups, i believe he wrote about this style of cup, it should be within the site map somewhere. If I remember right, kamikaze cups were unadorned, nothing on them pointed to kamikaze usage. There are some tokkuri and cups with japanese zeros and kamikaze kanji periodically on ebay that are what i would call fantasy pieces but still make money for the sellers touting them as original kamikaze items.

Tom

[GeorgeP]

here is the link to that page:


http://www.imperialjapansakecups.com/fakes.html



Tom

[brannow]

There is a samurai story that its better to fall in full bloom like the cherry blossom falls from the cherry tree. The story with these is that they symbolizes the cherry blossom falling from the blue sky in full bloom.

[Papa Nambu]

Japanese put cherry blossoms on everything, it's a very common design element.

[Paul G]

Thanks for the links and information guys. I bought it mainly because I liked the way it looked, and I knew it was at least a period cup. I remember back in the day, the story was, like you guys said, the cherry blossom falling from the sky as a Kamikaze would. It was also said the blossom had no color, as it represented the death of the falling blossom. All makes a great story! This was an E-bay purchase, and if the seller was trying to get extra money for the story, it didn't work. I paid less than a dollar it. It does make a nice display.

PG-

[GeorgeP]

Case in point:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/WW2-KAMIKAZE...item1c2869f4eb


Tom

[Bob Chatt]

About five years ago, on one of our trips to Japan, Dan Griffin and I were each given one of these cups.
They came from a old antique dealer, who is the greatest scrounge in the world, and who actually has a very good grasp of military items. His main client is Yasakuni museum, but were trying to change that, but that's another story.
Any of you who have ever dealt with the Japanese one on one, know how they always give a present during or after the deal. This guy gave Dan and I each one of these cups. We thought it was just another sake cup but he then went on to explain that these were really late war Army Kamikazee sake cups. Each young pilot would take a drink, and it was like saying he had then had a woman and could go on to his mission. He also explained that the stylized star was specific to a certain Army Kamikazee base. I have never seen any other reference to these, but this dealer has never lied to us before, and it wasn't like he was trying to sell it, it was a gift.