Badge

[Joebob]

Anyone know what this is? It has # 121 & some kanji on lower left, dont know if its clear enough to read. Its a little bigger than a quarter. I have bout 30 of them, all w close #'s. Looks to me like they were collected off uniforms on the battlefield. Dont think my pic loaded, am getting upload error.

[Papa Nambu]

Hard to read, but might be 舩 "Boat/ship"

[GHP]

Hard to read, but might be 舩 "Boat/ship"

Concur! I downloaded the image and diddled the light ratio ... it's the old-style kanji for 船

--Guy

[Joebob]

Badge

I noticed on the bag that they came in, it says japanese uniform. Papa, your kanji looks close, I've coppied it best I could, & it looks close. There are 52 of them in the bag, & they have 2 holes, like button holes (for sewing on uniforms?) I dont understand why it would say boat or ship, would it be SNLF? GHP, old style kanji for what? Many thanks guys. Hope my image loaded.

[GHP]

... GHP, old style kanji for what? Many thanks guys. Hope my image loaded.

舩 > 船

Both kanji mean "ship". Written Japanese underwent a "downsizing" after the war and many kanji were somewhat simplified (but NOT as severly changed as in Mainland China!).

Sidetrack: This kanji is part of my wife's name, and when explaining how to write it to Japanese, she says "Large Boat kanji". The "small boat kanji" looks like this > 舟 and the dictionary says: "舟 is often small and hand-propelled."

By the way, JoeBob .... your stroke-order and balance of the written 舩 is PERFECT! Well done!!

--Guy

[Joebob]

Badge

Thanks GHP! So does anyone have any idea what these are? Why does it say ship? Each one has a 3 digit number from about 104 to 160, like they belonged to a group.







E=GHP;5705323]舩 > 船













Both kanji mean "ship". Written Japanese underwent a "downsizing" after the war and many kanji were somewhat simplified (but NOT as severly changed as in Mainland China!).

Sidetrack: This kanji is part of my wife's name, and when explaining how to write it to Japanese, she says "Large Boat kanji". The "small boat kanji" looks like this > 舟 and the dictionary says: "舟 is often small and hand-propelled."

By the way, JoeBob .... your stroke-order and balance of the written 舩 is PERFECT! Well done!!

--Guy[/QUOTE]

[Papa Nambu]

I noticed on the bag that they came in, it says japanese uniform. Papa, your kanji looks close, I've copied it best I could, & it looks close. There are 52 of them in the bag, & they have 2 holes, like button holes (for sewing on uniforms?) I dont understand why it would say boat or ship, would it be SNLF? GHP, old style kanji for what? Many thanks guys. Hope my image loaded.

It's no normal navy issue item that I've seen before, so I can't just point you to any reference and say "This is what it is".

As for their purpose, you haven't provided enough information for us to work with. You're assuming battlefield pick up, but do you have any information pointing to that? Many Japanese souvenirs GIs brought back were picked up during the occupation. While the sakura blossom is used on some naval insignia, it's also used as just a common design motif in Japan, and as anyone who frequents this board has seen, just because it caught some soldier or sailor's eye and he brought it home with him, doesn't mean it was anything military (school badges, sports awards, advertising banners, we see all that posted here by people who assumed it was some military collectable).

So, what other information do you have to work with? Was there anything with them? Do you know who found them? What's the back look like?

If I were forced to take a guess I'd say they are visitor passes or maybe something to keep track of how many people have boarded/gone ashore.

[Joebob]

Badge

Thanks, Papa. I have about 50 of them that came in a bag marked Japanese uniform. The guy I bought them from has since died. He had a small store in a small town, & used to have people coming in all the time w/ stuff to sell. I remember he always had about a dozen Japenese swords that he probably bought for a song, among many other items. The badges are cheap looking stamped aluminum. I think I would rule out it being some kind of pass cuz of the 2 "button holes" in them. The numbers on them are all close to each other. Thats about all I know about it. What think?

[Papa Nambu]

Unless a photo of someone wearing one turns up I won't assume it's part of any military uniform. There's a lot of people here who know IJN uniforms and so far no one recognizes this as being part of one.

[imperialjapan]

What does the reverse look like? Any attachment device?
Generally speaking, when referring to a Navy warship the kanji '艦 (kan)' is used, not 船. The latter is used on commercial vessels. (Correct me if I am wrong.)
I agree that this badge does not appear to have a military connection.

[Joebob]

Badge

The back has nothing on it, it's stamped of thin aluminum, & has 2 "button holes" in it.