Tojo signed promotion document

[Papa Nambu]

I kind of doubt he personally signed it as I'm sure he was a busy man, but maybe at least he stamped it himself. In any case, 1st Lt Takano was promoted to Captain by PM Tojo's authority.




陸軍中尉 Army 1st Lt 高野 Takano 充博 Mitsuhiro

任陸軍大尉 Promotion to Army Captian

昭和十八年 三月 九日 Showa 18 Year (1943) March 9th

内閣総理大臣 Prime Minister 正三位 Shosanmi (Senior Third Court Rank) 勲一等 Order of the First Class 功 Distingished Service 二級 Secondary 東條英機宣 Tōjō Hideki

Red seal: 内閣 Cabinet ??

I could use a little help here from those of you who are more knowledgeable in Japanese than me; I can't read some of the old style kanji on the seal, and although I think I managed to translate PM Tojo's titles, I really don't understand most of them beyond Prime Minister.


Watermark of the Imperial Crest in the paper.

[GHP]

...

内閣 cabinet?

内閣之印
Naikan no In

"Seal of the Cabinet/Minister"

the 之 is funky and looks like 土; but it's really 之: Classical Chinese word for 的, meaning 'of'.

FYI Morphology:
"Funky 土" > 之 >乃 > の


--Guy

[J7W22007]

正三位 (Shou san mi) or おおいみつのくらい (Ooi Mitsu no Kurai) was also awarded to Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto after his death, which he was awarded on May 21st, 1943.

Tojo' s final 位階 (Iikai) - Court Rank was 従二位 (Jyu Ni I) 1945.

Regards,
Taka

[imperialjapan]

正三位 (senior 3rd Rank); 勲一等 (1st Class Decoration, usually the Rising Sun, but sometimes Sacred Treasure); 功二級 (2nd Class Order of the Golden Kite).

Of course not his signature--this is a printed document except for the date and personal name and rank of recipient--but his official seal is affixed. Most likely pressed by a subordinate, but the seal remains the same either way.

[Papa Nambu]

Thank you all for the information.

Holding it at an angle in the light I can see the difference in the ink from the printed and hand written parts, and even the date is printed, so there must have been many officer promotions that day. Only Takano's name is written.

I'm still pleased with this document as an officer rank promotion and stamped with the PM's seal.