KIA medal/Enshrinement badge + rest of the collection

[dewoitine]

Hello gents,

I'm still learning as much as I can but sometimes my own sources are not enough.

My latest addition:


This website was great and full of infos:
http://www.imperialjapanmedalsandbadges.com/kia.html and http://www.imperialjapanmedalsandbad.../yasukuni.html
So if I'm right the date is Showa 19 = 1944 and the season was Autumn.
It seems that the paper bag was for the enshrinement badge and is quite rare.

The rest is more problematic 973 should be the group number but I can't find any individual number.
Concerning the 2 central stamped kaji I have found this (I try to count the number of strokes but I nearly always fail) :
東= East?
束= control?
So Eastern command?

Is there any usefull information on the paper bag?
As it's late war maybe they were no longer giving individual numbers?
Any help or advice would be very much appreciated.

And as you may like to see that I'm not using your informations to sell my items with a much higher price on ebay
Most of them were posted on this board.





The framing was very expensive and the support is made in Isorel/Masonite wich is a very bad thing for silk and cotton. So I have added a thick layer of black cotton on the support and a 2nd layer of untreated one behind the objects. I hope that it's going to be enough.






The orange thing on the background is unrelated and quite older, it's a Roman tile with the footprint of a cat

Best regards,
Cyril

[Nick Komiya]

Your "Eastern Command" is actually "Eastern Capital", which is pronounced Tokyo. If the group and individual number business is correct, Tokyo would be denoting the group and 973 will be your individual number. Autumn of 1944 is correct. The bag tells you to sew the badge firmly on the right chest, as they won't issue a new one in case of loss. Also that those not wearing this badge may not be treated as a bereaved family at the shrine ceremony. Frankly, I personally think it makes more sense, if the numbers were the "seat number" and individual number. These are parents of dead soldiers, surely with elderly people among them, so I would hope that they at least had the decency to offer the poor sods a seat. Tokyo in that case would be a block of seats within which would be free seating on a first come first served basis, an arrangement that entails less admin. Or it may even be that by 1944, they no longer had enough seats to seat the masses of people who had lost a son(s), and had to offer a cordoned off standing area assigned to the regions of Japan.

[GeorgeP]

Nice collection! Those numbered enshrinement badges are quite collectible at this time. Do you know any details of your IJA booklet? Any unit history details written inside?

Thanks!



Tom

[Nick Komiya]

There are photo albums of each event from 1937 to 42 on the net. Let me show you how the guests were accomodated for the 42 event, which should support my seat number theory.

[dewoitine]

Thanks Nick!

I know that Yasukuni record books are not public but if there any association or individual that I can contact to find more informations about this soldier?

Regards,
Cyril

[Nick Komiya]

The record books for the years above are open to the public on the net, but I see no such thing as individual numbers. Here's part of a page. It tells you Army or Navy, Name and Rank and Home address. Nothing to tie the badge number to the deceased.

[dewoitine]

Nice collection! Those numbered enshrinement badges are quite collectible at this time. Do you know any details of your IJA booklet? Any unit history details written inside?

Thanks!



Tom

Of course Tom! But you already helped me a lot with this one in this thread:
http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...d.php?t=704150 so thanks again.

The last page wich was missing in the 1st post and dealing with the sad fate of this soldier:


I should get another one from Japan in a few days. In this one the soldier was promoted from private to lance-corporal and he got some awards. The time frame seems to be 1938-44. I will post it ASAP.

[Nick Komiya]

Here are the photo albums and the KIA lists. Down you will see boxes with Meiji to Showa dates
each of them will take you to the album for that year's ceremony. At the end of each album are the lists of the honored war dead. Enjoy. http://www2.kokugakuin.ac.jp/kaihats...isai_menu.html

[Nick Komiya]

Interesting to see foreign officers in attendance

[GeorgeP]

Cool, thanks! Looking forward to seeing your next booklet!


Tom

[dewoitine]

Thanks again Nick, very interesting pics!
I have just ordered an ebook about this ceremony and other Japanese medals.