While doing other research in the archives, I ran into an 8-page army document from 1939, which explains the background for the army’s adoption of the rising sun and star insignia. All characters are badly smudged, virtually being solid black globs of ink, so reading the document was excruciating, but I think I managed to get more than 90% of it. This topic had been a discussion theme here a while back, so let’s hear the answer direct from the horse’s mouth.
In May 1939, the 4th Replacement Division (Replacement /recruiting division set up while the 4th Inft division was mobilized abroad) sent a memo to the Ministry of the Army, requesting information on the background for the army star.
To this inquiry, the ministry responded by quoting from an Oct 1926 article written for a Kaikousha (army officer’s club) magazine.
The establishment of the army’s insignia (Rising Sun and the Star) can be traced back to December 22, 1870 when the army established its various insignia.
The Rising Sun badge was among them as the badge for the front of the visor cap. Naturally this was from the sun worship in our country, but in order to explain how the sunburst design was reached, we first need to touch upon the adoption of the Rising Sun flag, as the regimental flag. This flag had taken shape by the end of 1869, and in April of 1870, it was first raised on the occasion of the Emperor’s inspection of the field exercise of the regiments. It was designed with a red orb symbolizing the sun, but soon it was realized that foreigners would only see it as a red ball and, not as a rising sun. So thin sun rays were added. This, however, brought criticism that it looked exactly like Kompeitou (Japanese Sugar Candy), so the rays were finally made broader.
It was the decision of Lt General Sukenori Soga to take the sun from the regimental flags and use it as a cap badge. The rising sun badge was first applied to the visor cap and then to the dress cap. The badge for the dress cap had a different ray pattern, consisting of 32 beams. At that time, officers had the sunburst in gold, NCOs in brass and EM in XX (cannot be read). Although one was called a Gunbo (visored cap) and the other a Seibou (dress cap), the visor cap was merely the dress cap worn without the plume in front.
The star insignia was adopted after the field cap was launched on 18th October 1873. It was taken from the star design on top of the visor/dress cap and used on the field cap. The star has long been said to be a symbol that warded off evil , and a similar legend coincidentally also exists in Europe. The reason for its use on the top of the French style hats is unclear, but it was used to denote rank, with Generals, having 6 gold stars, Lt General, 5 stars, General Major ,4 stars, and 3 for company officers, field grade officers having 2, and finally 1 for EM and NCOs. The 3 dimensional star design as used on visor caps today came in a bigger size in those days, but the shape was identical. Lt and above including army doctors would wear it in gold, and the accounting officers would have it in silver. The lower rank’s version of the star had a circle around it and NCOs wore it in brass, and EM in copper. At the time of establishment, field caps for EM and NCOs did not have a visor. This was changed in October of 1874, at which time a visor was added like those for officers.
The star badge for EM and NCOs, surrounded by a circle was later changed to the style worn by officers on the occasion of the uniform regulation change of 1886, which established class 1 and class 2 caps, of which class 2 was the field cap, and worn on this.
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Later, silver stars were discontinued and only gold stars remain as today. As to the origins of the XXX insignia, there exist many theories, the most bizarre, being that it was based on the fifth item in Emperor Meiji’s military code of conduct (Frugality) of 4th Jan.,1882. But as these events were 9 years apart, there can be no basis for this theory.
In May 1939, the 4th Replacement Division (Replacement /recruiting division set up while the 4th Inft division was mobilized abroad) sent a memo to the Ministry of the Army, requesting information on the background for the army star.
To this inquiry, the ministry responded by quoting from an Oct 1926 article written for a Kaikousha (army officer’s club) magazine.
The establishment of the army’s insignia (Rising Sun and the Star) can be traced back to December 22, 1870 when the army established its various insignia.
The Rising Sun badge was among them as the badge for the front of the visor cap. Naturally this was from the sun worship in our country, but in order to explain how the sunburst design was reached, we first need to touch upon the adoption of the Rising Sun flag, as the regimental flag. This flag had taken shape by the end of 1869, and in April of 1870, it was first raised on the occasion of the Emperor’s inspection of the field exercise of the regiments. It was designed with a red orb symbolizing the sun, but soon it was realized that foreigners would only see it as a red ball and, not as a rising sun. So thin sun rays were added. This, however, brought criticism that it looked exactly like Kompeitou (Japanese Sugar Candy), so the rays were finally made broader.
It was the decision of Lt General Sukenori Soga to take the sun from the regimental flags and use it as a cap badge. The rising sun badge was first applied to the visor cap and then to the dress cap. The badge for the dress cap had a different ray pattern, consisting of 32 beams. At that time, officers had the sunburst in gold, NCOs in brass and EM in XX (cannot be read). Although one was called a Gunbo (visored cap) and the other a Seibou (dress cap), the visor cap was merely the dress cap worn without the plume in front.
The star insignia was adopted after the field cap was launched on 18th October 1873. It was taken from the star design on top of the visor/dress cap and used on the field cap. The star has long been said to be a symbol that warded off evil , and a similar legend coincidentally also exists in Europe. The reason for its use on the top of the French style hats is unclear, but it was used to denote rank, with Generals, having 6 gold stars, Lt General, 5 stars, General Major ,4 stars, and 3 for company officers, field grade officers having 2, and finally 1 for EM and NCOs. The 3 dimensional star design as used on visor caps today came in a bigger size in those days, but the shape was identical. Lt and above including army doctors would wear it in gold, and the accounting officers would have it in silver. The lower rank’s version of the star had a circle around it and NCOs wore it in brass, and EM in copper. At the time of establishment, field caps for EM and NCOs did not have a visor. This was changed in October of 1874, at which time a visor was added like those for officers.
The star badge for EM and NCOs, surrounded by a circle was later changed to the style worn by officers on the occasion of the uniform regulation change of 1886, which established class 1 and class 2 caps, of which class 2 was the field cap, and worn on this.
\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\next few lines illegible\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
Later, silver stars were discontinued and only gold stars remain as today. As to the origins of the XXX insignia, there exist many theories, the most bizarre, being that it was based on the fifth item in Emperor Meiji’s military code of conduct (Frugality) of 4th Jan.,1882. But as these events were 9 years apart, there can be no basis for this theory.
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