The Order of the Rising (Kyuokujitsusho) was the first order
established in Japan, and is both civil and military, being oftenly awarded to
foreigners for their services to Japan. More than four million have been awarded, most of
them as military awards of the two lower classes. The ribbon is 30 mm. wide, white with
6 mm. red edges, but there are 36 mm. wide original ribbons too. This medal is
composed by two different pieces:
- the Imperial pawlonia crest (5, 7, 5 flower in 1st-4th class, 3, 5, 3 in 5th-6th
classes)
- a red sun encircled by 32 white enamelled rays forming eight points.
Reverse shows a four character inscription meaning "order of the merit
decoration". The first class is also called the badge of the Grand Cordon. It is build in goldplated
silver enamelled white, with a sash of 106 mm. white with 18 mm. red edges. The breast
star (convexed) and the second class are goldplated enamelled silver too, with the sun
superimposed on a 8-point star of 24 double-pointed silver rays with raised polished edges
and a grained surface. The reverse, in silver, has four screwheads. The second class
owners also have a neck badge identical to the 3rd class one. This 3rd class (Medium
Cordon) is suspended by a golden loop of 36 mm. cravat. Images of 2nd class
Breast Star in this page are supplied by courtesy of Yuri Yashnev.
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The
Fourth Class is goldplated too but with the diagonal rays in silver. A rosette was
added to distinguish it from the 6th class, but finally around 1940 the shorter rays of
the 6th class decoration were still more shortened, showing a real difference.
Seventh and Eight classes consist only in the 3, 5, 3 pawlonia flowers, without the
Rising Sun. The former is green enamelled by both sides, apart from some WWII produced
items that were enamelled only in one side. The Eigth Class is not enamelled but entirely
in silver.
The medal is presented in a nice black laquered box with the "Order of the merit
decoration" characters engraved.
Repro alert:
this order is the most faked
of all Japanese awards from the early 20th century. They generally
have very visible flaws: lack of the four-character (or wrong
characters) inscriptions on the reverse, incorrect methods of attachment of the pawlonia
crest to the Sun, very narrow rays, incorrect rosette size, etc. There are Japanese copies
made with a plain bronze reverse. Be careful with copies of the 5th and upper copies, but
7th-8th classes copies are very bad and would not deceive any normal collector. Even the lower classes items have a very fine degree of
quality in construction. Pay attention to the enamels, as this is an art
now almost lost.
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