Medals of Honor (Japan)
Medals of Honor (褒章, hōshō) are medals awarded by the Government of Japan. They are awarded to individuals who have done meritorious deeds and also to those who have achieved excellence in their field of work.[1] The Medals of Honor were established on December 7, 1881, and were first awarded the following year. Several expansions and amendments have been made since then. The medal design for all six types are the same, bearing the stylized characters 褒章 on a gilt central disc surrounded by a silver ring of cherry blossoms on the obverse; only the colors of the ribbon differ.
If for some reason an individual were to receive a second medal of the same ribbon colour, then a second medal is not issued but rather a new bar is added to their current medal. The Medals of Honor are awarded twice each year, on April 29 (the birthday of the Shōwa Emperor) and November 3 (the birthday of the Meiji Emperor).
Types
Red ribbon
First awarded in 1882. Awarded to individuals who have risked their own lives to save the lives of others.
Green ribbon
First awarded in 1882. Originally awarded "to children, grandchildren, wives and servants for remarkable acts of piety; and to individuals who, through their diligence and perseverance while engaging in their professional activities, became public role models".
Changed social values after World War II had resulted in the conferment of this medal being suspended after 1950; since 1955 it has been replaced to some extent by the revived Medal with Yellow Ribbon (see below). However, in 2003 the Medal with Green Ribbon was revived as an award to morally remarkable individuals who have actively taken part in serving society.
Yellow ribbon
First awarded in 1887 (later abolished); revived in 1955. Awarded to individuals who, through their diligence and perseverance while engaging in their professional activities, became public role models.
Purple ribbon
First awarded in 1955. Awarded to individuals who have contributed to academic and artistic developments, improvements and accomplishments.
Blue ribbon
First awarded in 1882. Awarded to individuals who have made significant achievements in the areas of public welfare or public service.
Dark blue ribbon
First awarded in 1919. Awarded to individuals who have made exceptionally generous financial contributions for the well-being of the public.
Select recipients
Red
- Samuel Robinson[2]
- Yan Jun, a People's Republic of China citizen who saved a Japanese child on Sept. 2013[3]
- Anuj Raj Karki, a Nepalese citizen who saved a Japanese girl lying unconscious on a railway track.
Green
Yellow
- Ken Ono[5]
- Hiroshi Maeda[6]
- Noguchi Naohiko[7]
- Hiroshi Tsukakoshi[8]
- Hisashi Suzuki[9]
- Mitsugu Shibata[10]
Purple
- Hirotugu Akaike
- Chieko Asakawa[11]
- Kamajiro Eda[12]
- Toshiko Akiyoshi[13]
- Keisuke Kuwata[14]
- Hitoshi Narita[15]
- Morihei Ueshiba[16]
- Yasuharu Suematsu[17]
- Mitsuo Tsukahara[18]
- Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi[18]
- Takashi Matsumoto[14]
- Miyuki Nakajima[18]
- Eiichi Nakamura[18]
- Tetsuya Noda (visual artist)[19]
- Joe Hisaishi[18][20]
- Yōko Sano
- Akinori Yonezawa[18]
- Yoshihisa Yamamoto[21][22]
- Jun'ichi Tsujii
- Shoichi Ozawa[23]
- Kinji Fukasaku[24]
- Katsuhiro Otomo[25]
- Hisui Sugiura
- Shigeo Hirose
- Yoshio Harada
- Toshirō Mifune
- Eijiro Matsutani
- Tomoyuki Nishita
- Kiyokazu Washida
- Akihiro Maeta[26]
- Moto Hagio
- Hisashi Yamamoto
- Hideyuki Okano[27]
"Info" (PDF). www.brain.riken.jp.
Blue
- Clara Converse awarded 1929 for contributions to women's education.[38]
- Rokuro Ishikawa
- Koichi Kawai
- Yasuhiro Fukushima[18]
- Yanosuke Hirai, Nuclear engineer whose precaution and foresight prevented two nuclear disasters.
- Masaru Ibuka[39]
- Kaoru Inoue[40]
- Kazuo Imai[41]
- Keiichi Ishizaka[18]
- Norio Ohga[42]
- Eishiro Saito[43]
- Hiroko Sakai[41]
- Nobuchika Sugimura
- Shoichiro Toyoda[44]
- Yoshikazu Yahiro[45]
- Gōgen Yamaguchi[46]
- Alice Appenzeller[47]
- Magokichi Yamaoka
- Carlos Ghosn
- Toshiko Satake (Satake Corporation)
- Abbas Kiarostami
- Hiroyuki Ito[48] (Crypton Future Media)
- Miyazaki Atsuo (Suizenji Azuma Sushi, Kumamoto)
- Tomio Fukuoka (1993)[49]
- Tokio Yokoi, Rev ordained minister and politician, international author 1890 to 1920. IHJ 3rd Class Honour award for his contributions during the 1919 Paris Peace Talks
- Tsuyoshi Kikukawa
- Kisshomaru Ueshiba
- Moriteru Ueshiba
References
- "日本の勲章・褒章(賞勲局) - 内閣府". www8.cao.go.jp.
- Honor awarded 1923 – National Maritime Museum Archived 2009-03-06 at the Wayback Machine (UK)
- "Abe gives thank-you letter to Chinese student for rescuing boy". The Japan Times. 14 November 2013. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
- "杉良太郎、緑綬褒章伝達式で「重い受章」と気持ちも新た". Oricon News.
- Honor awarded 2009 (Okayama Prefecture) Archived 2010-09-11 at the Wayback Machine
- Honor awarded 2009 (Osaka Prefecture) Archived 2010-09-11 at the Wayback Machine
- "Kontatsu. Co., Ltd". www.kontatsu.co.jp.
- "Tree-Ring Management". Japan Library.
- Awarded 29 April 2007 http://saas3.startialab.com/acti_books/1045173943/7774/_SWF_Window.html
- "404 Not Found - 内閣府". www8.cao.go.jp.
- "IBM Research: IBM Fellow Chieko Asakawa awarded Medal of Honor". ibmresearchnews.blogspot.com.
- Honor awarded 1955
- Japan Foundation – Toshiko Akiyoshi Archived 2012-03-20 at the Wayback Machine
- "松本隆が紫綬褒章「自分の作品が自分の存在を証明してくれた」". Natalie (in Japanese). 2017-11-02. Retrieved 2018-03-26.
- Honor awarded 1990 – Office of Naval Research (US): "Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh admits Office of Naval Research engineer to United Kingdom's Royal Academy of Engineering," Archived 2007-07-13 at the Wayback Machine Press release. November 11, 2002.
- Honor conferred 1960 – North Austin Tae Kwan Do: "Chronology of the Life of Morihei Ueshiba, Founder of Aikido."
- The Japan Prize Foundation: Dr. Yasuharu Suematsu. Dated 2014, Archived copy at archive.org
- Honor awarded 2009 (Tokyo Prefecture) Archived 2005-05-25 at the Wayback Machine
- "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2013-01-22. Retrieved 2014-03-10.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) Chronological report of Japan's Art Yearbook by Independent Administrative Institution National Research Institute of Cultural Properties, Tokyo)
- "678 individuals, 24 groups awarded Medals of Honor," Archived 2009-11-03 at the Wayback Machine Mainichi Shimbun. November 3, 2009; "Ghibli Composer Joe Hisaishi Awarded Medal of Honour," Anime News Network. November 3, 2009.
- "Quantum optics research earns medal from Japanese emperor - Stanford News Release". news.stanford.edu. 18 November 2005.
- "Professor Yoshihisa Yamamoto is awarded "Medal with Purple Ribbon"". www.nii.ac.jp.
- "Actor, folk art researcher Ozawa dies". Kyodo. Japan Times. 2012-12-08. Retrieved 2012-12-31.
- "Renowned director Fukasaku, of 'Battle Royale' fame, dies". The Japan Times. 13 January 2003. Retrieved 2014-08-29.
- "Anime News: 'Akira' creator Katsuhiro Otomo honored by government". Asahi Shimbun. 2013-11-13. Archived from the original on 2013-11-16. Retrieved 2013-11-27.
- "Maeta Akihiro (b. 1954) - Onishi Gallery - New York".
- http://www.brain.riken.jp/asset/img/researchers/cv/h_okano.pdf
- "平成18年度第1回理事会議事録" (PDF). Retrieved 2015-12-13.
- "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2015-11-19. Retrieved 2015-09-06.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
- "Chika Kuroda (1884~1968)". Ochanomizu University. Retrieved 8 November 2015.
- "Yasui, Kono (1880–1971)". Dictionary of Women Worldwide: 25,000 Women Through the Ages. 2007. Archived from the original on 24 February 2016. Retrieved 7 November 2015.
- Yagi, Eri; Matsuda, Hisako (August 2007). "Toshiko Yuasa (1909–80): the First Japanese Woman Physicist and Her Followers in Japan" (PDF). AAPPS Bulletin. 17 (4): 15–17. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-07-12. Retrieved 6 November 2015.
- Jiji press, 20 May, 2019 (「歌手の石川さゆりさんら紫綬褒章=囲碁の趙治勲さんも-春の褒章」https://www.jiji.com/jc/article?k=2019052000090&g=pol ), viewed 9, June, 2019. See also, Ishikawa’s press conference script, (「春の紫綬褒章、受章。」 http://www.ishikawasayuri.com/news/2019/05/post_442.html ), viewed 9, June, 2019.
- "Kyushu University [Hiroyuki Sasaki (Professor) Medical Institute of Bioregulation, Department of Molecular and Structural Biology]". hyoka.ofc.kyushu-u.ac.jp.
- "短編アニメ、1人で描く自由 紫綬褒章受章の山村浩二:朝日新聞デジタル".
- "秋の褒章、高橋留美子さんら" [Autumn medal 2020, Rumiko Takahashi and others]. Kyodo News. November 2, 2020. Retrieved November 2, 2020.
- "Ranma 1/2, Inuyasha Creator Rumiko Takahashi Receives Japan's Medal with Purple Ribbon". Anime News Network. November 1, 2020. Retrieved November 16, 2020.
- Hill, Edith Naomi, ed. (July 1929). "Clara A. Converse is Honored by Japan". The Smith Alumnae Quarterly. Northampton, Massachusetts: The Alumnae Association of Smith College. 20 (4): 427. Retrieved 16 January 2017.
- Honor awarded 1960 – Sony Corporation: .
- Honor awarded 2009 (Nagasaki Prefecture) Archived 2010-09-11 at the Wayback Machine
- Honor awarded 2009 (Kyoto Prefecture) Archived 2010-09-11 at the Wayback Machine
- Sony, "Passing of Norio Ohga, Senior Advisor and former President and Chairman, Sony Corporation," April 23, 2011; retrieved 2011-08-08
- "訃報(経団連名誉会長、当社社友名誉会長 斎藤英四郎殿)[News of death: President Emeritus of Keidanren, Honorary Chairman of our company, Saito Eishiro]". Nippon Steel. Retrieved 22 June 2019.
- Honor awarded 1984 – Toyota Motor Corporation: Toyoda, Honorary Chairman Archived 2009-06-04 at the Wayback Machine
- Honor awarded 2009 (Fukuoka Prefecture) Archived 2010-09-11 at the Wayback Machine
- "Profile". www.gojukai.com.
- Parker, Fitzgerald (1936). Twenty-Sixth Annual Report, Woman's Missionary Council of The Methodist Episcopal Church, South, Commemorating the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Home Mission Movement, 1935–1936. Nashville, Tennessee: Methodist Episcopal Church, South Whitmore & Smith, Agents.
- jrharbort (5 November 2013). "Crypton CEO Awarded Blue Ribbon Medal of Honor, Snow Miku 2014 Event Info, Meiko V3 Details Announced". Mikufan.com.
- "Kobe Institute of Computing - History". www.kic.ac.jp.
Bibliography
- Peterson, James W., Barry C. Weaver and Michael A. Quigley. (2001). Orders and Medals of Japan and Associated States. San Ramon, California: Orders and Medals Society of America. ISBN 1-890974-09-9
External links
- Japan, Cabinet Office: Decorations and Medals
- Decoration Bureau: Medals of Honour
- Japan Mint: Production Process