Japanese medal bars mounted "im deutschen Stil"

It is well known fact that during its early days Imperial Japanese Army intensively oriented its organization along Prusso-German lines when building a modern fighting force from late 1870s to about early 1910s . From 1886 to April 1890, it hired German military advisors (Major Jakob Meckel, replaced in 1888 by von Wildenbrück and Captain von Blankenbourg) to assist in the training of the Japanese General Staff. In 1878, the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office, based on the German General Staff, was established directly under the Emperor and was given broad powers for military planning and strategy. From 1870 hundreds of japanese officer were sent for military and civilian training in Germany. For example a 1902 military report from the German embassy in Tokyo states that on May 25, 1902 a total of 42 Japanese Officers were staying abroad “for their further military training”, of whom “28 in Germany, 9 in France, 2 in Austria and 3 in England”.​

The natural (phaleristic) consequence of these overseas "trips".

 

Prince Komatsu Akihito gives us a great example of wearing medal bar mounted in German style. Prince Komatsu Akihito (小松宮彰仁親王, Komatsu-no-miya Akihito shinnō, February 11, 1846 – February 18, 1903) was a Japanese career officer in the Imperial Japanese Army, who was a member of the Fushimi-no-miya, one of the shinnōke branches of the Imperial Family of Japan, which were eligible to succeed to the Chrysanthemum Throne.

With his wife Princess Komatsu Yoriko.





The last known photo with medal bar of this style (from Heroic Japan: A History of the War between China & Japan; Marston & Company; London, 1897).

 

Medal bar of Japanese diplomat Hioki Eki https://asiamedals.info/threads/japanese-diplomat-hioki-eki.25799/

 

Count Terauchi Masatake (寺内 正毅, 5 February 1852 – 3 November 1919) was a Japanese military officer, proconsul and politician. He was a Gensui (or Marshal) in the Imperial Japanese Army and the Prime Minister of Japan from 1916 to 1918.






Later.

 

Prince Kuni Kuniyoshi (久邇宮邦彦王, Kuni-no-miya Kuniyoshi ō, 23 June 1873 – 29 June 1929) was a member of the Japanese imperial family and a field marshal in the Imperial Japanese Army during the Meiji and Taishō periods. He was the father of Empress Kōjun (who in turn was the consort of the Emperor Shōwa), and therefore, the maternal grandfather of Emperor Emeritus Akihito.​

Much earlier.

Much later with the standard looking medal bar.

 

Only foreign orders in the medal bar!

 

4th Sacred Treasure, Order of Dannebrog, Order of the Crown of Italy, Turkish Order of Medjidie



Officier of Ordre du Nichan el Anouar , 25th Wedding Anniversary Medal, Jubilee Medal Queen Victoria 1887 (?), two Japanese Red Cross awards.

 

Mr. Ito Yukichi.

 

Viscount Ōshima Yoshimasa (大島 義昌, 20 September 1850 – 10 April 1926) was a general in the early Imperial Japanese Army during the First Sino-Japanese War and the Russo-Japanese War.​

"Transitional" medal bar so to speak.

 

Prince Katsura Tarō (桂 太郎, 4 January 1848 – 10 October 1913) was a Japanese politician and general of the Imperial Japanese Army who served as the Prime Minister of Japan from 1901 to 1906, from 1908 to 1911, and from 1912 to 1913.​

Some kind mix between german and britain styles of mounting.

 

Lieutenant Colonel.
Picture was taken in Ludwigsburg 1910 while he was with the württ. IR 121 http://genwiki.genealogy.net/IR_121



Looks like the very same officer in the very same Ludwigsburg only in 1903 when he was a captain.

 

Major General Nagaoka https://asiamedals.info/threads/lieutenant-general-gaishi-nagaoka.26132/

 

Another rare photo of Major General Gaishi Nagaoka.
Note that he is wearing five-place medal bar instead of the earlier seven-place one (by this time he was awarded with 3rd class Golden Kite and 2nd class Sacred Treasure order).

 

Medal bar of Itō Hirobumi.

First Prime Minister of Japan Itō Hirobumi/伊藤 博文

Itō Hirobumi (伊藤 博文, 16 October 1841 – 26 October 1909), born as Hayashi Risuke and also known as Hirofumi, Hakubun and briefly during his youth as Itō Shunsuke) was a Japanese politician and statesman who served as the first Prime Minister of Japan. He was also a leading member of the genrō, a...

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Bojo Toshiaya.

 

Court advisor Shogo Nagasaki (December 15 , 1850 - February 6, 1937).