Order of the Precious Crown

Order of the Precious Crown
宝冠章
Order of the Precious Crown, 1st class plaque. End of the 19th century. Musée de la Légion d'Honneur.
Awarded by the Emperor of Japan
Type Order
Awarded for At the monarch's pleasure
Status Currently constituted
Sovereign His Imperial Majesty The Emperor
Grades (w/ post-nominals) 1st through 8th Class
Established January 4, 1888
Precedence
Next (higher) Order of Culture
Next (lower) Person of Cultural Merit
Medals of Honor

The Order of the Precious Crown (宝冠章 Hōkan-shō) is a Japanese order, established on January 4, 1888 by Emperor Meiji of Japan, and the lowest ranking of the Japanese orders currently awarded. Originally the order had five classes, but on April 13, 1896 the sixth, seventh and eighth classes were added.

This Order is conventionally reserved for female recipients; however, men have occasionally been accorded this honour. More often, men have been awarded the Order of the Rising Sun rather than the Order of the Precious Crown. In 1917, medals of the Order of the Crown were bestowed upon twenty-nine Americans who participated in the Russo-Japanese War. This unusual list of honorees was composed of ten women volunteer nurses and nineteen correspondents of American newspapers.[1]

Until 2003, the Order of the Precious Crown ranked below the Order of the Rising Sun but above the Order of the Sacred Treasure, and was bestowed as a female-only version of the Order of the Rising Sun; however, men could also be appointed. In 2003 the Order of the Rising Sun, previously reserved for males, was made available to women as well, and the lowest two classes of the Order of the Precious Crown were abolished.[2] The Order of the Precious Crown is now only bestowed upon female members of the Imperial Family and foreign ladies of distinction.

Classes

The first class honour has been typically conferred to female royalty. As originally conceived, the order consisted of eight classes. Unlike its European counterparts, the order may be conferred posthumously.

The badge of the order is a gold oval medallion, with floral designs at its four ends; at the centre is an ancient Japanese crown on a blue background, surrounded by a red ring. It is suspended from a smaller badge, its design varies according to class, on a ribbon in yellow with red stripes near the borders, as a sash on the right shoulder for the 1st class, as a bow on the left shoulder for the other classes.

The star of the order, which is worn only by the first class, has five arms studded with pearls, with floral designs between the arms. The central disc features a Ho-o or phoenix on a blue background, surrounded by a red ring.

The medal for the 6th and 7th classes are golden bronze. The face presents the crossed flags of Japan and the Emperor, both of which are surmounted by the Rising Sun. The obverse presents a conventonal monumental shaft, which is flanked by a branch of laurel and a branch of palm.[1]

Ribbon bars
Grand Cordon, Paulownia
Second Class, Peony
Third Class, Butterfly
Fourth Class, Wisteria
Fifth Class, Apricot
Sixth Class, Ripples
Seventh Class, Medal (abolished 2003)
Eighth Class, Medal (abolished 2003)

Selected recipients

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by expanding it with reliably sourced entries.

First Class, Grand Cordon

Third Class

Sixth Class

Seventh Class

See also

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "Mikado Honors Americans; Order of the Crown Bestowed on Nurses and War Correspondents." New York Times. July 4, 1907.
  2. ↑ Weatherhead East Asian Institute: Miwa Kai, Barbara Ruch.
  3. ↑ Belga Pictures, State visit in Japan, 1996, Sovereign couples
  4. ↑ Belga Pictures, State visit in Japan, 1996, Sovereign couples & Prince Philippe
  5. ↑ Getty Images, State visit in Japan, 2007, Silvia & Carl Gustav
  6. ↑ "Noblesse et Royautés" (French), State visit of Spain in Japan, November 2008
  7. ↑ The Royal Forums, State visit of japan in Norway, May 2005, Photo
  8. ↑ "Malaysia THE KINGS or SUPREME HEADS OF STATE". The Royal Ark. August 2008. Retrieved 2011-07-06.
  9. ↑ "Raja Permaisuri Agong Tuanku Hajah Haminah receives highest honour from Japan". Bernama. 2013-02-07. Retrieved 2013-02-07. Bernama has erroneously reported the Honours received as "Grand Cordon of the Order of the Chrysanthemum" while correctly citing the recipients of the "Grand Cordon of the Order of the Precious Crown".
  10. ↑ The Royal Forums, State visit of japan in Norway, May 2005, Photo
  11. ↑ honor awarded 1983 -- The Australian Academy of the Humanities Proceedings 1991 p73
  12. ↑ Honor conferred 1985 -- National Association of Self-Instructional Language Programs (NASILP), Eleanor Jorden.
  13. ↑ Japan America Society of Greater Philadelphia: "The Emperor's Tutor."
  14. ↑ As I Remember, Lillian M. Gilbreth,Engineering & Management Press, 1998,p. 244.
  15. ↑ Haines, Catharine M. C. (2001). International Women in Science: A Biographical Dictionary to 1950. ABC-CLIO. p. 164. ISBN 978-1-57607-090-1.
  16. ↑ "Yasui, Kono (1880–1971)". Dictionary of Women Worldwide: 25,000 Women Through the Ages. 2007. Retrieved 7 November 2015. (subscription required (help)).
  17. ↑ 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. Retrieved 6 November 2015.
  18. ↑ Dava, Valerie. "World Traveler, Explorer, Photographer; James Ricalton brought the world to his Maplewood students," Matters Magazine.

References

External links

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