Item number: M71

Year: AD 1929

Material: Silver

Size: 21.48 x 40.40 mm

Weight: 5.11 g

Provenance: Quan Jian Zhai 2022

This commemorative medal, ” Imperial Military Reserve Association Celebration Commemorative Medal, Showa 3″ is awarded to participants who attended the Imperial Military Reserve Association Celebration in AD 1929.

In the center of the obverse side is a star, with crossed spears in the background, and Banzai banners on the left and right. The reverse side bears the inscription “Showa 3 Imperial Military Reserve Association Celebration Commemorative Medal.”

In pre-World War II Japan, the Japanese Army wanted to educate the general public in military values. It hoped to build a mass civilian base of support for its own national goals and to create a unified Japan in which all citizens are soldiers under the emperor’s leadership. The principal tool in this effort was the Imperial Military Reserve Association, an organization which by AD 1936 had three million members and over 14,000 branches in every town, village, and city in the empire. This organization, which was not limited to ex-servicemen (half the membership had never served on active duty), was established in AD 1910 not for the narrow military function of supplying supplementary troops in time of war, but for broader educational purposes in response to what its founders perceived as the needs of the military at a time when they thought these needs were crucial. 

物件編號: M71

年代: 公元 1929 年

材質: 銀

尺寸: 21.48 x 40.40 mm

重量: 5.11 g

來源: 泉鑒齋 2022

此紀念章「昭和三年帝󠄁國在鄕軍人會大禮奉祝紀念章」頒發予於公元1929年參與帝󠄁國在鄕軍人會大禮奉祝的與會者。

正面中央為星型，後方有交叉的矛，左右有萬歲幡旗。背面寫有「昭和三年帝󠄁國在鄕軍人會大禮奉祝紀念章」。

二戰前的日本，日本陸軍希望教育一般大眾軍事價值觀。它希望建立一個大規模的平民支持基地，以支持其國家目標，並創造一個統一的日本，所有公民都是皇帝領導下的士兵。󠄁帝國在鄕軍人會即是為此而成立，截至公元1936年，該組織已擁有三百萬會員，分佈在帝國的每個鎮、村莊和城市，擁有超過一萬四千個分支機構。這個組織不僅限於退伍軍人（一半的會員從未參與過實役），它於公元1910年成立，並非為了在戰時提供補充部隊的狹窄軍事功能，而是為了更廣泛的教育目的，以應對創辦人在當時認為這些需求至關重要的軍事需求。