Shoigunjinsho – WWII Japanese Wound Badge

[TeamScience]

I thought I might share some images of my WWII Japanese wound badge and award certificate. There were two main varieties of the wound badge: one for wounds sustained in combat, and one for non-combat wounds/disease. The combat wound badge ("sen-sho") was gilded silver. The non-combat/disease badge ("ko-sho") was silver with only the medallion on the front being gilt. Surrounding the kanji for either sen-sho or ko-sho, "military wound badge" is written along the petals. Both feature the bust of Kusunoki Masashige on the obverse. These awards were established in 1938 and would be awarded throughout WWII. The award certificate reads approximately as follows.

Front:
Disabled veteran certificate
Type A, Number 13956
Army Corporal Matsumoto Sadatoshi
Born Meiji 40 September 13 (September 13, 1907)
The party mentioned herein is hereby registered as a disabled veteran
Showa 16 December 1 (December 1, 1941)
Ministry of the Army

Back:
During fighting near Jinlun Peak, Jiangxi, in the China Incident (Second Sino-Japanese War), received a fracture and penetrating gunshot wound to the left forearm
Showa 13 September 23 (September 23, 1938)
Eligible under Article 24-2, Section 3 of the Order for Enforcement of the Pension Act

If anyone has any additional information or suggestions regarding the veracity of the translation, please let me know!

[Nick Komiya]

Here's some further background.