Great stuff. Rich A. in Pa.
Great stuff. Rich A. in Pa.
1969 Shelby GT-500 King of the Road
Knowledge is power, guard it well.
I found this cup on Ebay a while ago and bought it becuse it interested my eye with the para/airborne symbol. It was fairly cheap so it wasent prised to bring money in any serious way to the seller..
The cup feels brand new and have a feeling of "homemade" and the box dosent feel "old".
I cant read the text on the box so if someone could help me and see if it is something relevant to the cup written on it.
What do you guys think this could be?
Thank you in advance! :-)
That cup was presented to Mr. Chikao Terada by the 1st Airborne Brigade in May of 1972. He was a graduate of my university and was my mentor for Japanese militaria. He is the coauthor of the Nakata book every collector of Japanese items has.
By the 70s he had amassed a collection so big that he ran out of space and let the self defense force bases display his collection at their base museums. As his collection was also displayed at the 1st Airborne base in Narashino, I suppose they presented him with this cup in reciprocation to his contributions to their museum.
He passed away a few years ago and it appears the family is letting things go. He only had a daughter and being a militaria enthusiast from his Alma Mater he seemed to take a special interest in me, which spooked me into making myself scarce. I guess he could not get his daughter to marry a militaria collector after all.
Wow that was very interesting to hear!
Mr Chikao Terada must have been a very special person for you and your way thru the militaria field of collection.
Im very glad i didnt discharge this cup when i first saw it. I will take well care of it.
Thank you Nick for taking the time to look at the cup/box and letting us know your relation to mr Terada. Much apreciated.
Fairs are beginning to open up here in the UK, as long as they are either outside or in a spacious, airy environment (at least for now). I picked up this cup the week before last, and predictably with the rifles on it, it turns out to be a shooting award.
I have been at work with the kanji dictionaries and believe I have got all the characters. Some of the characters are quite 'abbreviated', but I guess this is to be expected with such small writing - some got me for a while!
My question is around the unit. It looks to be the 3rd Company of the 19th Infantry Regiment (is that the 'ren' of rentai?), but the last bit is the interesting part. The kanji are very readable:
Dai ni naimu (内務) han (班). Naimu can mean 'internal affairs', and han is 'squad'. But in the context of an infantry regiment what does this really mean? Also the 'han' is oddly spaced.
I assume the kanji on the inside should be translated as ' Shooting Excellence Award':
射撃 優等 賞 shageki yūtō shō
Cheers,
Tony
That was the unit in which the sergeants and men led life in the barracks.
歩兵㐧十九聯隊
19th Infantry Regiment
㐧二内務班
2nd Internal Affairs [Naimuhan] Group
㐧三中隊
3rd Company
Number:
Simplified: 㐧
Normal: 第
Regiment:
Before 1947: 聯隊 [Ren has the 耳 "ear" radical]This sort of pre-1947 kanji was mentioned in the book "Eternal Zero" where two modern-aged adults couldn't read portions a letter written by their grandfather's war buddy ... because he used "archaeic" kanji.
After 1947: 連隊 [Ren has the 辶 "movement" radical]
Naimuhan: The grouping of men in barracks for internal administrative and/or disciplinary duties. Naimuhan is a unit of 20 men or so, led by NCO. In peacetime a squad and platoon was an ad-hoc formation for exercises and soldiers lived on company-naimuhan society.
-- Guy
Thanks Nick and Guy, great information as always.
So, I am assuming that in the case of this shooting trophy it was commissioned, and the shoot organised, by the 2nd Internal Affairs Group for the men of the 3rd Company?
Cheers,
Tony
The shoot was organized by the regiment and the winning company got the honor flag for a year. The cup was commissioned by the winning company. It's all explained in my marksmanship badge thread.
Thanks Nick. So I have got hold of the wrong end of the stick! Have gone through your thread, lots of great data. As it is a company level competition, does that mean that the 3rd company won, and all the members got a sake cup inscribed with their unit? Trying to understand why it has the 2nd Internal Affairs Group specifically marked.
Cheers,
Tony
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