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
First Class, Grand Cordon
- Salote Mafile'o Pilolevu Tuita
- Margrethe II of Denmark
- Empress Farah of Iran
- Queen Paola of Belgium[3][4]
- Queen Silvia of Sweden [5]
- Queen Sirikit of Thailand
- Queen Mathilde of Belgium, 2016
- Queen Sofia of Spain[6]
- Queen Sonja of Norway[7]
- Tuanku Fauziah of Malaysia [8]
- Tuanku Hajah Haminah Hamidun of Malaysia[9]
- Princess Srinagarindra of Thailand
- Princess Sirindhorn of Thailand
- Princess Chulabhorn of Thailand
- Anne, Princess Royal
- Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon
- Mette-Marit, Crown Princess of Norway[10]
- Princess Basma bint Talal of Jordan
- Empress Dowager Cixi of China
- Queen Liliʻuokalani of Hawaii
- Queen Kapiʻolani of Hawaii
- Queen Máxima of the Netherlands
- Tuanku Bainun
- Te Ataairangikaahu
Second Class
- Noriko Senge
- Princess Tsuguko of Takamado
- Princess Ayako of Takamado
- Princess Akiko of Mikasa
- Princess Yōko of Mikasa
Third Class
- Joyce Ackroyd, 1918–1991.[11]
- Eleanor Jorden, 1920–2009.[12]
- Elizabeth Gray Vining, 1902–1999.[13]
- Lillian Moller Gilbreth, 1878–1972, Honor conferred 1968.[14]
- Chika Kuroda, 1884–1968.[15]
- Kono Yasui, 1880–1971.[16]
- Toshiko Yuasa, 1909–1980.[17]
Fourth Class
Sixth Class
- Anita Newcomb McGee.[1] (1864 - 1940)
Seventh Class
- William H. Brill, (1871 - 1923), Associated Press and Reuter's Telegram Company.[1]
- Richard Harding Davis, (1864 - 1916) Collier's Weekly.[1]
- John Fox, Jr., (1862 - 1919) Scribner's Magazine.[1]
- George Kennan, (1845 - 1924) The Outlook.[1]
- Jack London, (1876 - 1916) Hearst papers.
- Frederick Palmer, (1873 - 1958) Collier's Weekly.[1]
- James Ricalton,[19] (ca. 1844 - 1929) Travel Magazine.[1]
- Grant Wallace, (1867–1954) San Francisco Bulletin.[1]
See also
- Order of Chula Chom Klao (Thailand)
Notes
- 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.
- ↑ Weatherhead East Asian Institute: Miwa Kai, Barbara Ruch.
- ↑ Belga Pictures, State visit in Japan, 1996, Sovereign couples
- ↑ Belga Pictures, State visit in Japan, 1996, Sovereign couples & Prince Philippe
- ↑ Getty Images, State visit in Japan, 2007, Silvia & Carl Gustav
- ↑ "Noblesse et Royautés" (French), State visit of Spain in Japan, November 2008
- ↑ The Royal Forums, State visit of japan in Norway, May 2005, Photo
- ↑ "Malaysia THE KINGS or SUPREME HEADS OF STATE". The Royal Ark. August 2008. Retrieved 2011-07-06.
- ↑ "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".
- ↑ The Royal Forums, State visit of japan in Norway, May 2005, Photo
- ↑ honor awarded 1983 -- The Australian Academy of the Humanities Proceedings 1991 p73
- ↑ Honor conferred 1985 -- National Association of Self-Instructional Language Programs (NASILP), Eleanor Jorden.
- ↑ Japan America Society of Greater Philadelphia: "The Emperor's Tutor."
- ↑ As I Remember, Lillian M. Gilbreth,Engineering & Management Press, 1998,p. 244.
- ↑ Haines, Catharine M. C. (2001). International Women in Science: A Biographical Dictionary to 1950. ABC-CLIO. p. 164. ISBN 978-1-57607-090-1.
- ↑ "Yasui, Kono (1880–1971)". Dictionary of Women Worldwide: 25,000 Women Through the Ages. 2007. Retrieved 7 November 2015. (subscription required (help)).
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ ""La Duquesa de Alba no tiene que hacerle la reverencia al Rey" ForoCoches". forocoches.com.
- ↑ Dava, Valerie. "World Traveler, Explorer, Photographer; James Ricalton brought the world to his Maplewood students," Matters Magazine.
References
- Peterson, James W., Barry C. Weaver and Michael A. Quigley. (2001). Orders and Medals of Japan and Associated States. San Ramon, California: Orders and Medals Society of America. ISBN 1-890974-09-9
- Roth, Mitchel P. and James Stuart Olson. (1997). Historical Dictionary of War Journalism. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-313-29171-5
External links
- Japan, Cabinet Office: Order of the Precious Crown
- Japan Mint