PRE WW2 JAPANESE ARMY NAVY AIR FORCE CHINA INCIDENT WAR CAMPAIGN MEDAL

30mm wide circular light bronze medal on ornate swivel suspension with club moss decoration and with bar reading ‘War Medal’; the face with a radiant chrysanthemum above a yata-no-karasu (mythical giant red crow) on crossed army and navy flags; the reverse with mountains, clouds and waves drawn in classical Chinese symbolic style and inscribed with characters ‘China Incident’; on original ribbon with hook and eye fittings.

The medal was created on 27 July 1939, amended in 1944 and abolished in 1946. The mountains, clouds and waves are representative of northern China, central China and the Yellow Sea as the medal was awarded to Japanese military leaving for China which had been invaded and partly occupied by Japanese forces. As war was never declared, the Japanese referred to the large-scale hostilities with great delicacy as an ‘incident’.