I know it’s not western heraldry per se, but I’ve always felt there were many parallels in western heraldry with the traditions of Japanese heraldry. Bearing this in mind, I found this article interesting.
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/asiapcf/09/12/japan.prince.name.ap/index.html
money quote…
"The baby’s name was written on special rice paper with brush and ink and placed along with his personal crest in a wooden box next to the new prince’s pillow. The crest, a stylized Japanese umbrella pine, will be used to mark Hisahito’s belongings"
I would love to see a photo of this if one is available.
Mark,
Thanks for sharing this. Japanese heraldry is quite a fascinating field. I would love to see more on it.
Possibly something similar to the kamon (crest) on the top left:
http://radio.weblogs.com/0101365/images/news/shochikubai.jpg
Prince Hisahito’s kamon could be within a circle, or minus a circle. And I’m sure the design will not be the same as illustrated above. I will be curious to see what form the design will take.
Sorry for using a sake’ advert—but I couldn’t find another kamon on Google Images!! Shochikubai (the Chinese-borrowed pronuciations of the ideograms for matsu-take-ume) means good fortune in Japanese; literally sho=pine; chiku=bamboo; bai=plum.
—Guy
Mark Olivo wrote:
I know it’s not western heraldry per se, but I’ve always felt there were many parallels in western heraldry with the traditions of Japanese heraldry. Bearing this in mind, I found this article interesting.
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/asiapcf/09/12/japan.prince.name.ap/index.html
money quote…
"The baby’s name was written on special rice paper with brush and ink and placed along with his personal crest in a wooden box next to the new prince’s pillow. The crest, a stylized Japanese umbrella pine, will be used to mark Hisahito’s belongings"
I would love to see a photo of this if one is available.
It should be remembered, however, that the Emperor is armigerous (http://home.att.net/~numericana/arms/akihito.htm), though the descent of these arms to the Prince is probably a debatable issue.
The Japanese Emperor has arms in a western fashion?
He’d pretty much have to, being a Garter knight and all.
Patrick Williams wrote:
He’d pretty much have to, being a Garter knight and all.
No he wouldn’t. There’s no reason his stall plate in the Garter chapel at Windsor couldn’t just be painted with the imperial mon.
Jochen: What’s the status of the pic you posted? Doesn’t look official, or is it?
He would.
His shield and crest both sport the kiku-no-hana-mon.
The depiction of his coat of arms is my own humble attempt (made for Gérard Michons Website "Escutcheons of Arms" at http://home.att.net/~numericana/arms/index.htm, both Showa and Heisei Tenno being (having been) distinguished marine biologists).
Carl D. Pritchett wrote:
I believe these pictures illustrate the Emperor’s banner.
Regards.
Carl,
you are absolutely right, they do.
The imperial chrysanthemum—菊花紋章—is always rendered with 32 petals -16 full petals on the outside and 16 more behind the first set.
http://www.answers.com/topic/imperial-seal-of-japan
Here is the Emperor’s crest, carved by Ian G Brennan, at Windsor Castle:
http://www.heraldicsculptor.com/THE-EMP-.JPG
Quote:
His Imperial Majesty Akihito is Grand Cordon of the Supreme Order of the Chrysanthemum. During the Emperor’s state visit to the United Kingdom in 1998, HM Queen Elizabeth II invested the Emperor with the Most Noble Order of the Garter.( KG). The highest honour the Queen can bestow. This honour includes the right for the Emperor to have his Banner and Crest placed above his stall ( seat) in St George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle.
I am not sure we can say that the Japanese Emperors had a full heraldic achievement, in the western sense. I think that when the Japanese, or any non western head of state, were invested with a western order of chivalry, the country that bestowed the honor tried hard to marry their national heraldic traditions with those of western heraldry. I don’t know much about Japanese heraldry, but doubt that their Mons resembled a western achievement of arms (in having mantling, crest…etc.) I would certainly argue that Japanese Mons were heraldic, in the full sense of the word. The Imperial Chrysanthemum was used in the banner of the Japanese emperor when invested with the Most Noble Order of the Garter, but was repeated in his crest to parallel his armorial achievement to those of a western knight or King. Most monarchs have their crown for a crest (at Windsor’s St. George’s Chapel). However, since the Japanese tradition does not include a crown, the Imperial Chrysanthemum was repeated for a crest.
I understand that for Emperor Haile Selassie, the crest consisted of his Ethiopian Imperial Crown and his banner was two banners combined into one. According to the College of Arms web site, one side of the emperor’s banner was his as Emperor of Ethiopia and the other side was of His Majesty as the Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Juda.
http://www.college-of-arms.gov.uk/HaileSelassie.htm
I wonder what the crests of Sultans Abdulmecid (stall # 717 (inv 1856) Abdul Medjid, Sultan of Turkey) and Abdulaziz (stall # 756 (inv 1867) Abdul Aziz, Sultan of Turkey) consisted of? Both emperors were invested as Knights of the Order of the Garter by Queen Victoria: http://www.heraldica.org/topics/orders/garterlist.htm
Does anyone have pictures of their Garter stalls?
I have seen their shields in a picture of the state banquet hall at Windsor Castle. The shields bore each of the Sultan’s Tughras for charges The tughras were Argent on a field Gules. The tughras were a horrible attempt at reproducing the beautiful Ottoman calligraphic official mark of the Sultans.
For seeing different tughras, please visit the following sites:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tughra
http://www.metmuseum.org/explore/TUGHRA/splash.html
http://www.tughranet.f2s.com/tughraen.htm
http://www.tughranet.f2s.com/tughras/tughras.htm
I was baffled by the choice of charge for the western shield as the Ottoman state coat of arms does not have the Tughra in the shield (State COA can be seen at http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/3f/OttomanCoatOfArms.png ) If anything, it is closest to a crest. But, this is further evidence that we can’t assume that we can parallel each component of a western heraldic armorial bearing with that of non western armorial bearings or emblems.
It would be interesting to see the stall plate that is affixed to the back of the Emperor’s stall. Does anyone know if this includes a traditional western heraldic achievement, or a Japanese version of the mon?
Stall S10 contains two stall plates of the emperors of Japan, but I couldn’t find pictures.
http://www.heraldica.org/topics/orders/garterstalls.htm
"Stall S10
1801 (610) Hugh (Percy), 2nd Duke of Northumberland.
1801 (613) John (Pitt), 2nd Earl of Chatham. Lord Privy Seal. Lord President of the Council.
1801 (614) James (Cecil), 1st Marquess of Salisbury.
1801 (615) John (Fane), 10th Earl of Westmorland. Viceroy of Ireland.
1805 (624) John Henry (Manners), 5th Duke of Rutland.
1823 (663) William George Spencer (Cavendish), 6th Duke of Devonshire.
1862 (735) Frederick William Charles George Ernest Adolphus Gustavus, reigning Grand-Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz.
1906 (830) Mutsuhito, Emperor of Japan.
1912 (845) Yoshihito, Emperor of Japan.
1924 (867) Ferdinand, King of Roumania."
