Nambu World: Reservist Marksmanship Proficiency Badges

  Imperial Reservists Association Marksmanship Proficiency Badge

    The Teikoku zaigō gunjin kai, usually translated as the Imperial Reservists Association (IRA), but referred to in Paul Murphy and Steven Ackley’s In the Name of a Living God: The Non-Government Badges and Medals of Imperial Japan as the “Imperial Time Expired Soldiers League” was an organization to which almost all men of militarily useful age belonged in pre-1945 Japan. You did not have to have actually served in the military; as long as you had passed the physical you could join, and there was intense social expectation that you would, especially in the small villages where most Japanese lived before the war. The IRA organized competitions and other events to keep up men’s military skills when they were not on active service. The Murphy and Ackley book covers the IRA marksmanship badge on pages 8 and 9, Figure 2.19. The badge measures 38mm (1-1/2”) by 31mm (1-1/4”). The front has two crossed rifles with the emblem of the association at the top. The back has two lines of right-to-left text across the top and then a third in an arc along the bottom edge. The top two lines say bu-dō ki-shō=martial arts badge and sha-geki=shooting. The text in the arc is the name of the organization, Tei-koku zai-gō gun-jin kai. Both sides are mostly a brownish color except for the emblem at the top of the front, which is a gold colour with silver-coloured edges and star.  

  This badge is shown on page 166 of a period reservist manual I have. It was first published in Showa 5 (1930) and the one I have was published in Showa 17 (1942). The title is Sai shin zai-go gun-jin-su-chi, "Necessary knowledge for reservists". The author is listed as Major Ippei Saito (family name=Saito) and the publisher was Shoheikan of Tokyo. The writing in the upper right of the diagram says sha-geki (shooting). The two characters above the right picture are hyo-men, "front" (obverse) and above the left picture, ri-men, "back" (reverse). The manual also specifies the colours of the various parts of the design. I have a couple of similar manuals that were published earlier but they do not show this badge or the other martial arts badges (bu-do-ki-sho) issued for proficiency in bayonet fighting (ju-ken-jutsu) or sword fighting (ken-do).

Last updated: August 17, 2009. All contents are copyright Teri unless otherwise specified and may not be used elsewhere in any form without prior permission.

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