Order of the Rising Sun

The Order of the Rising Sun (旭日章) is a Japanese order, established in 1875 by Emperor Meiji of Japan. The Order was the first national decoration awarded by the Japanese Government, created on 10 April 1875 by decree of the Council of State. The badge features rays of sunlight from the rising sun. The design of the Rising Sun symbolizes energy as powerful as the rising sun in parallel with the "rising sun" concept of Japan ("Land of the Rising Sun").

The order is awarded to those who have made distinguished achievements in the following fields; international relations, promotion of Japanese culture, advancements in their field, development in welfare or preservation of the environment. Beginning in 2003 the highest ranking medal for the Order of the Rising Sun became a separate order known as Grand Cordon of the Order of the Paulownia Flowers.

It is the third highest order bestowed by the Japanese government, however it is generally the highest ordinarily conferred order. The highest Japanese order, the Order of the Chrysanthemum, is reserved for heads of state or royalty, while the second highest order, Order of the Paulownia Flowers is mostly reserved for politicians.

The modern version of this honor has been conferred on non-Japanese recipients beginning in 1981 (although several foreigners were given the honor before World War II); and women were awarded the Order starting in 2003 (previously, women were awarded the Order of the Precious Crown). The awarding of the Order is administered by the Decoration Bureau of Office of the Prime Minister. It is awarded in the name of the Emperor and can be awarded posthumously.

It can be awarded to Japanese as well as non-Japanese nationals.

Classes
The Order was awarded in nine classes until 2003, when the Grand Cordon with Paulownia Flowers was made a separate order, and the lowest two classes were abolished. Since then, it has been awarded in six classes. Conventionally, a diploma is prepared to accompany the insignia of the order, and in some rare instances, the personal signature of the emperor will have been added. As an illustration of the wording of the text, a translation of a representative 1929 diploma says: "By the grace of Heaven, Emperor of Japan, seated on the throne occupied by the same dynasty from time immemorial,

We confer the Second Class of the Imperial Order of Meiji upon Henry Waters Taft, a citizen of the United States of America and a director of the Japan Society of New York, and invest him with the insignia of the same class of the Order of the Double Rays of the Rising Sun, in expression of the good will which we entertain towards him.

In witness whereof, we have hereunto set our hand and caused the Grand Seal of the Empire to be affixed at the Imperial Palace, Tokio, this thirteenth day of the fifth month of the fourth year of Shōwa, corresponding to the 2,589th year from the accession to the throne of Emperor Jimmu.""

Insignia
The star for the Grand Cordon and Second Class is an eight-pointed silver badge, bearing a central emblem identical to the 4th Class badge without the paulownia leaves suspension. It is worn on the left chest for the Grand Cordon, on the right chest for the 2nd Class.

The badge for the Grand Cordon to Sixth Classes is an eight-pointed badge, in gilt (1st-4th Classes), gilt and silver (5th Class), or silver (6th Class), with white enamelled rays, bearing a central red enamelled sun disc. It is suspended from three enamelled paulownia leaves (not chrysanthemum as the Decoration Bureau page claims) on a ribbon in white with red border stripes, worn as a sash on the right shoulder for the 1st Class, as a necklet for the 2nd and 3rd Classes, on the left chest for the 4th to 6th Classes (with a rosette for the 4th Class).

The badge for the Seventh and Eighth Classes consisted of a silver medal in the shape of three paulownia leaves, enamelled for the 7th Class and plain for the 8th Class. Both were suspended on a ribbon, again in white with red border stripes, and worn on the left chest. Both classes were abolished in 2003.

JPN Kyokujitsu-sho 1Class BAR.svg 1st Class, Grand Cordon

 * Edmund Allenby, 1921
 * Michael Armacost, 2007
 * Erwin Bälz (1849–1913), 1905
 * Arthur Barrett, 1921
 * Edmund Barton, 1905
 * Carol Bellamy, 2006
 * Felix von Bendemann, 1906
 * Abdelmalek Benhabyles, 2012.
 * Charles Reed Bishop (1822–1915)
 * Sepp Blatter, 2009
 * Gustave Emile Boissonade (1825–1910), 1909.
 * Laurens Jan Brinkhorst, 2009
 * Arleigh Burke (1901–1996)
 * George W. Casey, Jr. 2010
 * Krasae Chanawongse, 2004
 * Joaquin Rafael Dabdoub (20 October 2006), 2006
 * Kemal Derviş, 2009
 * Malcolm Fraser, 2006
 * Kenzaburo Hara (1907–2004)
 * Dennis Hastert, 2010
 * Sri Sultan Hamengkubuwono IX
 * John Howard, 2013
 * Masaru Ibuka (1908–1997)
 * Daniel Inouye, 2000
 * Henry Jackson (1855–1929)
 * S. Jayakumar, 2012


 * Anerood Jugnauth, 1988
 * Komura Jutarō (1855–1911)
 * Venkataraman Krishnamurthy, 2009
 * Wataru Kubo, November 2001
 * Lee Kuan Yew, 1967
 * Curtis LeMay (1906–1990)
 * Wangari Maathai, 2009
 * John McEwen, 1973
 * Franz-Michael Skjold Mellbin, 2011
 * Robert Menzies (1894–1978)
 * Matthew H. Molloy, 2013
 * Hendrik Pieter Nicolaas Muller (1859–1941)
 * Peter Pace, 2007
 * William Perry, 2002
 * Józef Piłsudski, 1928
 * Herbert Plumer (1857–1932)
 * Plaek Phibunsongkhram, 1942
 * Pridi Banomyong (1900–1983)
 * Edward A. Rice, Jr.
 * Klaus Schwab, 2013
 * Edward Śmigły-Rydz, (1886 - 1941)
 * Takeshita Isamu (1869–1949), 1920
 * John Anthony Cecil Tilley (1869-1952)
 * Tokugawa Yoshinobu (1837–1913)
 * Goh Chok Tong, 2011
 * Shoichiro Toyoda, 2002
 * Soichiro Honda, 1991
 * Gough Whitlam, 2006

JPN Kyokujitsu-sho 2Class BAR.svg 2nd Class, Gold and Silver Star

 * Momofuku Ando (1910–2007), 2002
 * Jagdish Bhagwati, 2006
 * Arden L. Bement, Jr., 2009
 * Henryka Bochniarz, 2010
 * Louis Bols, 1921
 * Gustave Emile Boissonade (1825–1910), 1876.
 * Donald Prentice Booth (1902-1993), 1961.
 * Georges Hilaire Bousquet (1846–1937), 1898.
 * Horace Capron (1804–1885), 1884
 * William Douglas Crowder, 2008
 * Gerald Curtis, 2005
 * Hugh Elles (1880–1945)
 * Bill Frenzel, 2000
 * Thomas Blake Glover (1838–1911).
 * William Reginald Hall (1870–1943)
 * Lionel Halsey (1872–1946)
 * Kiin Donarudo, 1993
 * Michał Kleiber, 2012
 * David C. Knapp, (1927–2010)
 * Tommy Koh, 2009
 * George Trumbull Ladd (1842–1921)
 * Cecil Lambert (1864–1928)


 * Tsung-Dao Lee 2007
 * Charles LeGendre (1830–1899)
 * Hideyo Noguchi (1876–1928)
 * George R. Packard 2007
 * Jerzy Pomianowski
 * Johannis de Rijke (1842–1913)
 * Vsevolod Rudnev,(1855-1913), 1907
 * Jacob Schiff (1847–1920)
 * William Francis Sempill (1893–1965)
 * Wendell M. Stanley (1904–1971), 1966
 * Michael Ira Sovern
 * Henry W. Taft (1859–1945)
 * Frederick Charles Tudor Tudor (1863–1946)
 * Charles Vaughan-Lee (1867–1928)
 * John Waldron (1909–1975) 1971
 * Bryon Wilfert, 2011
 * Ernst-Ludwig Winnacker, 2009
 * Philip Yeo, 2007
 * Rein Raud, 2011
 * Jouko Skinnari, 2011
 * Chang Yung-fa, 2012
 * Jeffrey Koo, 2012
 * id: Sayidiman Suryohadiprojo, 2012

JPN Kyokujitsu-sho 3Class BAR.svg 3rd Class, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon

 * Rust Macpherson Deming, 2013
 * Richard Bowring, 2013
 * Peter Shelley, 2012
 * Ben Nighthorse Campbell, 2011
 * Albert Diamond Cohen, 2011
 * Edwin Cranston, 2009
 * Peter Drysdale, 2001
 * Clint Eastwood, 2009
 * Stanisław Filipek, 2006
 * Jack Fujimoto, 2011
 * Robert Garfias, 2005
 * Carol Gluck, 2006
 * William Elliot Griffis (1843–1928)
 * Jochem P. Hanse, 2007
 * James Curtis Hepburn (1815–1911)
 * William Forbes-Sempill, 19th Lord Sempill
 * John Charles Hoad (1856–1911)
 * Susumu Honjo, 2003
 * John Howes, 2003
 * Romuald Huszcza, 2012
 * Kano Jigoro (1860–1938)
 * Kusuma Karunaratne
 * Stephen Ira Katz, 2012
 * George Trumbull Ladd (1842–1921)
 * Miles Wedderburn Lampson (1880–1964)
 * Norman Macrae (1923-2010), 1988


 * Edwin McClellan (1925–2009)
 * John Milne (1850–1913)
 * Earl Miner (1926–2004)
 * Edward Gage Nelson, 2008
 * Ian Nish, 1991
 * Jerzy Nowacki, 2008
 * Taiichi Ohno, 1982
 * Umberto Pineschi, 2009
 * Susan Pharr, 2008
 * John Powles, 2008
 * Jacob Raz, 2006
 * David Rowe-Beddoe, Baron Rowe-Beddoe, 2008
 * David Russell, 2010
 * Rustum Roy, 2002
 * Emiko "Emily" Sano, 2008
 * Edward Seidensticker, 1975
 * Shinichi Suzuki, circa 1970
 * Ichimatsu Tanaka (1895–1983), 1967
 * Edmund Blunden (1896-1974), 1963
 * Patrick Lennox Tierney, 2007
 * Royall Tyler, 2008
 * T. Wayland Vaughan, 1940
 * Andrzej Wajda, 1995
 * Willy Vande Walle, 2006


 * John O'Conor, 2011

JPN Kyokujitsu-sho 4Class BAR.svg 4th Class, Gold Rays with Rosette

 * Toshiko Akiyoshi, 2004
 * Boris Akunin, 2009
 * Martha Argerich, 2005
 * Henry Pike Bowie, 1848–1921
 * William Penn Brooks, 1888
 * Bogna Barbara Dziechciaruk-Maj
 * William Elliot Griffis, 1843–1928
 * Steven Heine, 2007
 * Asao Hirano, 2001
 * William Imbrie, 1909
 * Rena Kanokogi, 2008
 * Kihachirō Kawamoto, 1995
 * Keisuke Kinoshita, 1912–1998
 * Włodzimierz Kwieciński, 2012
 * Tommy Lasorda, 2008
 * Alfred Majewicz, 2002
 * Leiji Matsumoto, 2010
 * Frank A. Miller, 1929
 * Shiro Floyd Mori, 2012


 * Kent Nagano, 2008
 * Hideyo Noguchi, 1876–1928
 * Krystyna Okazaki, 2007
 * Shimaoka Tatsuzo, 1919–2007
 * Frederik L. Schodt, 2009
 * George Shima, 1864–1926
 * Joseph Bower Siddall, 1909
 * George Takei, 2004
 * Mohammad Hatta (1943)
 * Masanobu Tsuji, 1902–1961
 * Morihei Ueshiba, 1883–1969
 * H. Paul Varley, 1966
 * Teruaki Yamagishi, 2008
 * Sadao Watanabe, 2005
 * Sukarno (1943)
 * George Kerr (judoka), 2010
 * Charles B. Doleac, Esq., 2011
 * Arvydas Ališauskas, 2012

JPN Kyokujitsu-sho 5Class BAR.svg 5th Class, Gold and Silver Rays

 * Major Douglas Estment Randall, MC (1891–1926), awarded 1925
 * Kowalewski, Jan (1892–1965)
 * Kenzo Mori (1914–2007)
 * Kiyoshi Nishiyama (1893–1983), awarded 1977
 * Shōshin Nagamine(1907–1997)
 * Yoshizawa, Akira (1911–2005)
 * Vincenzo Ragusa, awarded 1884
 * Ronald Stewart Watt, awarded 2010


 * Cy Hisao Saimoto (1928–2010), awarded 2010
 * Pascal Krieger, awarded in 2008
 * Major Philip Malins MBE MC, awarded in 2010
 * Frances Hashimoto, awarded in 2012
 * Yoshiyuki Bill Watanabe, awarded in 2012
 * Soleiman Mehdizadeh, awarded in 2012
 * Jun Noguchi (野口 順), awarded in 2011
 * Hironori Ōtsuka (1892–1982), awarded in 1966

JPN Kyokujitsu-sho 6Class BAR.svg 6th Class, Silver Rays

 * Henry Hajimu Fujii (1886–1976)
 * Bolesław Orliński, 1926

JPN Kyokujitsu-sho 7Class BAR.svg 7th Class, Green Paulownia Leaves Medal
In 2003, this grade of the Order was abolished.


 * Tetsuzō Iwamoto (August 1942)

JPN Kyokujitsu-sho 8Class BAR.svg 8th Class, White Paulownia Leaves Medal
In 2003, this grade of the Order was abolished.

JPN Kyokujitsu-sho blank BAR.svg Class unknown
• 2
 * (1822—1902), Honor awarded 1881