WW2 Sake cups

[Oldhippy]

Unusual but I collect WW2 Sake cups. The one in the pictures is my prized piece. Dug up in Okinawa and still traces of the mud in the base. It is unusual as it is a chalice design and depicts a Kamikaze squadron at the end of the war. Rare I'm told.

 

[Chris S]

Unusual but I collect WW2 Sake cups. The one in the pictures is my prized piece. Dug up in Okinawa and still traces of the mud in the base. It is unusual as it is a chalice design and depicts a Kamikaze squadron at the end of the war. Rare I'm told.

Kamikaze squadrons used to have reunions. They weren't very well attended because the only people to turn up were the ones who were still in training when the A-bombs were dropped.

 

[Oldhippy]

My ex Father in law was ordered to Yokohama submarine base to man one man Kamikaze submarines. Thankfully they had run out of materials by then and he survived.

 

[Cycleops]

Very interesting. A part of Japanese history I'm sure they'd rather forget.

 

[Oldhippy]

The sad thing is that some I have are named and it is probably the only thing left that shows they were a human being.

 

[steveindenmark]

The sad thing is that some I have are named and it is probably the only thing left that shows they were a human being.

Can you research them and find out what happened to them?

 

[Oldhippy]

That is how I started collection. Found one in a junk shop in Tokyo and managed to trace the family but they did not want the reminder but insisted on paying my travel. I felt it was important that something remained of someone caught up in matters beyond their control and his personalised cup is the only thing left that says 'I was here'

 

[T4tomo]

So were the cups personalised from the pre "final mission" Sake ceremony?

Very interesting culture in japan. I had the good fortune to visit a few times with work as they company i worked for entered into a JV with Japanese corporate

 

[Oldhippy]

Some are some aren't. They are not all Kamikaze cups there are some ceremonial ones. I have one set of three that were presented to the Fire Department in Tokyo during the Fire bombing.

 

[Oldhippy]

An unusual nest of three that have survived unscathed.