Carved wooden emblem: stick carved with three characters [.1] with a plant nut toggle [.2] attached with a short length of textile ribbon. A small piece of cork is inserted in one side of the plant nut.

Collection type: Object
Description: Carved wooden emblem: stick carved with three characters [.1] with a plant nut toggle [.2] attached with a short length of textile ribbon. A small piece of cork is inserted in one side of the plant nut.
Geographical reference: Japan
Asia > Eastern Asia > Japan
Cultural groups: Japanese
Person: Field collector J. Cole Hartland; PRM source J. Cole Hartland; PRM source Edwin Sidney Hartland
Date / Period: Date made: Before 1902
Date collected: By 1902
Acquisition information: Donated: 1902
Materials and processes: Material Willow Wood Plant, Material Plant Nut, Material Textile, Material Cork Plant, Process Inscribed, Process Perforated
Dimensions: Length: max 70 mm, Length: max 450 mm
Object numbers: Accession number: 1902.55.2.1 Accession number: 1902.55.2.2
Research and responses: Note that some of the Japanese items are marked as being obtained by J. Cole Hartland and donated via his brother Edwin Sidney. It seems hard to believe that the other items from Japan were not also obtained by J. Cole Hartland. Note that there is no evidence to date that Edwin Sidney Hartland ever visited Japan [AP 16/2/2009]
Associated publications: This object was featured in the Museum’s ‘web gallery’ (‘Selected Objects from the Lower Gallery’) produced during the DCF-funded ‘What’s Upstairs?’ project, 2004–2006, with the following caption: ‘This object is a bu’kuto, or ‘wooden sword’. Bu’kuto were worn, suspended from the belt, by medical practitioners as emblems of their profession. This example has a netsuke attached. A netsuke is a small, carved toggle, used to prevent the bu’kuto slipping off the belt. It was made some time before 1902.

Search terms: Insignia, Ornament, Medicine, Writing, Medical Accessory, Badge