The Japanese WWII Rifles mum

History Lessons

I've lived in Japan and Okinawa and am a student of historical information. I served in the Marine Corps from 1985 until 1993.

This is my educated look on the matter or the defaced mums (Royal Seal, chrysanthemum), aka “mum” during or after the closing of the war between Japan and the United States.

First:

People must acknowledge and understand that the average Japanese soldier revered their Emperor. They viewed the emperor as a Godlike person. So much so that they had shrines to the emperor in their homes.

We must also acknowledge that the Emperor also ensured that the people revered him.
This meant that all Japanese people revered their emperor and treated him as a deity or godlike figurehead.

The government ensured this practice was followed in numerous ways.

One way was that when weapons were issued to soldiers, the Imperial body had the official seal (Chrysanthemum) affixed to the weapons. This was done because they were the property of and belonged to the emperor. A soldier getting a weapon was considered a "gift" from the emperor and it was a very high honor for the soldier and his family to be willing to die for their diety protecting Japan. So much so that there was a ceremony when a soldier received his weapon, which his family attended and there was an organized event just for that purpose.

So, the soldier would never dishonor their gift from their deity emperor, unless directed to by that deity in some way. Conversely, they would die to protect Japans interests which were part and parcel with honoring the emperor with giving their life. That was the accepted trade off for serving. The Japanese soldier was the most devoted (to their leader) soldier to ever live probably. I don't know of any more devoted in history.

We know that Japanese soldiers did at some point deface mums. This is in historical information we've seen over the years. I seem to recall having seen photos in black and white of groups of Japanese men doing what appears to be scrubbing the mums.

The first case I would point out would be if a soldier knew they were going to die for sure. They would not want the emperor's gift to be in anyone else's hands. Also, they had a duty to ensure that their rifle did not go to anyone else. So, prior to any mission like this they would in fact deface the mum, so as not to dishonor the emperor or Imperial Japan. After all , they would be dead and their rifle would not go to the afterlife with them. They were after all, astute buddhists as well and thus did believe in an afterlife. See reference: https://faithinspires.org/do-buddhists-believe-in-an-afterlife/#google_vignette

The second way I would say a soldier would deface a weapon in that manner would be if they were directed to by a superior, who would be the direct spokesperson for the emperor. So, if a squad leader said we’re defacing the mums because the war is over, they certainly would follow that order. If they did not, it would bring dishonor to the emperor, and their family, and believe me the japanese people are a very proud people. They would do it.

Now as to number 2. As mentioned, there came a point in the war that surrender was imminent. So, in August 1945 (It started earlier, I've seen a document dated April. There may be others.) The order came from the Emperor to begin to remove the mums, because the war was over and the Japanese had capitulated. This would be overseen by all section leaders of the Japanese 8th Army as prescribed by order of the emperor. This order I have seen and translated:

Although it is not a direct translation in the document above, it states that under the direction of the Japanese 8th Army Division, unit commanders are directed to ensure the mums were not kept intact upon surrender of the weapons. Of note is that this order is AFTER the surrender announcement by Emperor Hirohito on 15, and prior to the the official signing of surrender on September 2, 1945.

As a marker in a position in time, let’s say we are at the surrender. You are a Japanese soldier in combat in the field. You're told we have surrendered by your commander. One of the very first things you would do is organize everyone, count people, collect arms and equipment. Then as a group, you would deface the mums so you did not dishonor yourself, your family, or your emperor by letting your gift from the deity be given away. By removing the mum, you're essentially saying, this is done so I do not dishonor Japan. It was dishonorable enough to lose the war.

At this time, I have no doubt that the Japanese leaders informed their U.S. "counterparts" that there was this order. We do not know if the U.S. followed their lead on defacing mums due to the Japanese telling them about this order. We do know that Japanese organized sections of the 8th Army to deface all mums that were present in theater. It is mentioned somewhere in documents that that this happened.

See a statement below of a user on a popular site:"

”This subject comes up every few years or so, and I, after ignoring the post for a while, add my standard answer to the question. When I was puting MROJ together back in the '70s, I took a side trip to Washington to visit NRA, in particular Bud Waite, technical editor, and Lud Olson, Bud's assistant. Both worked in ordnance during WW2 and were noted firearm book authors. During the course of the visit, I asked the 2 if they had an answer to the ground mum question. Bud, who was an ordnance officer in the Philippines said that after the surrender, his unit received orders that came down from McArthur to remove the 'mums on surrendered rifles before offering them as souvenirs to the soldiers. He also stated the Japanese removed them in Japan. While I was writing, I asked Bud if he had any proof of that such as original paper work. The question begged to be asked. There was silence. When I looked up there was a middle finger in my face. Of course, he and Lud were laughing. He did take a minute to say no paper work was kept. All he wanted to do was head home. So, multiple parties were in the act of removing 'mums.” FredH

So, we also know from what appears to be second hand statements that the Americans also defaced mums.

The WHY is at question here, but certainly not the fact that they did so. Was it a General’s order to do so? If so, why? Well theories have abounded for years, but even though I believe Macarthur had respect for his enemy, he wasn't going to follow their orders. Also, I don't really believe that he said, lets remove the mums to slap the Japanese in the face. The mums meant nothing to us.

I do believe however that since we were making deals about prisoners, weapons, equipment disposition, etc,. We know factually as a matter of war that America was going to collect all of the weapons from their enemy at the time. We also organized to remove mums.

I can only guess that we did because our leaders realized how devoted the Japanese were to their Emperor and to Japan. We have documented proof of How surprised were men at Pearl Harbor when a Kamikaze just flew straight into a ship or ground target.

We did need to somehow send the message that this idea of I will die at any cost, was in vain. So I believe it was with that knowledge and understanding that we also organized and either had Japanese remove the mums in front of American commanders, or we did it on their behalf with their full knowledge. Either way, both happened.

Lastly there are different types of defacement. Scrubbed, hacked out with some tool, gouged, etc. Some of the arsenals defaced the mums in clear unison with a round stamp over the chrysanthemums, hitting two leaves of the flower with 8 circles around the mum.

Furthermore, Understanding that some Japanese units in the field did not have a way to literally "scrub" a mum by grinding, they probably used any tool they could like a bayonet which did not have the emperors crest on it only armory marks.

So, the fact that there is this document (above) really, is no surprise to me. They were scrubbed. Japanese were ordered to do so. Americans did so without having to make a written order to do so (Unless some American document shows up to prove otherwise). The weapons were not technically American inventory weapons,so they would not have an order I wouldn't think on this specific direction.

The mum story has been around since the end of hostilities. It is like the argument to me that Rock Island Armory in the Philippines used old Colt tooling to make 1911s. It is untrue (I happen to know the owner of the company, Mark Tuason who is a friend. I have been to their plant in Marikina, Philippines, and seen the old tooling and asked the very question. It is the old lie that never gets untold and new and old people to the hobby of collecting these wonderful WWII Weapons sometimes just believe what they want to believe.

If you have enjoyed this small snippet, please follow me. I enjoy documenting things and this is merely one of many I hope.

Charles Roseberry
Dallas, North Carolina