Canadian Philatelist Philatéliste canadien - The Royal Philatelic ...

Figure 5. Figure 6. Figure 7. Figure 8.
Japanese postal history
Figure 5 was sent by Hisashi Yanagawa of the
5th Section, 1st Platoon, 3rd Company, Infantry 1st
Regiment, Imperial Guards, 1st Army Manchuria
on May 22, 1904. It was addressed to Tetsugo
Tomizuka of the 3rd Platoon, 8th Company, Infantry
29th Regiment, Field Army, Manchuria. This letter
was written just before the battle of Nan-shan
(Map 2), which began on May 24, 1904.
Figure 6 shows a cover that has been censored
and with the cachet of ‘Military Mail’ from the 2nd
Army in Manchuria to Japan with the postmark
of the 2nd Army FPO No. 4 dated August 9, 1904.
This cover is a typical Redband cover as used by
the Chinese people.
Figure 7 is a 1904 postal stationery card showing
an unusual 1½ sen card for free military mail. It was
sent by K. Yasuda of the Infantry 35th Regiment,
9th Division, 3rd Army, Manchuria and postmarked
with the 3rd Army FPO 4, on September
28, 1904. The addressee was S. Katayama, Reserve
Infantry 35th Regiment, Kanazawa-shi, Japan. The
3rd Army eventually captured Port Arthur in
December 1904 after fighting for more than a
month for the two main hills.
Figure 8 is a postcard from a Japanese officer,
Major Gene Semba, of the 31st Brigade, 16th
Division, 4th Army Manchuria. The postmark is of
the 4th Army Field Post Office, and dated September
29, 1904. It was addressed to First Class Medical
Doctor Akaba, Infantry Unit,
Peking Garrison, China, with
a receiving mark of the IJPO
(Imperial Japanese Post Office)
on September 26, 1905. The
Japanese Garrison was located
in Peking during and after the
Boxer Rebellion (1900-1901),
and the Imperial Japanese
Post Office was to be found at
the Japanese Legation in the
Legation Quarter of Peking.
It can be seen from the postmarks
that the Japanese system
of displaying the date is to put
the year first followed by the
100 • the CP / le PC • MA06