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35-585: The Rikugun Bukōkishō ( 陸軍武功徽章 ) ("Badge for Military Merit"), commonly called the Bukōshō , was a military decoration of the Empire of Japan , established on 7 December 1944 by Imperial edict. It was awarded by the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) to living soldiers who had performed with exceptional valor in battle. Airmen, especially fighter pilots defending Japan against enemy bombers, were most likely to win

70-577: A badge worn with or without a ribbon on the chest. An example of a communist order of merit was the one-class Order of Lenin of the Soviet Union (1930). Unlike Western orders, however, communist orders could be awarded more than once to an individual. After the collapse of the Soviet Bloc in the 1990s, most Eastern European countries reverted to the Western-style orders originally established before

105-665: A diplomatic tool, upon foreigners. In total, 133 states even regulate the use of Orders in their constitutions. Only Switzerland, Micronesia, Libya, the Marshall Islands, Nauru, Palau, and the Seychelles do not seem to confer official civil orders of merit. By the time of the Renaissance , most European monarchs had either acquired an existing order of chivalry, or created new ones of their own, to reward loyal civilian and especially military officials. Such orders remained out of reach to

140-445: A particular country, regardless of status, sex, race or creed; there may be a minimum age for eligibility. Nominations are made either by private citizens or by government officials, depending on the country. An order may be revoked if the holder is convicted of a crime or renounces citizenship . Some people nominated for an award refuse it. Confraternity A confraternity ( Spanish : cofradía ; Portuguese : confraria )

175-435: A result, the modern distinction between orders and decorations or insignia has become somewhat blurred. While some orders today retain the original notion of being an association or society of individuals, others make no distinction, and an "order" may even be the name of a decoration. Most historic chivalric orders imply a membership in a group, typically a confraternity . In a few exclusive European orders, membership

210-664: Is called an archconfraternity . Examples include the various confraternities of penitents and the confraternities of the cord , as well as the Confraternity of the Holy Guardian Angels and the Confraternity of the Rosary . Pious associations of laymen existed in very ancient times at Constantinople and Alexandria. In France, in the eighth and ninth centuries, the laws of the Carolingians mention confraternities and guilds. But

245-508: Is generally a Christian voluntary association of laypeople created for the purpose of promoting special works of Christian charity or piety , and approved by the Church hierarchy. They are most common among Catholics , Lutherans , Anglicans , and the Western Orthodox . When a Catholic confraternity has received the authority to aggregate to itself groups erected in other localities, it

280-587: Is or was also limited in number. Decorations seldom have such limitations. Orders often come in multiple classes, including knights and dames in imitation of the original chivalric orders. Modern national orders, orders of merit , and decorations, emerged from the culture of chivalric orders established in the Middle Ages , originally the military orders of the Middle Ages and the Crusades , who in turn grew out of

315-479: The Congressional Gold Medal to civilians. The Legion of Merit is the only United States decoration which may be issued in award degrees (much like an order of chivalry or certain orders of merit), but award degrees are only made to foreign nationals, typically senior military officers or government officials. Switzerland does not award any orders. Article 12 of the 1848 Swiss Constitution prohibited

350-767: The Order of Australia , and New Zealand awards the Order of New Zealand and the New Zealand Order of Merit . The Order of Mapungubwe is the highest honour in South Africa , while the Orders of Luthuli , and the Baobab exist alongside other decorations. The United States awards the Medal of Honor to members of its military for acts of valour, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom and

385-563: The Order of Saint Stephen of Hungary (1764) still required that one had to have at least four generations of noble ancestors. Still today, many dynastic orders are granted by royal families to worthy individuals for service and achievements. In 1802 Napoleon created the Legion of Honour ( Légion d'honneur ), which could be awarded to any person, regardless of status, for bravery in combat or for 20 years of distinguished service. While still retaining many trappings of an order of chivalry, it

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420-746: The Order of the Golden Fleece , England 's Order of the Garter , Denmark 's Order of the Elephant and Scotland 's Order of the Thistle , were created during that era. They were essentially courtly in nature, characterised by close personal relations between the orders' members and the orders' sovereign. In the contemporary era, 96% of the world's states – 196 out of a sample of 204 polities, which includes sovereignty-claiming entities like Abkhazia – were found to use Orders to bestow them upon their own citizens and, as

455-688: The American Boeing B-29 Superfortresses bombing the Japanese homeland. The first three men to win the award were Toru Shinomiya, Masao Itagaki and Matsumi Nakano—pilots flying the Kawasaki Ki-61 Hien fighter known by the Allies as the "Tony". On 3 December 1944, the three men were successful in very risky aerial ramming attacks. Another pilot, Masao Itagaki , successfully rammed B-29s on two occasions to earn two Bukōshō . Unusually,

490-528: The Catholic Church works in harmony with the confraternity, these rules are not religious vows , instead merely rules set up to govern the confraternal organization. Some confraternities allow only men, while others allow only women or only youth. The religiosity of the members and their desire for a personal reward in the afterlife were reflected in confraternity activities, such as assisting with burials by donating burial robes or monetary payment, attending

525-634: The Gonfalone was headquartered in the Church of Santa Lucia del Gonfalone. Because of their white hooded robes, they were identified as the "White Penitents". They were established in 1264 at Rome. St. Bonaventure , at that time Inquisitor-general of the Holy Office , prescribed the rules, and the white habit, with the name Recommendati B. V. Each Confraternity organization has a set of rules or by-laws to follow which every member promises to live by. Even though

560-781: The Grand Marian Procession parade on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception . The Confraternity of the Blessed Sacrament is an example of an Anglo-Catholic confraternity established in the Church of England which has spread to many places within the Anglican Communion of churches. Members of The Augustana Confraternity, which is in the Lutheran tradition, "devote themselves to the teachings of Holy Scripture and to

595-694: The IJA awarded the Bukōshō to at least one aviator of the Imperial Japanese Navy , for valiant action in the Battle of the Philippine Sea on 19–20 June 1944. Order (decoration) Modern honour systems of state orders and dynastic orders emerged from the culture of orders of chivalry of the Middle Ages , which in turn emerged from the Catholic religious orders . The word order ( Latin : ordo ), in

630-461: The IJA suggested the Bukōchōshō as an alternate decoration for living recipients who had shown the highest valor in combat, to be awarded much more quickly by division commanders in the field. Emperor Hirohito established the award on 7 December 1944, the third anniversary of the attacks on Hong Kong and Pearl Harbor , which had signaled the start of the broader Pacific War . The Bukōshō (as it

665-708: The acceptance of honors from other sovereigns unless the honorific order comes from a list of countries specified in a regulation. In 1974 the Cabinet of Sweden passed a regulation forbidding the monarch of Sweden from awarding membership in orders to Swedish citizens. The orders themselves were not abolished, but only the Royal Orders of the Seraphim and the Polar Star (both established in 1748) continued to be awarded, and only to foreign citizens and stateless individuals. In 1995

700-446: The acceptance of honours and titles by Swiss citizens. The current Constitution of 1999 has no specific prohibition, but a federal statute effectively continues the prohibition by barring holders of foreign orders from holding public office. This practice has become common across the globe (albeit other countries usually issue a general prohibition to accept foreign orders, allowing for generous exceptions). Australia, for instance, bans

735-565: The award. Eighty-nine Bukōshō were awarded during the eight months it was actively awarded. The Order of the Golden Kite had served for decades as an auspicious military award of the Japanese armed forces, and was the only Japanese order that was solely awarded to the military (the Order of the Rising Sun and the Order of the Sacred Treasure could also be awarded to civilians). However,

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770-465: The burial mass, volunteering in the local hospitals, organization of and participation in religious feast days, giving dowries for local orphans, selling and preparing bread used for local religious holidays, escorting the condemned during the inquisition, burying the dead during epidemics and other charitable acts as deemed appropriate by the confraternity members or parish priest. Society could not function strictly through government programs because there

805-424: The case referred to in this article, can be traced back to the chivalric orders , including the military orders , which in turn trace the name of their organisation back to that of the Catholic religious orders . Orders began to be created ad hoc and in a more courtly nature. Some were merely honorary and gradually the badges of these orders (i.e. the association) began to be known informally as orders . As

840-584: The cities of the Middle Ages . Confraternities could be important and wealthy institutions for the elite, as in for example, the Scuole Grandi of Venice . The Purgatorial societies and orders of flagellants were other specialized medieval types. The medieval French term puy designated a confraternity dedicated to artistic performance in music, song and poetry; the German meistersingers were similar, though typically imitating trade guilds in form. Starting in

875-542: The first confraternity in the modern and proper sense of the word is said to have been founded at Paris by Bishop Odo (d. 1208). It was under the invocation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Confraternities had their beginnings in the early Middle Ages, and developed rapidly from the end of the twelfth century. The main object and duty of these societies were, above all, the practice of piety and works of charity. Some confraternities were very widely spread, especially in

910-560: The fourteenth century, northern France saw the rise of confraternities and other lay communities of men and women, organized around trades and religious devotions dedicated to specific patron saints. Various other congregations such as of the Holy Trinity, of the Scapular, etc., were founded between the thirteenth and sixteenth centuries. From the latter century onwards, these pious associations have multiplied greatly. The Archconfraternity of

945-590: The general public, however, as being of noble rank or birth was usually a prerequisite to being admitted. In the 18th century, these ideas gradually changed and the orders developed from "honourable societies" to visible honours. An example of this gradual development can be seen in two orders founded by Maria Theresa of Austria . While the Military Order of Maria Theresa (1757) was open to any deserving military officer regardless of social origin, and would grant titles of nobility to those who did not already have them,

980-550: The original Catholic religious orders. While these chivalric orders were "societies, fellowships and colleges of knights", founded by the Holy See or European monarchs in imitation of the military orders of the Crusades, granting membership in such societies gradually developed into an honour that could be bestowed in recognition of service or to ensure the loyalty of a certain clientele . Some of modern Europe's highest honours, such as

1015-481: The process by which Order of the Golden Kite was awarded was very lengthy: it was indeed awarded to military men who had died in service, while the remainder were normally awarded only after the end of a war, for services throughout the conflict. As the Second World War dragged on, it became apparent that there was a need to promote morale among active army units by rewarding acts of valor more readily. To this end,

1050-513: The regulation was altered, allowing the monarch to bestow the two remaining active orders to members of the Swedish royal family . Finally, in 2022, the 48-year-old regulation was repealed by the Swedish Government, the orders were re-opened to Swedish citizens, and the two dormant orders ( Sword and Vasa ) were revived, with effect from 2023. Modern orders are usually open to all citizens of

1085-476: The rise of communism. Today, many countries have some form of order of merit or national decorations. Both Thailand 's Order of the White Elephant and Japan 's Order of the Rising Sun are over 100 years old. In Canada and some Commonwealth Realms, the Order of Merit is the highest civilian honour. Canada has the Order of Canada and provincial orders such as the Order of Nova Scotia . Australia has

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1120-412: The six kanji characters in two columns "Rikugun/Bukōchōshō" (Army/Badge for Military Merit). Both classes were the same size: 50 mm (2.0 in) high and 40 mm (1.6 in) wide. The Bukōshō was allowed to be given retroactively to soldiers who had distinguished themselves as far back as 1941 or perhaps 1940. In practice, the award was given disproportionately to fighter pilots flying against

1155-475: Was also a need to take care of matters such as burials, and provide for the poor and indigent. While government can and did maintain programs to handle these needs, they were better managed by lay organizations or the "neighbor helping neighbor" theory. The term may have other meanings: The Confraternity of the Immaculate Conception is a renowned lay Marian apostolate in the Philippines known for administering

1190-493: Was popularly known) was presented in two classes, called A and B, or First and Second. Loosely resembling the Iron Cross 1st Class, the Bukōshō was a pin back badge, cast in iron or steel, featuring two shields (in gilt for A-Class, bronzed for B-Class) forming a cross, with a gilt banner at the center bearing the two kanji characters "Bukō" (Military Merit). The reverse side (again in gilt for A-Class, bronzed for B-Class) bore

1225-806: Was the first modern national order of merit and is still France 's highest award today. The French Legion of Honour served as the model for numerous modern orders of merit in the Western world , such as the Order of Leopold in Belgium (1832) and the Order of the British Empire in the United Kingdom (1917). Orders of merit based on the French Legion of Honour typically retain five classes in accordance with habits of chivalric orders. In communist countries , orders of merit usually come in one to three grades, with only

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