Original Items: Only One Lot of 6 Available. This is a very nice group of six original Imperial Japanese military sake cups dating from the WWII era, five of which feature patriotic and military motifs incorporating Rising Sun flags. Two of the cups additionally depict a rifle crossed with the flag, giving the group particularly strong military character.

Small ceramic sake cups were commonly produced in Imperial Japan as commemorative pieces connected with military service, enlistment, discharge, units, campaigns, and other occasions. Surviving examples display an enormous variety of hand-painted and transfer-decorated military imagery, frequently accompanied by Japanese inscriptions identifying the occasion, unit, or recipient.

While not a traditional serving utensil, a shot glass is also used. In the United States, it is used as a substitute for ochoko, while in Japan it is used in conjunction with masu. Sake stemware is also used, which is essentially a glass sake cup elevated above a wide base. Sake stemware, as well as glass tokkuri, are now commonly used to serve chilled sake.

This is a lovely lot of six sake cups, five of which feature lovely motifs with Rising Sun flags, with two of them also featuring a rifle crossed with the flag. There is gold inlay in some of them with kanji characters ready for translation. The sixth cup has only kanji characters and no other motifs with an interesting spiral base.

As a group, these six cups provide an appealing cross-section of Imperial Japanese military commemorative sake ware. The combination of Rising Sun flags, crossed-rifle imagery, gold decoration, surviving kanji inscriptions, and the unusual spiral-base example gives the lot considerable visual variety while retaining a clear connection to the material culture surrounding Japanese military service during the WWII period.