Background
The Order of the Golden Kite was an exclusively military award, conferred for bravery, leadership or command in battle.
The order consisted of seven classes. Enlisted rank soldiers were eligible for the 7th - 5th classes, non-commissioned officers were eligible for the 6th - 4th classes, junior officers for the 5th - 3rd classes, field grade officers for the 4th-2nd classes and general officers for the 3rd-1st classes.
A total of 1,067,492 Order of the Golden Kite awards were made over the history of the order, most of them in the two lower 6th and 7th classes. Only 41 of the 1st class and 201 of the 2nd class were awarded.
By conflict:
- First Sino-Japanese War: approx. 2000
- Russo-Japanese War: approx. 109,600
- World War I: approx. 3000
- Manchurian Incident: approx. 9000
- Second Sino-Japanese War: approx. 190,000
- Pacific War: approx. 630,000
The award came with an annual monetary stipend, fixed in 1916. This was awarded for the lifetime of the recipient, and following his death, it would be awarded to the recipient's family for one year after. If the recipient died within 5 years of receiving the honor, the stipend would be awarded to the family until the end of the 5 year period. In 1939, the stipends stood as follows:
- 1st Class-1500 yen
- 2nd Class-1000 yen
- 3rd Class-700 yen
- 4th Class-500 yen
- 5th Class-350 yen
- 6th Class-250 yen
- 7th Class-150 yen
Since the monthly pay for a private in the Imperial Japanese Army at the time was 8 Yen, 80 sen, this amounted to a very substantial reward. The monetary stipend was abolished in 1940.
The honor was sometimes awarded individually, sometimes awarded en masse. In mid-October 1942, posthumous awards were announced following ceremonies at the Yasukuni Shrine. Posthumous honorees included 995 who were lost in combat in the far-flung Pacific War battles and 3,031 were lost fighting in China. In this instance, Tokyo's official radio broadcast of the list of posthumous recipients of the Order of the Golden Kite was monitored by Allied forces in Asia. The number of honorees was not considered remarkable at the time, but the number of posthumous awards was considered noteworthy by Allied analysts. Specific high ranking naval and army officers were named; and in addition, special mention was given to 55 naval aviators and 9 "members of a special attack flotilla" -- presumably miniature submarines taking part in the attack on Pearl Harbor.
The order of the Golden Kite was officially abolished by the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers of Occupied Japan in 1947.
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