Chinese? Japanese? Military Medal or Pendant with enamel.

[leesantiques]

I'm thinking that this is Chinese, but maybe Japanese?  I've never been good at telling the languages apart...  I'm also not sure if it is really old or not, with the Chinese being so good at faking things.  How can I tell for sure?  It measures some 3 1/8 inches across, not including the loop at the top.

If it is original, I'ld like to list this on Ebay - but I want to be sure first!  I do my darndest to be accurate in my listings and don't want to sell a replica!

If nothing else, would someone please be so kind as to tell me which country it is from, and if possible what the letters translate to?

Thank you.

Sincerely,

Lee

[checkit]

Definitely Japanese and in my opinion 100% original without a doubt. Maybe as the day wears on, I will recall the name of it.

[leesantiques]

Thank you!  I do appreciate the information and at least now have a better starting place on where to do further research.

Any idea on who is pictured in the middle?

Sincerely,

Lee

[1786davycrockett]

Try asking the Dai Nippon Military Antiques site, at imperialjapanmedalsandbadges.com -- they seem to have hundreds of these, dating back to the 1800s, and they could probably identify it fairly quickly for you.

[leesantiques]

Thank you for the suggestion.  I looked over the site and couldn't find it, but maybe I was looking in the wrong place?  In any event, I sent the photos to the people running it, and look forward to hearing back from them.  I'll post whatever I learn here.

Thanks again!

Lee

[gauntlettgems]

@leesantiques let us know what you find out!

[leesantiques]

Chinese fake.  :-((

Lee

[gauntlettgems]

Aww better luck next time!