Item number: M501

Year: AD 1902-1946

Material: Enamel, Silver

Size: 41.0 x 19.5 x 1.3 mm

Weight: 5.05 g

Provenance: Private Collector, Japan, 2026

This is a Red Star Badge awarded to supporting members of the medical organisation Dōjinkai, conferred upon individuals who donated between 30 and 50 Japanese yen.

The body of the badge features the emblem of the Dōjinkai, set within a heart-shaped outline. At its centre are the Chinese characters for “Dōjin” (同仁) in silver seal script, framed by a silver rim and filled with red enamel on the base. The centre of the reverse side displays a red star bounded by a raised silver border. Encircling the red star is a relief depiction of a dragon coiled roughly along the heart-shaped contour. A loop at the top of the badge connects to a suspension ring, which is attached to a brass safety pin. The front of the pin features a three-dimensional golden five-pointed star and secures the ribbon. The ribbon is divided equally into five vertical stripes: a central red stripe, flanked by two blue stripes, which are in turn flanked by two white stripes; narrow white stripes separate the central red stripe from the blue ones, and the edges are trimmed with thin red stripes.

To raise funds, the Dōjinkai established a hierarchical system of honours:

This badge is not accompanied by its original box; however, based on records of matching fitted boxes (tomobako), the manufacturer was likely Kobayashi Watchmaker (Kobayashi Tokeiten). The Kobayashi family of Tokyo had worked as clockmakers since the Edo Shogunate and established Kobayashi Watchmaker in AD 1802 (Kyōwa 2). In the early Meiji period, the firm pioneered the import and sale of timepieces and subsequently expanded into the manufacturing of accessories and precious metal ornaments, earning widespread renown. When selecting official purveyors to the Imperial Household, the Imperial Household Ministry appointed Kobayashi Watchmaker to produce Imperial gifts and commemorative items for various state celebrations.

The Dōjinkai was established in AD 1902 as a semi-official overseas medical organisation that emerged against the backdrop of Pan-Asianism and the “Preservation of China” (Shina Hosen) discourse in Japan around the time of the First Sino-Japanese War and the Russo-Japanese War. At the time, Japanese medical and political circles advocated using localised modern Western medicine as a medium, claiming to offer neighbouring East Asian countries a non-Westernised path to modernisation. Driven by figures such as Konoe Atsumaro, Nagaoka Moriyoshi, Kitasato Shibasaburō, and Katayama Kuniyoshi, the “East Asia Common Culture Medical Society” (Tōa Dōbun Ikai) and the “Asia Medical Society” (Ajia Ikai) merged in AD 1902, and the entity was officially registered as a foundational corporation in AD 1903. The organisation historically maintained a member of the Imperial Family as its President (Sōsai) and was led by prominent political figures such as Nagaoka Moriyoshi, Ōkuma Shigenobu, and Uchida Yasuya as President (Kaichō).

Its association flag and emblem featured a white field with a red border, centred around a “red heart shape” symbolising medical benevolence, inscribed with the characters “Dōjin” (同仁) in gold. The name derives from the concept of “shared purpose” in the Hexagram Tongren of the I Ching (Book of Changes) and from Han Yu’s Yuan Ren (“On the Nature of Man”), which states that “The sage regards all with equal benevolence”.

In its early years, the Dōjinkai primarily dispatched physicians, pharmacists, and nursing personnel to Qing China, Korea, and Southeast Asia, accumulating a total of 329 dispatched personnel by AD 1912, and sending medical teams deep into the Yangtze River basin during the 1911 Revolution to treat casualties from all sides. From AD 1914 onwards, the Dōjinkai adjusted its strategy, shifting toward constructing and operating large general hospitals in major Chinese cities; it successively established the Peking Dōjinkai Hospital and took over or founded general hospitals in Hankou, Qingdao, and Jinan. Following the First World War, faced with difficulties in securing private donations, the Dōjinkai began accepting substantial official subsidies from the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs derived from the refunded Boxer Indemnity, gradually integrating its medical facilities and operations into official Japanese cultural policy toward China and its broader diplomatic framework.

Beyond direct medical service provision, the Dōjinkai invested heavily in training medical personnel and translating academic literature. In AD 1906, it established the “Tokyo Dōjin Medical and Pharmaceutical School” in Tokyo and provided long-term financial support to hundreds of Chinese students studying medicine in Japan, while also organising medical lectures in China to elevate local healthcare standards. In terms of publishing, the organisation regularly issued official periodicals such as Dōjin, and in AD 1927 established the “Chinese Medical Books Publishing Society” (Kaban Iyakugakusho Kankōkai). Headed by figures such as Tang Erhe, it translated roughly one hundred modern Japanese medical monographs into Chinese, exerting a lasting impact on the foundation of the modern Western medical system and the dissemination of medical knowledge in China.

Following the full-scale outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War in AD 1937, the nature of the Dōjinkai underwent a fundamental transformation. Under the direction of the Japanese military and the Kōa-in (Asia Development Board), the organisation was thoroughly reorganised into regional branches in North China, Central China, Mengjiang, and Hainan Island. It set up numerous medical and epidemic prevention units and stations, transforming entirely into a tool for maintaining public order, pacifying military and civilian populations, and conducting battlefield epidemic prevention in Japanese-occupied territories. It also became deeply implicated in inhumane human experimentation and biological warfare, until the defeat of Japan in AD 1945, leading to the organisation’s dissolution in AD 1946. Academic appraisals of the organisation remain dualistic: prior to the 1930s, the Dōjinkai indeed demonstrated a Pan-Asian humanitarian practice that aimed to promote shared East Asian modernisation through medicine and public health; however, with the escalation of war, its medical resources were thoroughly mobilised to serve imperial aggression, ultimately resulting in its early humanitarian intentions being entirely subsumed by the military apparatus.

物件編號: M501

年代: 公元 1902-1946 年

材質: 琺瑯、銀

尺寸: 41.0 x 19.5 x 1.3 mm

重量: 5.05 g

來源: 日本私人收藏 2026

這是一枚給予醫療團體同仁會贊助會員的紅星章，贈予捐款三十圓以上五十元以下者。

章體為同仁會的徽記，輪廓成心型，中央為銀色篆體漢字「同仁」，外框為銀色，底章填以紅色琺瑯。背面中央為紅星，有突起的銀框。圍繞著紅星的，浮雕著一條大致沿心型輪廓而盤捲的龍。章體上方有環以連接吊環，吊環則與一黃銅別針相連，別針正面有一立體的五角金星，並固定綬帶。綬帶則為平分五道色帶，中央為紅，紅的外側為兩道藍色帶，藍色帶的外側為兩道白色帶，紅色帶與藍色帶間以細的白色帶相隔，邊緣則為細紅色帶。

為對外募款，同仁會設定了階層式的榮譽制度：

本章未付原箱，但據一些共箱紀錄來看，製造商可能是小林時計店。自江戶幕府時代起東京小林家即為鐘錶匠，並於享和二年（公元1802年）創立小林時計店。明治初年，率先開展鐘錶類商品的進口與銷售，隨後致力於附屬配件及貴金屬飾品之製作，聲明遠揚。宮內省（皇室總務機關）在選拔皇室御用商之際，任命小林時計店承製皇室賜贈品及各項慶典紀念品。

同仁會（Dōjinkai）成立於公元1902年，是在甲午戰爭與日俄戰爭前後，日本興起的大亞細亞主義與「保全支那」思潮下產生的半官半民海外醫療團體。當時日本醫界與政界主張將已在地化的近代西方醫學作為傳播媒介，自詡能提供東亞鄰國一條去西洋化的近代化路徑。在公元1902年，經由近衛篤麿、長岡護美、北里柴三郎與片山國嘉等人的推動，將「東亞同文醫會」與「亞細亞醫會」合併，並於公元1903年正式登記為財團法人。該組織歷來擁戴皇族為總裁，並由長岡護美、大隈重信、內田康哉等政要出任會長。

其會旗與會徽以白底紅邊為基調，中央畫有象徵醫者仁心的「赤色心臟形」，並於心形中央填寫金字「同仁」，其名源於《易經》同人卦象之「有志一同」之意，與韓愈《原人》中，「聖人一視而同仁」之意。

在創立初期，同仁會以向清國、韓國及東南亞派遣醫師、藥劑師與護理人員為主，至公元1912年累計派遣達三百二十九人，並於辛亥革命期間深入長江流域救護各方傷患。公元1914年起，同仁會調整策略，轉向在中國核心城市興建與營運大型綜合醫院，相繼建立北京同仁醫院，以及接管與創立漢口、青島、濟南等地的綜合醫院。一戰過後，由於私款籌措困難，同仁會開始大量接受日本外務省利用庚子賠款退款成立的官方資助，使其醫療設施與營運逐漸融入日本官方的對華文化政策與外交體系之中。

除了直接提供醫療服務，同仁會亦極力投入醫學人才培訓與學術知識的譯介。公元1906年同仁會在東京成立「東京同仁醫藥學校」，並長期資助數百名中國留學生在日修讀醫學，同時在華舉辦醫師講習會以提升在地醫療水平。在出版方面，該會定期發行《同仁》等機關期刊，並於公元1927年成立「華文醫藥學書出版會」，由湯爾和等人主持，將約百本日本現代醫學專著翻譯為中文出版，對近代中國西醫體系的奠基與知識傳播帶來了長遠的影響。

公元1937年日中戰爭全面爆發後，同仁會的性質發生了根本性的劇變。在日本軍方與興亞院的指揮下，同仁會全面改組為華北、華中、蒙疆及海南島等地方支部，設置大量診療防疫班與防疫處，完全轉化為替日軍佔領區進行治安肅正、軍民宣撫及戰地防疫的工具，並深度涉入不人道的人體實驗與生化作戰，直至公元1945年日本戰敗後，於公元1946年解散。學界對其評價呈現雙重性：公元1930年代以前的同仁會確實展現了透過醫療與衛生促進東亞共同近代化的泛亞人道主義實踐，然而隨著戰爭興起，其醫療資源被徹底動員為帝國侵略服務，終致早期的人道初衷全數被軍事體制所吞噬。