Japanese military Manchuria Incident sake bottle

A porcelain Japanese sake bottle from 1931 depicting the Japanese military flag on the right and the flag of Manchuria (Northeast China) on the left. It is decorated with gold gilding on the rim and as well as gold Chinese characters commemorating 18 September 1931 when Japan launched an attack on Manchuria. This war was commonly known as the Manchuria or Mukden Incident (1931-1932). Such sake bottles would have been given like a medal, to a non-commissioned officer who took part in the military action. The small insignia above the crossed flags shows two crossed rifles that indicates that the person was part of an infantry battalion. Sake is a traditional Japanese alcoholic beverage made from fermented rice. The sake bottle was part of the Nick Welman private bequest to the University of Pretoria in 2010.