Japanese military Second World War sake cup

A Japanese sake cup commissioned in 1939 for a soldier at the end of his service when discharged from the 23rd infantry division in the Imperial Japanese Army. It was called the Sunrise Division. The cup depicts the rising sun and Japanese flag. This was the primary Japanese division involved in the Nomonhan Incident between Japan and the Soviet Union’s Red Army from May to September 1939 after which it was disbanded. The Japanese sixth army was defeated in this last battle near the town of Nomonhan in Upper Mongolia. The sake bottle was part of the Nick Welman private bequest to the University of Pretoria in 2010.