| FAKES & MISREPRESENTED ITEMS |
| Super RARE! The superb and ultra scarce KAMIKAZE cup!!! |
| I must admit that I once sold these as kamikaze cups. I was convinced by antique dealers here in Japan who assured me that this is what the kamikaze pilots used with their last gulps of sake. Turns out that although kamikaze pilots did indeed have sake before departing (or water, a purifying agent), never was the style of cup determined. These flower cups cannot be considered fakes since they were made for another reason. They are misrepresented as kamikaze items by ignorant or dishonest dealers. |
| Even so, these flower cups were often made into military cups by painting designs over them. Click here to see some examples. |
| KAMIKAZE ITEMS! Dated 1944! |
| Here is a collection of military items that are fakes, no doubt about it. While the flower cups above were created for their beauty and later misrepresented, these are different. They are all dated Showa 19 [1944] in large characters. They have the same printed plane on them, and 'kamikaze' is written in large, gaudy characters. These were obviously made to deceive the buyer, or perhaps even made recently to commemorate the kamikaze pilots. However, since a specific date is on these, I believe these were made as fakes. I have seen these items go for $200 to $400 each on ebay. These are post-war, fairly crude, and full of incongruous images and phrases. Made for the post-war Occupation crowd looking for a genuine war souvenir, I suppose. Do not buy anything that resembles these items unless you realize what they are. |
| Have you read similar phrases on auctions selling this kind of cup? Actually, this is no more than a pretty cherry blossom cup, nicely made with a fukizumi (blown ink) technique. A nice cup, but not an authentic kamikaze item. Quite common here in Japan. If you want one, email me. $8 each, including shipping. |
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