The Red Cross centenary – Japan.

Commemorating the 100 years since the foundation of the Red Cross, Japan issued a special stamp and postmark form the Tokyo Central post office on 24/June/1959.

The foundation of the Red Cross followed the ferocious battle of Solferino on 24/June/1859, where the French-Sardinians-Piedmontese armies, battling for the independence of Italy, met the Austro-hungarian army. In the battle nearly one third of the 300,000 combatants lost their lives.

The Swiss businessman Henry Dunant witnessed the horrifying results of the battle in the days that followed and was a prime witness of the generosity and compassion of the people of Castiglione delle Stiviere, which lent their homes to help the wounded. Despite being Italian territory, assistance to soldiers of both armies was given without question. Especially moving were the efforts of the local women which gave away all of their linens (at that time one of the most precious possession for a woman) to create bandages.

The report written by Dunant moved so many people that in 1863, in Geneva, the Red Cross was founded, creating the basis for International Humanitarian Rights Associations everywhere.

Prof. Luca annotation:

We can see here the peculiarity of the stamp and the postmark. The writing on the stamp “Nihon Yuubin” is in classical characters, but it’s written from left to right, as in all writings after 1945, so a modern stamp, which also has the mark “1959” following the Gregorian calendar. The postmark instead reads “34.6.24” denoting the 34th year of the Showa era (1959), June 24th. This Mixture of original Japanese and westerners is still common nowadays.

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