Order of the Precious Crown

Order of the Precious Crown 宝冠章
Order of the Precious Crown, 1st class plaque. End of the 19th century. Musée de la Légion d'Honneur.
Awarded by the Emperor of Japan
Type	Order
Awarded for	At the monarch's pleasure
Status	Currently constituted
Sovereign	His Majesty The Emperor
Grades	1st through 8th Class
Statistics
Established	January 4, 1888
Precedence
Next (higher)	Order of Culture
Next (lower)	Person of Cultural Merit Medals of Honor

The Order of the Precious Crown (宝冠章, Hōkan-shō^?) is a Japanese order, established on January 4, 1888 by Emperor Meiji of Japan, and the lowest ranking of the Japanese orders currently awarded. Originally the order had five classes, but on April 13, 1896 the sixth, seventh and eighth classes were added.

This Order is conventionally reserved for female recipients; however, men have occasionally been accorded this honour. More often, men have been awarded the Order of the Rising Sun rather than the Order of the Precious Crown. In 1917, medals of the Order of the Crown were bestowed upon twenty-nine Americans who participated in the Russo-Japanese War. This unusual list of honorees was composed of ten women volunteer nurses and nineteen correspondents of American newspapers.

Until 2003, the Order of the Precious Crown ranked below the Order of the Rising Sun but above the Order of the Sacred Treasure, and was bestowed as a female-only version of the Order of the Rising Sun; however, men could also be appointed. In 2003 the Order of the Rising Sun, previously reserved for males, was made available to women as well, and the lowest two classes of the Order of the Precious Crown were abolished. The Order of the Precious Crown is now only bestowed upon female members of the Imperial Family and foreign ladies of distinction.

The first class honour has been typically conferred to female royalty. As originally conceived, the order consisted of eight classes. Unlike its European counterparts, the order may be conferred posthumously.

The badge of the order is a gold oval medallion, with floral designs at its four ends; at the centre is an ancient Japanese crown on a blue background, surrounded by a red ring. It is suspended from a smaller badge, its design varies according to class, on a ribbon in yellow with red stripes near the borders, as a sash on the right shoulder for the 1st class, as a bow on the left shoulder for the other classes.