Japanese WWII mystery balls on chains in pocket

May 26, 2011 2:11 PM

My friend, Hilary asks, "Does anyone have any idea what these are? They were found, strung together like this, in the pocket of a Japanese soldier's overcoat during WWII. My Mother's friend worked for the Red Cross during the war, and found them, and they eventually came to me. I'm guessing they are coral....but what was their use?"
posted by nickyskye to Society & Culture (9 answers total)

Best answer: Looks reminiscent of juzu, a type of Buddhist rosary.
posted by halogen at 2:18 PM on May 26, 2011 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Omg, you guys are astounding. It certainly looks like they may be juzu.
posted by nickyskye at 2:22 PM on May 26, 2011

I don't think those are juzu. I am very familiar with Hindu prayer beads (called a mala), and it's my understanding is that juzu (a juzu?) is basically the same thing: 108 (or another number divisible by 9) beads on a string. I have never seen a mala that has beads on individual chains like that.
posted by Specklet at 2:51 PM on May 26, 2011 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Specklet, now that I have halogen's magic word, juzu, it wasn't difficult to get more answers. If you google Nichiren juzu, you'll see that the juzu is sometimes used for the Sanskrit word, mala (prayer beads), sometimes not.

In Japanese I think the mala is also called the nenju? The juzu are attached to the mala as counting beads, I think.

On one site there seems to be something called kosen rufu (world peace) and the juzu seem to be associated with that too? Not sure. > "Last Bead on the Ends: represent the will to attain kosenrufu (world peace)," which is pretty ironic when one thinks these were found in the pocket of a soldier.
posted by nickyskye at 3:45 PM on May 26, 2011

It's an interesting question. They don't look like typical juzu; it would be great if we could see a picture of the actual bracelet, although the 16 juzu or whatever may represent the 16 Buddhist precepts.
posted by KokuRyu at 4:35 PM on May 26, 2011 [1 favorite]

@nickyskye - The soldier's beads pictured don't resemble any juzu that I've seen (as a practicing Nichiren buddhist). Our juzu are somewhat similar to what Specklet describes (108 beads forming the main body + 5 strands). Kosen rufu roughly translates as "world peace through individual happiness, spread through sharing the humanistic values/ideas of buddhism." I doubt if what was found in the soldier's pocket are juzu from my religious tradition. Perhaps another sect or school?
posted by tanuki.gao at 5:14 PM on May 26, 2011

After looking at this site, I thought they might be an "informal" nenju, but then again, prayer beads are normally strung together -- not as individual beads on their own strands, radiating from a central point.

This is a stretch, but maybe they are a charm or amulet, having to do with nationalism? The colors are red and white, and there are 16 rays on the Rising Sun flag.
posted by tanuki.gao at 5:32 PM on May 26, 2011

Response by poster: > "The 5 larger beads at the bottom of each dangle are the “Kosen-Rufu” beads, and represent our desire to spread Nichiren Buddhism, Kosen-Rufu, throughout the World."
posted by nickyskye at 6:43 PM on May 26, 2011 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: One more photo of the chains and balls. They were put onto a binder ring but that's not how they came in the pocket. They were loose in the pocket.
posted by nickyskye at 6:48 AM on May 27, 2011