Some Japanese Occupation Showa stamps

There is much interest in JO stamps on this blog. These are a few other stamps which I acquired recently. The overprinted showa stamps can come in varying quality depending on which issues were used. The ones printed during the war tend to be poorer  due to war time austerity. The showas were generally mass produced in the millions. The term "showa" is used to designate the period of the reign of Emperor Hirohito which begun in 1926 and ended in 1989.

                                   Horyu Temple                             Kinkaku Temple

These two items seem genuine enough. There is clear indentation of the overprint at the back which does not show up very well on a scan. We have historical designs here which were let down by the poor choice of colour. They would have looked stunning with a frame and vignette bicolour scheme but the printing process would have been more expensive.

                                                Mt Fuji and cherry blossoms

This is undoubtedly my favourite stamp of the issue with the right choice of colour for the subject material. The printing was also of a better quality. This is in fine fresh condition being unmounted mint apart from slight gum disturbance due to storage on rice paper.