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1945 Japanese Navy Pilots Diary - his name possibly?

Bunkerhill

Sempai
17 Aug 2016
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I recently purchased the diary of a Japanese Navy pilot which dates to 1945.

There are a little over 70 hand written pages in the diary and of course I have no intention of posting them all and jamming up the forum. However, directly after the first page are two pages with a brief amount of Japanese writing.

I wondered if this might be the man's name and possibly some information about him? It would be a start. I have enclosed a photo of the young pilot as well. There is no writing on the reverse but I think people might be interested.

pilot.jpg
IMG_7084.JPG
IMG_7084a.JPG
 
Is the writing in the rest of the diary of that same highly calligraphic style?
 
Mike, the remaining hand written pages are as this example. The writing is a bit light in the original, not as bold as the first two pages. I have adjusted the tonal range for better viewing.


page.jpg
 
Would be amazing if you can reunite this diary to the guy's family. Especially here in Asia where ancestry is so important it might mean a lot to them.

Good luck with your research.

Wonder how his story ended? A tragic wasteful end or a long happy life ...
 
Looks to be a maintenance diary:
6th (Tuesday) fine weather
Two planes nearly finished. Three other planes tested. Itō (Tanida Section, 4 planes).

etc... The sheet with the calligraphy is dated 1937 (Shōwa, zodiac year hinotoushi), but I do not know if that is the date of the diary itself, or just of the writing (a poem, I think) .
 
A quick google search result says that 自啓録 is the title of a diary note provided to students in military academy. The title and poem might be already printed on the book. (If so, the date would be when he got it, I think.)
 
Toritoribe - after your suggestion I examined the ink of the first two pages: it is printed - not written. I should have seen that right away.

I will post the first written page a little later and maybe this will help identify the man's name. The man who sold it to me thought it dated from 1945. If it dates from 1937 that would be interesting as well.

This is printed on the cover
IMG_7086.JPG
 
Looks to be a maintenance diary:
6th (Tuesday) fine weather
Two planes nearly finished. Three other planes tested. Itō (Tanida Section, 4 planes).

etc... The sheet with the calligraphy is dated 1937 (Shōwa, zodiac year hinotoushi), but I do not know if that is the date of the diary itself, or just of the writing (a poem, I think) .

I wonder what he could mean ' two planes nearly finished. Three other planes tested '. I do not think he was stationed at a factory. A wild guess if 1945 the planes are being modified or updated.
 
The use of エンドレス makes me suspect it is at least pre- Pearl Harbor.

I think the "test flights" are the qualifying flights of the students, not test flights of the aircraft. He names other who have departed after testing.
 
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Well, lets try this: here is the first hand written page in the diary. Any chance of the man's name, organization or date?
first page.JPG
 
Could you elaborate a bit? Was the use of such anglicisms frowned upon or censored during the War?
敵性語 - Wikipedia

As in the wiki page above, loanwords were considered as the language of the enemy, but those words were actually used even in military.

Well, lets try this: here is the first hand written page in the diary. Any chance of the man's name, organization or date?
The writer was the alternative squad leader of a weapon maintenance section, so he was not a student at that time. I now think the date printed on the notebook would not be the date when he got it. Probably it's just the time when the original version of the notebook was printed.
 
敵性語 - Wikipedia
Interesting how such sudden changes in a language lead to situations like the one mentioned in the article: 急な言い換えのため、審判が「ストライク・・・もとい、よし1本」と言い間違えて観客を笑わせる一幕もあったという
 
Is there anything on the last page or inside back cover? Identifying information might be located there.
 
Mike, I thought the same thing. Considering the date the diary began I wondered how long into the year it would proceed. I was going to scan and post the page with a question but thought better of doing so. I understand the translation forum is for brief translations and did not want to be rude. But I will go ahead and post the last page - thank you for asking.
 
- and after that I'll astound the forum with the odd, colorful and wonderful Japanese matchbook covers that need translating!
 
Okay...the very last page is empty. That is preceded with a page with very little writing and a small illustration. The page prior to that has more illustrations and then more and more as the pages proceed. I have only unloaded the last five pages.
second to last page.jpg


Third to last page.
third to last page.jpg


fourth to last page
fouth to last page.jpg


Fifth to last page
fifth to last page.jpg
 
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Those are all upside down.
It seems what is written there is how to tie ropes to make something. There are no names or dates, anyway.
 
If a mod would be kind enough to delete my mistaken uploads, I will reload the pages in the correct position. My apologies.
 
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