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" Yosegaki Hinomaru "

Catunderstar

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15 Jan 2018
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Hello All, My name is Mike & a number of years ago a co -worker told me a story about his Grandfather & the fact that he was a WWII vet & had been awarded a " Purple Heart " for bravery during the " Battle of Iwo Jima " & the fact that he had taken some personal effects ( Good luck flag,sword,pictures ) from a Japanese officer he killed during said battle. The last time we spoke about it I told him, If he would agree to return them to the family of that deceased Japanese officer,I would "foot the bill" & fly over to Japan & personally hand them over to the family of that man who died in battle. He ended up retiring early,due to an injury & I lost touch with him. Never really cared for the guy (Big Mouth, Racist etc) & unlikely the kind of person to have a change of heart as it concerns returning those precious items. While doing some research on my own, about the " Yosegaki Hinomaru " on various sites, I went on E-Bay & there were assorted people selling these. I decided to devote an amount of money I could afford & I bought 4 of them,thinking of all the money me & " My Family " spend on insignificant crap in our every day lives & growing up myself in a " Family without a Father ". Only met my Dad 1 time as an infant & know first hand what that " Hell " is about! I did email the " Obon Society " along with a $100 donation towards their work & as yet have not received any reply. They must be busy lol. Presently waiting on the last Flag to arrive from ,Denmark, & have a soldiers name for that one & 1 other. I need to translate the other 2,1 of which has a " Shrine Stamp " so I am hoping I can do this as quickly as possible for obvious reasons... While I wait for a reply from the, O.S. , I would Really Appreciate any help or direction on this matter & THANKS in Advance PS sorry for the run on sentence stuff :) Mike
 
You need to be aware that there is a booming business in fake flags and that it is entirely possible you could be unwittingly spending your money on those.

You should also be aware that it isn't always the case that the flags can be traced to an original recipient. Even if they can be traced it isn't always the case that there is any family member alive now who wants it back.
 
Anyway, you can post the pictures of the flags here. We would be able to help you to translate them.
 
Hello again & Thanks for the reply! Here are pictures of 1 flag.
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The name of the shrine is ?川神社. The radical of the kanji on the upper right corner is sanzui, but I can't identify it. Judging from a fact that
1zbgu9e.jpg
is used instead of 社, it might be a variation of a kanji or something like that.
 
Thanks Toritoribe.. Will have someone come to my place & translate them in person. Again,Thank you for your efforts!
 
The majority of the writings on the flag are the names of the people who signed the flag (Suzuki Hiroshi, Tanaka Kunihiko, etc.). There are one or two patriotic slogans on there (必勝, certain victory).
 
Other slogans I can find are;
天皇歸一
必勝信念
死生長夜夢
撃ちてし止まむ
一死報国
挙国奉公
七生報国
祝征途
忠勇
軍神續ケ
but, to tell the truth, I have some doubt about the authenticity (not about the flag itself but the slogans and signatures)...
 
Other slogans I can find are;
天皇歸一
必勝信念
死生長夜夢
撃ちてし止まむ
一死報国
挙国奉公
七生報国
祝征途
忠勇
軍神續ケ
but, to tell the truth, I have some doubt about the authenticity (not about the flag itself but the slogans and signatures)...
It may very well be a Fake. I have a problem with the fact that 1 of the writings on the flag seems to be "running or pooling " for lack of a better term, unlike the others which are more precise,sharper etc. Thanks again!
 
Greetings! I will be sending the 4 " Yosegaki Hinomaru " that I acquired to the Obon Society & don't feel comfortable putting them in a plastic freezer bag or sandwich bag & thought I'd ask one final question of the forum as to doing it in a more Respectful fashion...is there a Special container or more Acceptable way to go about it ?
 
Japan isn't as upright about flag handling as America is. Just wrap them in a way that will protect them during shipping.
 
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