Help with WW2 flag

[Toritoribe]

@The OP, a fact that the cloth is old can't be an evidence that the flag is a genuine one. I can write with my different types of five or so brushes and different inks I have now here on an old cloth even right now. It's also easy to write kanji slowly or quickly, of course. We saw these types of old fake flags in this forum so far.
Two 鈴木s are the same. 作 in 廣作 and 健作 are also the same. I can see the same way of writing migi-harai or hane in different names, but anyway, you said you want to know what is written there regardless of fake or genuine, so I add information of two more nobles' names written on the flag; 侯爵小林捷治 Marquis Kobayashi Katsuharu and 子爵植村(probably supposed to be)家治 Viscout Uemura Ieharu. (The two kanji under 植村 are illegible, but the head of the viscount family was Ieharu at that time.)

 

[mdchachi]

On the real flags, does everybody always write their own names? What if people who should be on the flag aren't present and unable to write their names? Would other people write their names for them?

 

[Majestic]

↑ I'm sure that's possible, but I can't imagine the flag would get presented to the soldier without some mention of
a) the recipient's name, and
b) prayers or wishes for his good luck.
c) some sort of line that says something like, "from all of here at Mitsubishi Mining, Kyushu ".

That's why (to me) it has the feeling of a flag that was made in commemoration of some commercial event.

Edit: And of course you can't rule out the possibility that it is a fake of some kind.

 

[Mike Cash]

↑ I'm sure that's possible, but I can't imagine the flag would get presented to the soldier without some mention of
a) the recipient's name, and
b) prayers or wishes for his good luck.
c) some sort of line that says something like, "from all of here at Mitsubishi Mining, Kyushu".

That's why (to me) it has the feeling of a flag that was made in commemoration of some commercial event.

Edit: And of course you can't rule out the possibility that it is a fake of some kind.

Anybody who has ever been to even the most modest organized event in Japan, I think, would have to wonder how on earth an event with three members of the nobility present didn't have on the flag the name of the sponsoring organization, the date or location, or a clear (or at least legible) indication of just what the hell the occasion was. Maybe I'm overly skeptical, but I have trouble accepting this as genuine. Given the lack of detail, we can't even make a good guess what it is the thing is faking. I wouldn't put it past an antiques dealer to seed a fake flag in with some real antiques.


As we have seen, especially from some of the side-splittingly hilarious obvious fakes posted here in the past, foreigners (especially Americans) will eagerly snatch up anything white with a red circle in the middle and some magic marker scribblings in the belief that they're all WWII battle flags. This one has such a scrawled and indecipherable inscription on the right, such a suspicious paucity of variety in the writing, and a conspicuous absence of date/location/group that I really have to wonder if it weren't purposely made that way to instantly derail any attempts at verification. We do know that there was practically a cottage industry after the war making fake battle flag souvenirs for selling to the many soldiers who were unable themselves to steal one from a prisoner or from the personal effects of a dead soldier.

 

[Toritoribe]

On the real flags, does everybody always write their own names? What if people who should be on the flag aren't present and unable to write their names? Would other people write their names for them?

Yes, it's possible that, for instance, people who were good at writing wrote their colleagues names or family members' names instead of them, but it's not common the same person wrote different names here and there.

 

[Justin Suan]

Is it possible that this was from a series of flags. Maybe two to four. Maybe one had the event or name or information with signatures while the others just had the rest of the signatures on them. Just another guess. I seen many historical event photos with multiple flags present.

 

[Justin Suan]

If it is a fake...why fake one like this. I can assure everyone that this is an old flag. All the details point it was made along ago and folded away for a very long time. So the questions would be again what would someone gain from replicating this flag. Why has it remained in Japan. Why after making it would it be locked away. Why bury it under many items and sell it for really nothing. Doesn't add up. Like I have mention the gentleman I bought it from was surprised to see it as much as I was. He could have easy hung it in the wall and easily gotten a couple hundred American dollars for it. Again this is in my private collection and will be displayed with many other items that commemorate my years here in Japan. As I said people will ask questions about it and would like to tell them accurately what it is and what it says.

 

[Justin Suan]

While researching for another flag like mine I came across this image. It is a very simular layout size and material. I noticed right off that the silk is much more brighter than mine but has a different texture. It has a more open weave like a lower quality. It looks to be signed by Imperial Japanese ArmyYanome Lieutenant general, Hironaka Major general and many other folks. It's has typical war slogans.

 

[Toritoribe]

Unlike yours, that's a typical hinomaru yosegaki; the recipient's name is at the right end, a typical patriotic slogan 武運長久 Praying for good luck in battle is on the upper side, and army officer's names are there.
Help With Japanese World War 2 Flag Souvenirs | Japan Forum

Apart from "fake or genuine", I googled some names written there and got a result that at least six people had something to do with the House of Peers. Four people, 宮坂完孝, 寺光忠, 河野義克 and the Chinese(speaking strictly, occupied Taiwanese) 李燧煤, were members of the Secretariat of the House of Peers in the first half of 1940s, and 河井彌八 and Duke 山縣有道 were members of the House of Peers. The rest two nobles might be as well. All their names, except Duke Yamagata, were written on the bottom of the flag. It might be better to ask the Secretariat of the National Diet about your flag.