I have good luck flag

[unclewilly]

I have good luck flag from ww2 my father brought it home. can some one translate. also might want to sell

 

[Grandpa Frank]

If you can get some good detailed , well lit pictures , someone here can probably help you with info. The best pictures seem to divide the flag into 4 quarters.

 

[unclewilly]

pictures on the way i am post many did not know which way was up down left or rignt

 

[Grandpa Frank]

No problem , we see that often and members here still seem to figure them out , LOL. Sometimes it takes a few day for answers because some members only get on during the weekends. Please don't be upset if it turns out to be a copy/fake. It seems many military members during & after the war made tons of fakes to sell to guys to take home as war trophies.

 

[unclewilly]

photos are loaded have more if needed

 

[unclewilly]

thank you very much. might be reel thing dad won off a marine on ap51 uss sheraidan. also have letter he wrote home after watching treaty singing from ship in toko bay

 

[Grandpa Frank]

Sounds like a real family treasure , especially with the letter. Not that you would want to part with the flag , but I think it is interesting their is a group that tries to return flags to the original Japanese owner's family when there is enough info to do that. I think we have just had that happen once since people started posting flags here. My dad was based on a sub during WWII stationed in Hawaii. He used to joke about the Marines there making fake flags and making a killing for money , cigarettes and booze for guys to take home. Some posted here in the past had real interesting info on them with good details. I always like reading info on them when our members here help translate them.

 

[mdchachi]

photos are loaded have more if needed

Not only is it upside down but you've posted the rear side (unless you're taking a picture in a mirror or mirror mode). Maybe repost with pics of the other side oriented with the "title" at the top. Every time you see a character like 仲 it should be oriented like this with the イ at the left. You can see this at the top middle in your current orientation. And the same イ in the large slogan on the side.
Let's see what the experts say but to my untrained eye it seems like a lot of "cursive-like" sloppy handwriting throughout often thought to be indicative of contemporary fakes written by non-Japanese who don't actually know kanji. For example these are supposed to be the same kanji, written very poorly and side by side for no apparent reason.

 

[Grandpa Frank]

Not sure how to make it flip sided (out of mirror mode) but turned it right side up I hope.

 

[mdchachi]

Not sure how to make it flip sided (out of mirror mode) but turned it right side up I hope.

This correct.

 

[Majestic]

Across the top, written from right to left on the flag
祈武運長久
Pray for everlasting luck in battle

Vertically down the left side
入團岡信義君
(Congratulations on) Entering the Army, Nobuyoshi OKA.
(Oka is the recipient's family name. You can see a few other persons named Oka who have also signed the flag).

The rest are names, with a few patriotic slogans mixed in.

 

[unclewilly]

 

[unclewilly]

better

 

[unclewilly]

thanks Majestic do you think its real or fake and are new pics turned right

 

[Majestic]

Should look like this. Yes, it looks authentic to me.

 

[Toritoribe]

do you think its real or fake

Well, it seems to me that there are many suspicious points in your flag, e.g., wrong kanji, strange slogans, many signatures written by the same hand, the same name written twice, etc.

 

[Grandpa Frank]

Please remember , we can only offer our honest opinions and not rock solid professional appraisals. After you study many flags over a long period , you get a gut feeling for real or fake but it's not a perfect science.

 

[unclewilly]

thanks to everyone for help