Identify Japanese Good Luck Flag

Hello,

I'm hoping someone here can help me identify this Japanese Good Luck Flag. Any information that can be shared would be sincerely appreciated.

Thank you
Stephen

Hello Stephen
This is the correct orientation for the flag.

The big letters vertically down the right side of the flag are 祈武運長久 (Inoru bu-un chōkyū). It means "praying for good luck in war". The rest of the writing on the flag are names. I don't know why it says "Hawaii" on the flag. Maybe it was at one time the property of some vet who lived in Hawaii?
Other than that there is not much information on the flag that would give us any clues about the flag's origin (who it was given to, where, when)

Majestic said:

Hello Stephen
This is the correct orientation for the flag.
View attachment 104596
The big letters vertically down the right side of the flag are 祈武運長久 (Inoru bu-un chōkyū). It means "praying for good luck in war". The rest of the writing on the flag are names. I don't know why it says "Hawaii" on the flag. Maybe it was at one time the property of some vet who lived in Hawaii?
Other than that there is not much information on the flag that would give us any clues about the flag's origin (who it was given to, where, when)

Click to expand...

Thank you so much. The following photos came with the flag.

Very interesting. You may consider posting some of these photos on specialist militaria forums, where they might recognize some of the buildings or insignia on the uniforms. From what I can see, it looks like the soldier was first stationed in Manchuria (that's what I guess by looking at the fur hats and the railroad). Then he was shipped to the Philippines as Japan was realizing that they needed more manpower in the Philippines to stop/slow the Americans there.

pic 9440
昭和十三年二月二十八日
結婚記念
Feb 28, 1938
Wedding Picture

pic 9442
Censor stamp from December 10th, 1943

pic 9436
昭和九年度
檐架修業央
二十二名
1934
I'm not sure, but I think 檐架 is the name of a city in China/Manchuria that I can't pronounce, and the group has just finished some training. 22 people. The rest are the names of the people. Embossed on the photo is the name of a photography studio "Yachiyo Studio". Embossed under that is the location name, but all I can make out is Matsushima Town. Matsushima Town is a common name...could be anywhere (kind of like "Elm Street"...there are a million Elm streets in the US.)

If I search for the name of the city in China I only get one hit, and that is from a document describing the movements of the 2nd Artillery Division of Mito. Its quite possible that its not the name of a city, and has some obscure war-related meaning. It doesn't appear in any Japanese online dictionaries, so that is why I think it is the name of a city/location in China. Coincidentally (or not) the 2nd Artillery Division was also sent to the South Pacific after a tour of duty in Manchuria.

You could also consider sending the items to the Obon Society to see if they can identify the owner. They usually require the physical items, and the items will not be returned to you (even if they fail to find the owner). Or, the Japanese embassy nearest you may also have some information about repatriating war items. If you just want more information, you could consider some war-related forums, as I mentioned. One forum called War Relics has a section on Japanese militaria.

pic 9436
擔架修業兵

擔 is the traditional form of 担, thus, 擔架修業兵 means "soldiers who are learning how to carry wounded soldiers on the battlefield".

一八八七(明治二〇)年二月五日「担架術教育規則」及び「担架卒選抜及教育復習規則」が制定され、戦場における負傷者を運搬する兵士を、「担架修業兵卒業」として名簿による管理を行うこととなった。

Click to expand...

陸軍看護制度の成立史 P138

Is it possible to give us a close-up of the black board on the upper side of the entrance on the pic 9435? The location name or something might be written there.

Couldn't enlarge much more without distortion.

Hmm, it wouldn't be the location name.

the upper three kanji on the left column
下士官
non-commissioned officers

the upper three kanji on the right column
？士官

the three kanji on the bottom
集會所
assembly hall

Anything helpful from the picture back writing?

Hopefully that photo helps

spc63 said:

Hopefully that photo helps

Click to expand...

Yes, that's helpful, but unfortunately, it's not the location name.

the upper three kanji on the right column
準士官
warrant officers

pic 8053
長春
臼井護写
Changchun
(this photo was) shot by Usui Mamoru

These are photos of the front and back.

Front and back

Toritoribe said:

擔 is the traditional form of 担

Click to expand...

Wow. As the kids say, I was today years old when I learned this.

Think there are a couple facebook groups if you use Meta stuff, Banzai being the largest of them that have some people who might be able to help regarding the uniforms/other info. Think you could get away with posting it to a sword specific group like Military Swords of Japan if you were to ask about the pictures with swords and someone might give you some additional info on the unit.

Thanks everyone. I really appreciated the information.