Very interesting flag.
It's got several patriotic phrases on it, the most common one being 武運長久 (bu-un chōkyū) which is written vertically down the left side of the flag, and means "good luck in battle". Then, at the four corners of the red disc (well, if a disk had corners) there are the words 玉砕 and 安泰 (gyokusai and antai, respectively). These mean, basically, "give your life for your country", and, paradoxically, "come home safely". Then, down the right hand side of the red disc, again vertically, is written in large, sloppy characters "切肉断骨" (setsuniku dankotsu), which also means give up your life for your country (till your flesh is cut and your bones are broken). Across the top in thin, and slightly sloppy writing is a poem of sorts. Loosely translated it says
You were born,
Like a young cherry tree,
Cared for
And given water,
Now, in the far off south seas
It's time for the blossoms to flutter victoriously
Apparently written by 2nd Lieutenant of the Naval Technical Academy, Minoru Tateno.
But I can't find an addressee, which is strange. And there are some stray kanji on the flag, placed without context. At the bottom of the red disk is the name Suzume Akiko, which sounds like an anime character's name.
Hard to tell what it is: authentic WW2 relic, or clever forgery? In any event, it would seem to be from the war era. I am not convinced it is a genuine wartime flag, but if it was a souvenir made for a GI, its an interesting one.
