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Please help with structured translations of good luck flag

1942Arisaka

後輩
31 Dec 2018
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Hello everyone, I was referred here for help with translations for my recently acquired good luck flag. I have edited the pictures assigning numbers to each phrase to make communication easier. I've tried to translate what I can but I would be grateful if anyone could review them. So far my progress is:
1. 七生報國 = shichi-sei-ho-koku - "Would that I had seven lives to give to my country" in reference to Kusunoki Masashige
2. 祈武運長久 = ki-bu-un-cho-kyu - "we pray for your eternal good luck in war"
and partially:
4. 誠忠 = sincere loyalty 勇 = bravery

I have been informed that 1, 2, 4, 7 are common slogans, 5 and 8 are court ranks and signatures, 6 may be an administrator at Chuo University in Tokyo, and 10 is actually two signatures - one being the head of Omori District in Tokyo, and the other an IJN rear admiral.

There are also three stamps that I have been told may be hanko, with stamp #3 being the most legible.

My eventual goal is to put this flag in a UV resistant frame with the translations written on paper and superimposed next to each phrase so that the observer can identify what each phrase says.

Thank you to all who help me make this possible, I will continue to seek out translations on my own but, as I have no knowledge of the language, it is a very slow and confusing process.
 

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This should give you something to chew on for a while. You already have some of this. A few lines are illegible. As always, names have various readings, so I am taking a guess at some of the names. Some patriotic slogans I leave for you to translate. They are all basically the same: all for country.

1.
七生報国
Shichishō hōkoku

2.
禱武運長久
Bu-un chōkyū

3.
奉皇師天命
Hōnō shitenmei
(patriotic slogan)

4.
忠誠勇武
Chusei Yubu
(patriotic slogan)

5.
正三位勲二等
Shōsanmi Kun-nito
三橋市太郎
Mihashi Ichitaro
(Mihashi Ichitaro maybe the writer of #1? He holds the rank of Shōsanmi Kun-nitō)

6.
中央大学々長 林頼三郎
Chūō Daigaku Gakucho Hayashi Raizaburo
(Head of Chūō University, Hayashi Raizaburo, maybe the writer of #4 above)

7.
義勇奉公
Giyū Hōkō
(patriotic slogan)

8.
正四位勲三等臣
Shōshi-i Kunsantō omi (another rank)
? (Name illegible. Presumably the writer of #2 and #3)

9.
河村重治郎
Kawamura Jūjirō
Kawamura Jūjirō was a teacher of English and Yokohama Commercial High School. He co-authored an English dictionary. The dedication or poem next to his name is too tough for me)

10.
祝出陣 ?澤光一(?)君
Iwai shutsujin -sawa Kōichi(?) kun (presumably the name of the intended recipient)
東京都大森区區町 加古松太郎
Tōkyō to Ōmori kuchō, Kako Shōtaro (Mayor of Ōmori ward, Tokyo, Kako Shōtaro.)

I couldn't get the name of the Rear Admiral your referred to. There is a list of Rear Admirals on Wikipedia, but none of the names look like anything near #10. Do you have any other clues?
 
Thank you so much, this is a huge help! I'll get started on researching some of those phrases. Would better pictures of the illegible portions help, or is it the handwriting that is the issue? The Rear Admiral was pointed out by a member of a forum I frequent who also collects Japanese militaria, that's the extent of my knowledge of that. So with what we've discovered so far, I'm getting the impression the recipient of this flag has connections to Chūō University and Tokyo government, maybe a student or professor at the university? This is really interesting, thanks again for all you help!
 
The photography is OK, it is the writing and my skill at deciphering it that is the problem.
You shouldn't also completely discount the possibility that the flag is a forgery. Unfortunately there seems to be a lot of money to be made in faking war memorabilia. Flags are particularly easy to fake.
 
I will continue researching the immense amount of information you provided me and wait for further input if anybody else may be able to help. This is the first flag I have received, and it was a gift, so I can't speak with any authority but I do feel at least the physical flag itself is correct for the period, being silk and having an apparent age to it. Though the text is a little weird so I will be cautiously optimistic. Perhaps it was used in a political campaign for a failed mayor candidate? Hopefully others can chime in and help resolve this. Thanks again!
 
There seems to be a lot of heavyweights, or, at least middleweight signatures on this flag, so if it is authentic I would be surprised if this was for a student. On the other hand, if it was for a teacher or a professor, I wonder if they would still use the diminutive "-kun" after the recipient's name, rather than -sensei or -san.
All the patriotic and battle-oriented slogans seem inappropriate for a political candidate. I also wonder if a peer or member of the kazoku nobility would note his own rank in his signature. It seems unusual, but I don't know the proper contemporary etiquette for this sort of thing. Stick around to see if a poster called @Toritoribe has any opinions on this.
 
The most recent developments on this flag are discussed here: Please help with possibly significant flag
The servers have been acting strange for that site recently so it may not load or be unresponsive. However, at the time of this post the most up to date best-guess is that the recipient may have been a member of the staff at Chuo who was drafted. and may have some connection to the opening of Chuo Industrial College as some of the signers were instrumental in that. Some of the translations have been expanded upon as well. Thank you for helping me get to this point, Majestic! I am hopeful we can get this unraveled.
 
OK, now I see the Rear Admiral bit, but I can't make out the name under it. This is a separate name from the Mayor of Ōmori - meaning, these are two separate people signing in this space.

The poster called ghp95134 is mistaken about one of the names (his post #10): 三橋市太郎 is Mihashi Ichitaro. (He says it is Mihashi Ichiro, which I think is just a careless mistake on his part, but I wanted to set that straight so there isn't conflicting information). The other name, 加古松太郎 could indeed be either Kako Shōtaro or Kako Matsutaro.

He has the recipient's name correctly identified: 白澤光一 (Shirasawa Kōichi)

As the poster Nick Komiya says, without more context, its hard to tell what's going on, or even if this is a legitimate flag or not.

Edit: Also note in my translations above, #2 should read Iwai - Bu-un Chōkyū. I left off the "Iwai" part.
 
Thank you for double checking, especially having the recipients name correct will greatly help if any information can be gained by contacting Chuo University. I know before you stated the pictures are okay, but tomorrow I may take close up photos of just the Rear Admiral's signature or possibly scan that particular portion using my work copier, and perhaps we can make a last-ditch effort at deciphering the Rear Admiral? Unless I am misunderstanding and the characters cannot be deciphered without context. Please let me know if there is any way I can make this easier, assuming there is anything else that can be done. Thanks again!
 
A better photograph might help. It isn't the context that is hindering me, it is the way its written. A native speaker may be able to pick it out. The first one is 日, but after that it is a dog's breakfast. 日浅, or 日戔 would be my best guess, but the 浅 part doesn't have the left component to it, so already I'm off target. And 日戔 doesn't really feel like a valid family name. After that, I can't even tell if its one or two characters before the final character. And, like the guys in the other thread, when I look up Rear Admirals, I have some expectation that I could find a name similar to 日浅 that would tell me who this person might be. In the worst case, even just a name beginning with 日 would open up new doors for me, but there is nothing in the wikipedia list of Rear Admirals that resembles 日~ or 日浅 for a family name. So then I wonder if the wikipedia list is wrong or incorrect (possibly), or if the writing on the flag is somehow wrong (could be a forgery) or our understanding of the Navy ranking structure is wrong (some gap in our knowledge which is sending us on a goose chase). Right now I weight all of these three equally.

The thing about the context is: why are these various notable people coming together for this apparently obscure recipient, Shirasawa Kōichi? As they say in the other thread, it doesn't make sense for them to come together for a student. I could see them coming together for a relatively important administrator, or even a notable professor, but then you'd think we could find some reference to this Shirasawa-san. I would be interested to see if Chuo University can give you a clue. I'm also slightly puzzled by the names and ranks, and why these people are signing this without putting any personal message. It isn't unusual to find a flag without any personal message, but that is usually because of space limitations.
 
Good news! Chuo University responded and they have forwarded my information to their archive department to look into it. In the meantime, I scanned the Rear Admiral's signature and the unnamed Shō-shi-i. I also discovered a calligraphy piece by Hayashi Raizaburo (if the translation of the web page is correct) with the character " 誠 " being common between the piece and his patriotic message on the flag. In my very uneducated opinion the writing style is similar and may hint at the flag being legitimate. Also, is it possible the first character of the Rear Admiral's name is " 山 "? At first glance this is as it appears to me, and there are a large number of Admirals with names beginning in this character. Hopefully Chuo can fill in some of these gaps. I have attached photos of my scans and the calligraphy piece.
 

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Hello,
Very good news about Chūō University. Please give us an update if they come back with something interesting.
Regarding the character 誠, I put the two side-by-side. They are similar, but let's see what Chūō has to say before we get too far into the weeds.
Regarding the Rear Admiral's name, no, unfortunately that one character could not be 山. I am nearly positive it is 日.
Regarding the 正四位 name, if I had a gun to my head I would say it is 佐藤乙二 (Satō Otoji or Otoni), but I have almost no confidence in that guess.

誠.jpg
 
The first kanji of #8 seems like 佐 or 作 also to me, but the problem is that the vertical line of the right component is connected
to the next kanji directly as if it's a single line of a single kanji, for instance like the longest slash of 為.

I also agree with Majestic-san for the Rear Admiral's surname. The first kanji must be 日.
 
Thank you for looking this over Toritoribe, and thank you again Majestic for attempting the names. If this is real, I don't guess the people who signed it would ever imagine their handwriting causing such an issue ~70 years later, haha. I am very hopeful that Chuo can find something and I will keep you all updated if anything develops. It is very unfortunate that the Rear Admiral's name begins with that character as it further makes me question the legitimacy of the flag. Though, it seems a lot of effort has gone into it, much greater than the usual fakes.
 
Well, Chuo got back to me and unfortunately they could not provide any records pertaining to the individuals. I suppose I still have plenty of information to create a nice display thanks to everybody here and on the other forums. I have a few distant friends who are native speakers who I might be able to show the flag in person and possibly squeeze a little more information out of it, but other than that my search may be dead in the water. I will let you all know if anything develops!
 
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