Translation Help

Dashigun56 · 8 Aug 2020

Hello! I am working through a deceased family member's estate and have a few things from his time in WW2 and post time in Tokyo. I was able to get some of the items identified - such as the hotel he stayed in from 46-47 as well as a nice hand painted sign he brought back from a fishing village he visited. A local Japanese American who is younger tried to help me with the translation of a good luck flag from WW2 but said his kanji was lacking. He suggested posting to the group. Any help would be appreciated.

Majestic · 8 Aug 2020

祈武運長久
Good luck in battle

盡忠報國
Give everything for your country

斃れて後止む
Never give up

親友山本源吾
Dear Yamamoto Gengo,

親友一同
From your friends
(friends' names)

other patriotic phrases... I'm curious, what was the name of the fishing village?

Toritoribe · 8 Aug 2020

All the slogans and signatures were written by the same hand. I'm skeptical about the authenticity of the flag.

Dashigun56 · 8 Aug 2020

Majestic said:
祈武運長久
Good luck in battle

盡忠報國
Give everything for your country

斃れて後止む
Never give up

親友山本源吾
Dear Yamamoto Gengo,

親友一同
From your friends
(friends' names)

other patriotic phrases... I'm curious, what was the name of the fishing village?

Kashima - we think from the island of Kashima. Would have visited it when viewing Hiroshima

Dashigun56 · 8 Aug 2020

Toritoribe said:
All the slogans and signatures were written by the same hand. I'm skeptical about the authenticity of the flag.

There's pictures of it it from the early 50's so it is old. Could have been done after the war as a souvenir.

Dashigun56 · 8 Aug 2020

Also thank you both for your insights.

Majestic · 9 Aug 2020

Yes, Japan was pretty desperate at the end of the war and the first few years - I think a lot of ex-soldiers were selling trinkets to US soldiers, trying to pass them off as items from some battlefield. Swords, flags, etc... So it could actually be a vintage late 1940's flag, but the writing is some made-up names and generic patriotic phrases written on the flag for the purpose of making it look like a soldier's flag.

Dashigun56 · 9 Aug 2020

He was in the battle of Saipan and that is where the flag supposedly came from. We did hear that a lot of these flags have one writer when the family had it done for the soldier. He also had a "navy flag" from Saipan which was later determined to be a Japanese navy-issued bath towel. Who knows the real story though. Yamamoto Gengo - I would assume that would be the flags supposed owner?

Toritoribe · 10 Aug 2020

Dashigun56 said:
Could have been done after the war as a souvenir.

I agree. We have been seeing those souvenir flags in this forum. I remember that one of them had a date November 1945, i.e., after the war. It's very honest in a sense.

Dashigun56 said:
We did hear that a lot of these flags have one writer when the family had it done for the soldier.

That's not correct. Indeed it's possible that someone who was good at writing wrote signatures for their family members or colleagues, but "all the slogans and signatures were written by the same hand" is not the case. It's not impossible, but quite rare, at least far rarer than fake flags.

Dashigun56 said:
Yamamoto Gengo - I would assume that would be the flags supposed owner?

Most likely yes. It can be the name of one of the recipient's best friends, though. The name of the recipient's wife is 愛子 Aiko.

Dashigun56 said:
Who knows the real story though.

Yes, that's true. No one can say your flag is not a rare example.

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