WW2 Japanese Flag

Bingo001 · 4 May 2023

I just found this site and I an excited to be here.

My father-in-law was stationed in Japan just after the war. I was going through his thing the other day and found this flag. Can anyone tell me about this flag? Who it belonged to, where it came from etc. I may be interested in sending it back to the family. One person said it may be a squadron flag an possibly Kamikaze! I would love to know for sure! Thank You for your help! The flag is silk and measures 36x27 inches.

Majestic · 4 May 2023

Large writing on the far right

祈武運長久 Pray for everlasting luck in bttle
坂井正道君 Sakai Masamichi-kun

Sakai Masamichi would be the name of the person to whom the flag was presented. Sakai is the family name.
The rest of the writing is names, and a few slogans in common use during the war.

Majestic · 4 May 2023

This is how it should be oriented.

mdchachi · 4 May 2023

Probably you already know but if you want to repatriate the flag, you can contact the Obon Society.

Obon Society | Our Mission

OBON SOCIETY is a non-profit humanitarian effort dedicated to the pursuit of peace. We provide opportunities for reconciliation between families through the return of personal items taken during war.

obonsociety.org

Bingo001 · 4 May 2023

I have already sent the email to Obon but haven't heard back from them yet. I found this site and thought I could learn a few things. This flag really intrigues me and I would like to know as much about it as I can. My Father fought in Europe. I had one Uncle in the Navy. A second Uncle was a Marine and Island hopped. None spoke of the war. All three had seen to much. It is the respect I have for them that makes me want to find the family that belongs to this flag.

Majestic · 4 May 2023

Much respect for you and your quest to get this back to the family of the person to whom it was dedicated. Give Obon a bit of time - its easiest when they have a solid name, date, and location to work from. When they just have a name (and a rather common name at that) it requires a lot more legwork.

Having said that, you should also be aware that there are a lot of fakes out there, and that even the fakes were quite popular as souvenirs among the GIs. I can't tell if this one is a fake or not, but the main writing on the right side is pretty poorly executed, which always raises suspicions. It's as if its a mixture of writing styles - blocky in places, cursive in others, alignment all over the place, and then the last two characters of the line containing the person's name (道君) look really crappy. There's a vertical line missing from 君, which is inexplicable. The rest of the signatures look OK, but very odd that the main writing should look so amateurish.

mdchachi · 5 May 2023

Majestic said:
Much respect for you and your quest to get this back to the family of the person to whom it was dedicated. Give Obon a bit of time - its easiest when they have a solid name, date, and location to work from. When they just have a name (and a rather common name at that) it requires a lot more legwork.

Having said that, you should also be aware that there are a lot of fakes out there, and that even the fakes were quite popular as souvenirs among the GIs. I can't tell if this one is a fake or not, but the main writing on the right side is pretty poorly executed, which always raises suspicions. It's as if its a mixture of writing styles - blocky in places, cursive in others, alignment all over the place, and then the last two characters of the line containing the person's name (道君) look really crappy. There's a vertical line missing from 君, which is inexplicable. The rest of the signatures look OK, but very odd that the main writing should look so amateurish.

What do you make of this one?

and this looks suspect as if a child got hold of the brush

Majestic · 5 May 2023

男子の本懐... Danshi no honkai (the desire of men?) t looked it up and its the name of a novel from the 80s, and subsequent TV drama, but I guess the phrase predates both of those things. Odd.
I haven't a clue as to what the other writing says.

mdchachi · 5 May 2023

Majestic said:
男子の本懐... Danshi no honkai (the desire of men?) t looked it up and its the name of a novel from the 80s, and subsequent TV drama, but I guess the phrase predates both of those things. Odd.
I haven't a clue as to what the other writing says.

If Jaybot is to believed, it makes sense in context.

Majestic · 5 May 2023

A most useful answer from Jaybot.

Toritoribe · 10 May 2023

The flag would be a fake. The signatures were written by the same hand(s), and there are lots of mistakes in kanji because the writer(s) just imitated the seeming forms of kanji without knowing the correct forms or stroke orders.

男子の本懐 can be seen in yosegaki flags. Majestic-san quoted it in the guidance thread.

Kanji translation of WWII Yosegaki Hinomaru

If I am posting in incorrect orientation forgive me and let me know, I will repost pics. I believe that the Yosegaki Hinomaru were presented to Japanese soldiers departing for service by friends, family, or their place of work or school, and adorned with their signatures and wishes of good...

jref.com

Help With Japanese World War 2 Flag Souvenirs

From time to time posters send pictures of Japanese flags with writing on them, asking for help with translation or other information about the flags. Such flags are called Yosegaki Hinomaru (Good Luck Flag - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia flags, or often "Prayer Flags" or "Good Luck" flags...

jref.com

Bingo001 · 14 May 2023

I may seem a little impatient, but so far I haven't heard a thing from Obon. I was hoping to have gotten a return email saying , we got your pictures and we are working on it. But so far, nothing. I have found this site very helpful and appreciate the posts I've gotten so far. Thank You! If it is a fake, at least I've had fun doing the research and getting a small education.

Majestic · 14 May 2023

Yeah, they may have given it a low priority if they suspect it is a fake. Anyway, keep us posted if you hear back from them. It may help us and future researchers.

Bingo001 · 19 May 2023

OK, I just got a phone call from Obon. The flag is authentic. The differences in the writing can be explained as changes in the forms. Folks in the 1880's used a different writing style, something a kin to cursive. The writing forms changed about 1900 and 1912 and again after the war. There were different brushes and different inks used and different writing forms. The flag has the name of the person it was presented to and the name of his principal and the school. I have been sent the forms to fill out and the flag will be sent to Obon. It will then be sent to Japan and studied by experts. Assuming the family is found, they will get a personal note from me and my Wife. I hope to be able to send a few letters back and forth. I would like to know more about this soldier! Thank you for your help and I will let Y'all know what is going on as I get more information.

Majestic · 19 May 2023

Sweet - now it gets interesting.

The school would be in the upper left
豊原工業学校
Toyohara Industrial High School
(Near Kyoto)

Toritoribe · 19 May 2023

Well, I already realized 豊原工業学校. Indeed the school existed, but it was in Karafuto, i.e., South Sakhalin. Majestic-san would refer to a company 豊原工業 near Kyoto.

Bingo001 said:
The differences in the writing can be explained as changes in the forms. Folks in the 1880's used a different writing style, something a kin to cursive. The writing forms changed about 1900 and 1912 and again after the war. There were different brushes and different inks used and different writing forms.

Yes, I of course know those things (I'm Japanese, by the way), but the mistakes I pointed out are not in that category. Here are some examples.

Experts must realize these things, and can verify the authenticity of the flag. Hope I'm wrong, actually.

Bingo001 · 19 May 2023

Well, I only know what I have been told so far. I know nothing about Japanese culture much less the alphabet. At this point my only hope is that the flag is authentic and is given back to the family it belongs to. From what I have read, in many cases this flag could be the only connection some folks have to relative who did not come home from the war and that these flags are treated and look upon with great dignity and respect. They are considered non human remains. Obon said the return of the flag can sometimes give closure for the family. If I can do that for someone, it would humble me and give me great joy. Of coarse I would like to get as much information as possible about the soldier as I can.

Bingo001 · 19 May 2023

Hey, it just dawned on me! Earlier in this post it was said the name was very common and could be hard to trace. Maybe with the school name and principal some records maybe easily found. You can always hope!

Majestic · 19 May 2023

Yes, the name of the student and the school makes this much easier to research. If the school was in Karafuto, it could pose problems, because that area is now Russian territory, so...a complication. However if records from that school still exist somewhere, like the Ministry of Education, it should be easy to search for that student's name. Or, if that family was ever relocated from Karafuto to Hokkaido, there may be some record of that somewhere.

Anyway, let's give them a couple of months to do their research and see what they come back with. Keep your mind open to all possibilities.

mdchachi · 20 May 2023

These details are very specific so if it's a fake, it was probably copied from an authentic flag. That would still make it a historical, worthwhile investigation imo.

WW2 Japanese Flag

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