Favorite Japanese Flag

[Swordfish]

How 'bout posting our favorite Japanese flag in our collection??

This signed piece came from Mike B. some years back. This one is featured in his recent Battle Flag and 1000 Stitch Belt book.

I thinned the herd and now only own 2 Japanese flags since they are a challenge to display safely. Out of the various flags I have owned, this one is still my favorite. Hand sewn cotton flag, 2 piece construction with pigskin corners and cotton tie downs. Displayed in the frame with acid free backing (though the glass is not UV resistent..my bunker stays dark however).

I am unable to interpret Kanji so I have no idea what the message and names are.

The 2nd flag is the plain-Jane civil style Hinomaru. Silk construction, 1 piece, pigskin corners with synthetic type rope ties. It has some spotting and I've aksed a fellow collector if he thinks is dried blood. I sort of doubt it since I believe it was a civil patriotic flag. It did come from one of the islands though. It's framed but stays behind the "bunker" door not displayed.

Tom

[lach470]

Great flags!! I only have one to add to the mix.....The kanji inside the "meatball" was translated as "good luck, onto war"....the rest are names of friends and relatives. Unfortunately - I think this one was taken off a KIA or a wounded soldier as there is what I believe to be a blood stain on it. Nothing too drastic but it's there and it looks like it bled through the flag onto another section - like it was folded in a pocket or something like that. I really do like it though - it goes well with my Japanese Katanas and tanto.

Cheers!

Rob

[Darrell]

Here's mine. Flag has “The Fortunes of War” written inside the “sun” of the flag and is dated October 9, 1937.

[mcmike]

Here's my fav; the only one I have. Kanji at right side of flag says (more or less) "We pray you will always be lucky in war". Don't know what the rest says.

[mcmike]

Andhere's one I bought in 2006 that turned out to be a SeaBee Special. D'oh!

[lach470]

What is a SeaBee special? A doctored flag by the American soldiers?
Great flags guys!

Rob

[Swordfish]

Nice stuff guys.

Undoubtedly we often come accross Imperial Japanese artifacts complete with human material. By virtue of the way many IJA flags were carried on a person, and by virtue of the sheer volume of combat fatalities and suicides, coming accross gruesome relics is often commonplace. I have some items, including a IJA bugle which retained significant amounts of what I believe was blood spatter on the body of the trumpet...needless to say I did clean it. The items was bought by a German only/non-Japanese collector who had acquired it the family of a vet who participated in the island hopping campaigns of the Pacific and sold it to me a couple months back when I was looking for the instrument (I now have a few and continue to search for Japanese bugles..it's fun).

Mike Bortner had started an interesting thread on WAF a few years back which dealt with grotesque artifacts. The vast majority were Japanese relates pieces...skull ashtrays, hood ornaments for Jeeps made from Japanese skulls, IJA helmets which retained dried blood, hair, and dried human remains (brain tissue, etc), and of course many many flags complete with soaked blood. People were criticized for the thread, though I actually found it interesting. Naturally, there were members who were incapable of being respectful and just don't know how to keep something tasteful..even though it is touchy subject matter.

Tom

[Hummel]

Great flags guys. Are any of them silk or are they all cotton?

Hummel