Hand Painted Japanese Prayer Flag, Samurai Helmet, Japanese Castle, Maybe older than WWII?

[cplnorton]

I picked this up with another Japanese Flag that a WWII vet brought home. He had it framed and he was pretty proud of it, from what I understand.

 

The flag is all hand painted. Even the meatball in the middle is painted. With the imagine of the Samurai Helmet and the Japanese Castle, I was wondering if these might even be older than WWII. It looks like maybe some kind of identification is painted on the helmet.

 

Anyone speak Japanese and can read this? This is one of the coolest Japanese Flags I have ever seen.

 

[cplnorton]

 

 

[mcmike]

You might want to post this in the Japanese Militaria Forum at WAF http://www.wehrmacht-awards.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=59 to get an opinion from experienced collectors.

 

Believe me, I am no expert but the kanji do not seem to have the right stroke marks. The Sea Bees and Marines often painted up souvenir flags to sell to soldiers and sailors, and one tell-tale sign is a painted-on meatball. Yes, I bought a fake one myself, so I have been there! But, real or fake it is a good looking artifact and of historical significance! Definitely get an opinion from those who know this stuff.

 

Good luck!!

[Patriot]

I think you would be hard pressed to call this a "flag". I don't see any ties on he hoist, etc. I tend to agree that this is a souvenir piece. Still a very interesting item!

[cplnorton]

Actually it would be pretty cool if it was done by a G.I. I think it would add to the flavor. I got it cheap and planned on hanging it on my wall I posted it over on the sight you suggested. To see what they say. But either way I would be happy with it. The other one I got is pretty big. The frame is 40 x 27. I'm not sure how big the flag is, as the flag is framed, and it's sealed with paper on the back. I have a feeling it's bigger than the frame as I don't see anything to hang it or anything. It's silk. I would imagine this one is sometype of flag that a unit signed? I've had a lot of Japanese signed flags. But this one is about the biggest I have seen that was signed.

 

 

 

 

[mcmike]

Definitely a keeper! You don't see this type of artwork on most WWII era flags.

[uplandmod]

贈 sou kanji in red on the first photo means present a gift or give a present.

 

The rest are names that seem to read just fine. Looks great to me!

 

Nice find!

Leonardo

[mcmike]

Sorry I brought up doubt. A unique flag, and I am just jealous!

[doyler]

Both are really nice.

[cplnorton]

On the other forum, one of the names they said is"Yoshikawa Eiji"

 

They also said that Yoshikawa Eiji is the author of several books. Including a famous one by the name of Musashi. A great samurai warrior.

 

Here is the Wikipedia link on it. It was written in 1935. I wonder if maybe the book was a gift to a soldier going to battle, and the giver drew samurai drawlings on it to inspire the soldier?

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musashi_%28novel%29

 

I wonder what it all really means?

[one50]

Your first flag is most definitely not legit. Most likely done by a GI as stated earlier. The real tell tale sign is the Kanji, it's all done by the same hand and I think it's actually backwards.

Contrast your second flag and look at the kanji, different styles, different strokes, etc. The second flag looks real good. These are good luck flags, they large print at the top is the standard good luck phrase and the "rays of light" around the sun are signatures of family and friends. They are all pretty much the same, but different

 

Thanks for sharing, I'll have to bust my out some day and show off a few.

Dan

[uplandmod]

Can you circle the backwards Kanji? Because all the ones I'm familiar with look just fine to me.

 

LF

[one50]

Uplandmod, Your right, nothing seems to be backwards on the first flag as I stated before. It just looks off to me.

Upon closer inspection, the strokes are in the correct direction too.

Maybe I was having an off night.

I would have personally passed on the piece had I seen this at a show table. I'm still sticking to my guns...looks off to me...I just can't place it.

 

Dan

[Bob Hudson]

Here's another one where the red ball seems to be painted. This came from the estate of a career Marine who fought in Okinawa. This is heavier linen-type cloth instead of the lightweight silk we usually see on Hinomaru Yosegaki "good luck" flags. This has several small reddish marks on it, that look like some kind of a stamp and - among other things - it has not prominent Good Luck slogan as I would expect.

 

 

 

 

[Bob Hudson]

I wonder about those stories of the Sea Bees making these hand-painted flags: it seems like overkill as far as the work that would go into these, between obtaining and cutting the silk or linen, painting the ball and laboriously hand writing all of those characters. See how long it takes you to artfully copy just one "line" from these flags.

 

In looking around online, I see that the ones with hand-painted meatballs almost always have red shrine stamps.

 

The signed Japanese flags are indeed the iconic vet bringback from the Pacific War and almost always are the small compact silk flags the Japanese soldier could carry in a uniform pocket. I suspect there may be some additional story behind the larger hand-painted flags with the shrine stamps.

 

 

Here's the other three flags this Okinawa vet brought home:

 

 

 

 

[Eric Queen]

Yoshkawa (last) Eiji (first) is a common name and I would guess it has nothing to do with the author. The name also has the word "kun" after it which means "boy" or very young man. I would bet this is "original" but has nothing to do with the military. It looks like part of a "kodomo no hi" (children's day) celebration of which the "kabuto" (samurai helmet) along with the "koinobori" are the primary decorations.

[Bob Hudson]

Someone looked at photos of my flag and suggested it was Chinese. To me that makes a lot more sense than being faked by the CB's - unless the CB's hired locals to sit there and paint characters on the flag all day: certainly a CB did not do that.

[vintageproductions]

I think the translation done on WAF is pretty close. It looks like someone was copying words they saw, like sake ads....

[Bob Hudson]

On another forum someone posted a photo of the CB's making these on Okinawa at the end of the war. That's an eye-opener.

[Bob Hudson]

I found online the original CB book with the photo:

 

[Eric Queen]

Bob,

 

I realize this is a mute point but in my opinion (for what it's worth), I don't think there is a 0.0001% chance that your flag was done by CB's or anyone else not having been formally educated in the writing of Kanji. When you look at the Kakijun (stroke order) and the stroke endings: Harai (sweep), Tome (stop) and Hane (hook) they are all unmistakable. Some GI just copying what he sees could not come anywhere close to this. He would not know where to start and where to finish. When you look at the photo you posted this clearly illustrates this. This (flag in the period photo) is exactly what one would expect to see from someone not educated in the writing of Kanji. Completely night and day compared to the flag you posted. We may never know the answer but I personally agree with the person who suggested that the Kanji on the flag was written by someone educated in Chinese writing. The characters are correct but most (not all) of the sentences have no meaning (in Japanese) when strung together.

 

Interesting. First time for me to see something like this. Have see a number of the "souvenir mill" flags.

[Bob Hudson]

 

Interesting. First time for me to see something like this. Have see a number of the "souvenir mill" flags.

 

My own gut feeling is confirmed by what you write: having worked in graphics and having formally studied Korean for a time, I just could not see how a CB in the paint shop could do that. Anyone America that experienced in Kanji would have been working in Intelligence or interned in California.

 

But a Chinese fake makes sense. I just found out this Marine was in China: