Japanese Meatball Flag Well Used

[fredxvii]

Just picked this up from the nephew of a vet with a few other items. This flag looks like it has a story to tell with various field repairs to patch holes and tears throughout. Any help with a translation is greatly appreciated
Sadly not sure why the photos are being rotated when I upload them

IMG_0006.JPG IMG_0007.JPG IMG_0008.JPG IMG_0009.JPG IMG_0010.JPG IMG_0011.JPG IMG_0012.JPG IMG_0013.JPG IMG_0014.JPG

[GHP]

Curious ...

Main slogan:
武運長久
Bu'un Chōkyū
Continued luck in the fortunes of war

祝出征筒湧
Shuku Shussei Takadzutsu Isamu
Congratulations on going to the front, Takadzutsu Isamu [note: I am not confident of my reading!]

Surname 筒 can be pronounced:
Takadzutsu
Tsutsu
Tsutsusaki


Now, the curious parts:

• There is no honorific attached to the name. Usually after the recipient's name we see 君 kun (Mr.), rarely 殿 dono (Sir) .... but I don't think I've ever seen a dedication without the honorific. Normally I'd expect to see 筒湧君. Hmmmmmm ..... I wonder if the entire flag has been cut down around all borders? Maybe that would explain the missing honorific.
• Is 筒湧 actually a name? I can't get any google hits for 筒 as a surname (usually I see peoples' names) -- but I did find it in a Japanese name database HERE. Also, I'm just guessing at 湧 because the way it's written -- it's missing a stroke (a drop of water) on the water "radical" 氵; as it's written, it is using the "ice" radical 冫. However, I have seen 氵 written as a single stroke, but those usually don't stop in the middle of the kanji. I'm nowhere comfortable enough with the Japanese language to state conclusively it is *not* a name (we need to rely on Yoshiyuki-san for that!!) ...
• Also, it looks like the calligraphy was written on an already wrinkled material so there are a few open spaces where I'd expect to see ink (not talking about the "feathering" when the brush lifts away from the paper).
• The main slogan 武運長久 is written from left to right; not too common during the war, but not unheard of. Prior to 1946 the direction of writing was usually right to left .... but not always.

I'd really like to hear Yoshiyuki-san's opinion.


-- Guy

[imperialjapan]

筒 is a kanji found in names. I've never seen it alone, but it is possible. 'Tsutsu' would be the most likely reading. And I think you're reading the personal name wrong. I don't think it has a left-side radical; these lines are apparently swoops from writing the kanji 勇 with supposed flair. It would probably be read Isamu.

[imperialjapan]

I also think you are right about the flag being cropped, Guy. No matter what, this is an unbalanced piece. My gut feeling is that it is not legit.

[fredxvii]

Yes it looks like the bottom has definitely been trimmed at some point; the top possible as well tho there are period repairs on the top. I can attach pictures later