Another Japanese Flag

[web105jk]

I aquired this flag over the week end. It does have a number of Japanese characters written on it. It looks like they were put on with a pen rather than a brush. These characters are not that diffucult to translate (mostly numbers) but I don't understand their meaning. I'm sure there is someone that collects flags would know the meaning. The real question is, is this a WWII military flag or something later?? Thanks in advance for you advise.
Herm

[web105jk]

Japanese Flag

Characters

[web105jk]

Japanese Flag

More characters

[MikeB]

Another Japanese Flag

Hi Herm-
I am finding it tough to see the characters on the images you posted. I didn't want to ignore the posting, but wanted to let you know that at least on my computer, the characters are very faint. Maybe some of the other guys can see them better. Mike

[web105jk]

Japanese Flag

Hi Mike

You are right, the characters are quite faint. It looks like they were written on the flag with an ink pen instead of a brush. I drew what I believe to be the characters. Hope this is of some help, if not I could try taking better close ups of just the characters.

Herm

[kennethc]

IT said, 1945 , November 27th

[web105jk]

Another Japanese Flag

Thanks for the help on dating the flag Ken. I haven't seen a date written quite like that before. I find it a little odd that it would be dated Nov. 27, 1945 which is amost 3 months after Japan signed the surrender.

[Paul G]

Could be a GI souvineer flag.

Paul G

[MikeB]

Another Japanese Flag

The date really meant nothing to me either as it comes after the War in the Pacific. That doesn't mean that the flag wasn't taken during the War, or picked up during the Occupation. As was suggested, it could be a Souvenir of Service type flag. The kanji looks like it may have been done by a Western hand, but would need to see it better. Even this can be tricky to determine. I have flags with characters on them that appear to be "bad" idiograms. I actually picked them up hoping that they were fakes in order to use them as illustrations. When my translator reviewed them, he told me that all the names, slogans, etc. were good, old Japanese kanji probably done by uneducated people. He reminded me that the less educated people in Japan often had kanji that might not look as "pretty" as the ones done by those who had more practice/schooling. Kind of like folks here in the U.S. or elsewhere who might not have nice penmanship. Tough call.... Mike

[Tsuba]

Hi My partner is Japanese. When she gets home tonight I will get her to read this for you.

Ross

[Tsuba]

The Japanese at 9 oclock and 3 oclock is 1945.
At 6 oclock it is Nov 27.
Just above the 9 it says Henry and the other words are european names maybe not pronounced well ( Henry, Martel, Dourisu ). Toyoko thinks it is not written by a Japanese person. Maybe by American soldier.
To the right of 6 oclock it says Japan.

Date and Japan written in Kanji
Names in Katakana.

Ross and Toyoko

[web105jk]

Another Japanese Flag

Thanks to you both, Ross & Toyoko. That certainly is a very logical explanation on this flag. It was probably aquired during the occupation by GI's who had their names written on it in Japanese by a local so they could take a souvenir to the folks back home.

Herm