Please Help- Japanese Flag!!

[SwordFish]

Hi friends,
I recently purchased this flag and have some concerns about it being WW2 era legitimate. The last flags I've purchased have been post war. This is definitely not my area of specialty and would really appreciate comments and info on it.

If it turns out to be post war, i'll end up done with Japanese related WW2 militaria

Thank you fellas and regards,

[SwordFish]

The flag measures about 38"x26"

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[MikeB]

Please Help-Japanese Flag!

HI Tom-
It is very difficult to ascertain whether a hinomaru flag is vintage WW2 or not. WW2 era flags were made from cotton, wool, rayon, and silk. I have seen those that were hand and machine constructed/stitched. With no distinguishing characteristics, it would be tough to tell whether your flag was "of the period" or not. From the photos, your flag appears to be silk, nicely made with gold foil corner re-enforcing tabs. The tie strings are missing. I have seen corners re-enforced with gold foil, silver foil, and a host of other materials. Your flag seems to be almost "like new" white, but that is not a definitive factor in determining age.
Unfortunately, I would not be able to say whether your flag was from a particular time period. There may be others out there who could offer more than this, but I would end by saying not to give up. You might want to try collecting signed flags where it is a bit easier to determine age. There are pitfalls there, however, too... Mike

[SwordFish]

Thank you Mike for the response. The flag passed the black light test but I still dont have any further answers and not sure on which direction to go from here.

[Eric Doody]

Tom,

The good news, at least in my opinion, is that the subject flag passed the black light test.

The bad news is, and this is what I think Mike was getting at, is that time period that the subject flag was made can not be easily confirmed or disproved, at least to the best of my knowledge.

Eric

P.S. Don't give up hope insofar as collecting the Japanese militaria. Just like any other field of collecting you need to study, study, study!