can anyone translate this

[sshort]

This is a common vet souvenir but it would be neat to know what is written here. thanks

[sshort]

another piece

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close up of stamp

[Edokko]

Unfortunately, it is a very common fake Tojo flag.

[Teikoku Armyman]

Yeah it's probably fake, it's even got Hideki Tojo signed on it, which is most likely fake.

[MikeB]

Japanese Flag...

Flags with the signatures of high ranking military members are quite unusual. Flags with authentic signatures of really famous and/or high ranking military members like Tojo are virtually unheard of... I have seen Tojo's signature on authentic flags "reproduced" a few times when quoting him by someone signing the Good Luck flag. Mike

[Ryukyutunnelrat]

Hello,
I have a very similar flag that I aquired a long time ago and dug it out of one of my bins after reading this. Its almost similiar to the one posted except for a few more signatures, different stamps. I sent my flag to Jerry Price a few years ago to help me translate some of the signatures and he actually sent it to several other people and after sending it back to me, he never mentioned that this was a fake flag. There was also an article a long time ago in the Nippon Militaria, volume 1, Issue 2, written by Bill Lyons that talks about this exact type of "Tojo" Flag. He mentioned that these were presented to Commanding Officers of large units by Higher ranking officials. After receiving this type of flag, the owner would affix his personal inkon or name stamp on it as shown in both flags. Was there anything else written about these flags to prove that these flags are actually "FAKE". If so, I would like to see it. Thanks.

[Ryukyutunnelrat]

Name stamp

[Edokko]

Ryukyutunnelrat, Jerry sent me photos of your flag quite some few years ago, and that is when I first saw these "Tojo" flags but since then I have probably examined about a dozen of them over the years up live and on photos. I understand there is also one in the Marines museum in Okinawa.
Apparently these flags were manufactured in quite a few quantitiy most likely during post war occupation period by some enterprising person or persons. Most of the ink writings are similar contents and similar layout, some with the red stamps of various nature and some without.
There are several telltale signs of why I had to say it is fake, 1) due to general apparance of the Kanji, does not look like it was done by a Japanese writer but most likely by a Chinese hand, 2) all the charcters are written by the same person or at most two persons, although there are several names including Tojo's, 3) I have researched Tojo's handwriting and is defnitely not the handwriting on the flag, 4) one of the signs says "Shirei Chokan" which means a naval "commander in chief" but there are no names on the flag associated with the title and does not make any sense, 5) there are a few Kanji words that are just look-alike scribbles.
These were the reasons why I had to say the flag is a "fake Tojo" flag, and I think I did tell Jerry that these are highly unlikely to be the real thing.

Takehito

[Nick Komiya]

What Edokko says I support 100%. Any Japanese person can confirm that the writing is retard level. Edokko is making a gross understatement in saying that it is highly unlikely to be real. I know that to non-Japanese eyes they are all scribbles, so you'll have to trust those of us who have native command of the language to know whether it's done by a Japanese hand or not.

[Ryukyutunnelrat]

Ryukyutunnelrat, Jerry sent me photos of your flag quite some few years ago, and that is when I first saw these "Tojo" flags but since then I have probably examined about a dozen of them over the years up live and on photos. I understand there is also one in the Marines museum in Okinawa.
Apparently these flags were manufactured in quite a few quantitiy most likely during post war occupation period by some enterprising person or persons. Most of the ink writings are similar contents and similar layout, some with the red stamps of various nature and some without.
There are several telltale signs of why I had to say it is fake, 1) due to general apparance of the Kanji, does not look like it was done by a Japanese writer but most likely by a Chinese hand, 2) all the charcters are written by the same person or at most two persons, although there are several names including Tojo's, 3) I have researched Tojo's handwriting and is defnitely not the handwriting on the flag, 4) one of the signs says "Shirei Chokan" which means a naval "commander in chief" but there are no names on the flag associated with the title and does not make any sense, 5) there are a few Kanji words that are just look-alike scribbles.
These were the reasons why I had to say the flag is a "fake Tojo" flag, and I think I did tell Jerry that these are highly unlikely to be the real thing.

Takehito

Takehito,

Thank you very much, that is exactly what I was looking for. Jerry never did mention the possibility of the flag not being the real thing and yes this is the flag that once hung in the Museum but my father took it down as it did not relate to the Battle of Okinawa and gave it to me. Either way, its a great example of a post war souvenior sold to GI's. Mahalo, David.

[Edokko]

Aloha David, yes quite agree that although these flags were fake make-ups, it's all part of the history of the Pac-war and the GIs that were sent there.
Takehito