Need Help on Japanese Tarawa Flag

[SVW1945]

Hi Guys
I need some help on this flag I received from a marine vet that was on tarawa.
The family said he got this flag there. If its true I have no Idea. I took alot of photos. I also sent my photos to the guy who runs the tarawa web site. And he told me he sent the photos to someone in japan. That was 30 days ago. I still hav'nt heard from him. So I can help translating the writing from some one on the forum.Thanks Nick

[SVW1945]

2nd pic

[SVW1945]

3rd

[SVW1945]

4th

[SVW1945]

5th

[SVW1945]

6th

[cbuehler]

This is a typical Yosegaki. I can read the normal ki buun cho kyu (good fortune in war) on the far right side of the flag and the name of the young man it is presented to is just to the left of that, but it is too cursive for me to read.
The vertical writing on the far left appears to be the town organization that presented the yosegaki and all the rest of the writing are names of the well wishers. There are two shinto shrine stamps in red as well. This is a real yosegaki, but of course where it really came from is probably impossible to know for sure.

CB

[MikeB]

Need Help on Japanese Tarawa Flag

If there are no written references to places, people or association phrases enabling research, then all you have for association is the square shrine seal. If Nick can translate that one for you then you at least have the shrine where the flag was blessed. Provided the name of the shrine is not a common one that has many locations, you might have some luck there in narrowing down the place the soldier lived. (In many cases the shrine hanko will help I.D. the town of the flag owner, but not always.) The other seal appears to be a variation of the kiku-No mon hanko (river and chrysanthemum.) MikeB

[GeorgeP]

I think that the the two shrine stamps are actually from the same shinto shrine: Minatogawa Jinja. I believe that this shrine produced swords for the IJN and they applied the Chrys. and river stamp to the tangs of their blades as well.


George

[Edokko]

George, you're good ! That is precisely where the stamps come from, additionally the third column from right reads Minatogawa Jinja.
The flag is made out to a soldier Sugihara Toyoji.
The Minatogawa Jinja is within the greater city of Kobe, and also a reference point can be made from the sender "元町翼軍（Motomachi Yokugun)" which seems to be some kind of group in the Motomachi area also within the confines of Kobe city.

[MikeB]

Need Help on Japanese Tarawa Flag

George-
There are variations of the kiku-No mon on a number of flags that I own. One of the illustrations in my book shows a terrific signed flag with a large hanko from the Keyakigawa Shinto Shrine. Just above it is a kiku-No-mon. The hanko are displayed in similar fashion to the one discussed here. This particular hanko was often placed on the flag as an inspirational seal. There may have been other reasons too. It was offered as a reminder to the soldier to act in the manner of Masashige Kusunoki (1294-1336,) a daring, loyal and resourceful samurai who performed his duty and freely gave his life for the Emperor Go-Daigo. The kiku-No-mon may be seen matched with a variety of other shrine hanko. Each was placed independently MikeB

[GeorgeP]

Mike,

I was unaware of that info. Thanks!


George

[Nick Komiya]

Toyoji/Toyotsugu/Toyokazu (Can be any of these) whatever his name probably was a member of a baseball team, and it's the team that gave him the Yosegaki.
Once upon a time, there was a baseball team in Tokyo called the "Senators"; that was because the team principle was a senator in the House of Peers. However, in 1941 it became necessary to drop all English words from Baseball (Out, Strike, Ball, Safe all had to be converted to Japanese at that time) and naturally they needed to change the name of the team as well. They polled their fans and finally settled on the name Tsubasa Gun (Wingers). The principal was also a member of the Yokusan-kai (see flag 10 from my post) and Yoku is also read Tsubasa (as in the wings of a plane or bird). So whateverhisname must have been a member of the "Motomachi Wngers", a local baseball club.

[SVW1945]

Thanks for all the help on this flag guys. Now I,m very glad to know something about this flag and its history.I.ve been collecting marine ww2 medals for a long time and I have been getting these flags in these groups I have.And I have no clue what they say.I copied all the info what you guys said and put it with the flag. I aslo was trying to research that baseball team That Nick told me that he was on that team..Its tuff to find info.Anyone have any clues to get a team roster?. I have more flags, I will have to dig some more out. You guys are great help. Many thanks agin!!!
Regards Nick

[Nick Komiya]

Remember that the "Wingers" in Tokyo were a proffessional team and the guys in Motomachi must have been amatuers who simply copied that name. I can probably get the roster for the real Wingers, but not for the amatuer guys.