Advice on two flags needed

[Striking 9th]

These are two flags coming up at auction here. What is the content? Are they special or are they the usual? All opinions wanted.
Thanks, Scott

Flag #1

[Striking 9th]

Flag #2

[MikeB]

Advise On Two Flags Needed.....

Scott-
Both examples look like nice Good Luck Flags. I wish I could see the seal on the first flag. As for content, you'll need Nick or Edokko to help you out. Nick has had some health issues and I think he is still out-of-pocket for a few days. Perhaps Takehito can take a look.........MikeB

[Edokko]

Missed this thread, sorry !
The first flag was made out for Shiokawa Yoshiyuki （塩川佳行） and blessed at the Asama Shrine （官幣大社　浅間神社）.
Second flag was made for Yamanokuchi Fujio (山ノ口藤雄） from Takasu Youth School （鷹栖青年学校）.

[Striking 9th]

Thanks for the help guys. I like both of them but that first one is talking to me. If I win it I will post some better pics of it. Thanks again to the both of you.
Scott

[MikeB]

Advise On Two Flags Needed.....

Scott-
Edokko's translation of the bold characters on the right hand side of your flag identified the shrine where flag number one was blessed. That is undoubtedly the same name that would be read on the round hanko. Nice looking flag. MikeB

[Striking 9th]

Thanks Mike, I did get this pic today so I thought I would post it for you.

[MikeB]

Advice on the two flags...

Scott-
Standard shrine or temple seals are normally squar-ish. As a general rule, organizational seals are usually square shaped. Round shaped seals are less often used by temples and the like but do appear fairly regularly. The one in the photo here almost looks like a chrysanthemum except it appears to have more than 16 petals on it. Shrines supported by the Imperial Family were allowed to use a chrysanthemum seal and would usually place it upon flags that were blessed by them. The seal here is obscured to the point where I can't identify it. Nice flag though. MikeB

[Nick Komiya]

Actually the shrine's name is read Sengen Shrine, not Asama (though most Japanese will read it that way). There are about 1300 shrines throughout Japan with this name, but in this case the Shrine's ranking is shown as Kanhei Taisha (read my flag research post about Shrine rankings), which serve the spirits of the royal family. There are only 58 shrines with this ranking and that leads us to the Sengen Shrine at the foot of Mt Fuji. The stamp is not a chrysanthemum; look at the top of this English page from Sengen Shrine.
http://www.fuji-hongu.or.jp/sengen/english/index.html
Now you know where it came from.

[Edokko]

Nick, yes you are absolutely correct, it should be spelled Sengan and not Asama, my bad. Is that logo a Tengu fan ?

[Nick Komiya]

Eddoko, to tell you the truth, I was also reading it Asama while finding it strange that all the shrines with this name were clustered around Mt. Fuji instead of Mt. Asama in Karuizawa. I spent enough time on this flag, so I won't go any further with it, but I do agree that the logo must be of a fan from the mythical mountain creature, Tengu, half man half crow.

[Striking 9th]

Thanks to all for the help and comments on these.
Scott

[MikeB]

Advice on two flags needed....

Nick-
Are there different "family's" of tengu? I thought tengu were man-birdlike creatures with large noses? I think early on they were originally portrayed in China as flying dogs or flying fox. They then became something else later on in Japan. The tengu fan (Tengu no Hauchiwa) was supposed to have the power to grow noses larger or shrink them. Tengu are often seen with big noses themselves. I am just not familiar with them in this other context. They weren't much in the way of being strong protector spirits were they? Glad you are feeling better.......MikeB

[Nick Komiya]

Nick-
Are there different "family's" of tengu? I thought tengu were man-birdlike creatures with large noses? I think early on they were originally portrayed in China as flying dogs or flying fox. They then became something else later on in Japan. The tengu fan (Tengu no Hauchiwa) was supposed to have the power to grow noses larger or shrink them. Tengu are often seen with big noses themselves. I am just not familiar with them in this other context. They weren't much in the way of being strong protector spirits were they? Glad you are feeling better.......MikeB

According to this article, the tengu image evolved from the original avian form to the long nosed one that you are familiar with. The former style of Tengu is often referred to as Karasu-Tengu. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tengu

[MikeB]

Advice on two flags needed....

Nick-
Thanks for the link, I'll take a look. I had never heard of the half man, half cow type of tengu. MikeB