Signed Japanese Flag

[Fritziii]

Picked this up today at a local flea market, pretty nice one in cotton. Can anyone tell me what the red ink stamp is in the one corner? The ties are both present, these are getting somewhat hard to find anymore for some reason.

Fritz

[Fritziii]

#2

[ZERO-sen]

temple stamp

[Fritziii]

Thanks! I wounder what temple it is?

Fritz

[Nick Komiya]

The stamp is from the Keijo Shrine established in 1898 by the Japanese in Seoul, Korea. Keijo was the Japanese name for Seoul.

[Stu W]

Hi guys,

I'm an absolute beginner in the "flags" area so will have to ask...

Would the Keijo Shrine stamp indicate that this flag was made in Korea much as some TR flags were made in occupied Holland? Did they make flags at the temple? Cottage industry there to provide funding?

Or might the soldier have simply passed by the temple during his service there? I can't imagine the temple occupants were sitting there waiting to stamp the flags of occupying forces.

Any thoughts on this? Even the most basic would be appreciated as it's all new to me.

Regards,
Stu

[Nick Komiya]

What people did was to take a flag to the shrine and get it blessed. Temples and shrines sell good luck charms, and taking the flag there, offering ones prayer there, and getting it stamped would covert the piece into a personalized good luck charm. Korea was part of Japan for many years, so certainly they would have made Japanese flags there, too, but there's no way of telling where this particular flag was made.
The flag is photographed reversed, so no way to read it. Perhaps there may be more writing on it that may clarify things.

[Nick Komiya]

I flipped the image vertically to see it the way it should be. It appears to be dated 1944 with some other info beside the date, but the photo is too bad to read clearly. The Army raised 7 Inft Regiments in Korea, but 6 of them were only raised in 1945. The 73rd was raised as early as 1916, so if the date of the draft is indeed 1944 it is likely this regiment that ended the war in the Phillipines.

[Fritziii]

I'll try to make some beter pictures later tonight, Nick what areas would you need better pics to determine info?

Fritz

[Nick Komiya]

I'll try to make some beter pictures later tonight, Nick what areas would you need better pics to determine info?

Fritz

The right side, but the obverse side of the flag, not the back side.

[Fritziii]

Here are some better pictures of the writting and temple stamp.

Fritz

[Fritziii]

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