My first Japanese Flag! Should I be happy?!

[gebris353]

Hi gents! I got my first one and I'm really happy, not with me yet but have the seller's pictures. Would love to hear the good blessing from the experts!

It's a 110x70 cm and has many Shinto Shrine stamps! I can recognize two phrases so far, will do my hoomework later tho: Banzai (Middle Top) and Buunntyouukyu (Middle Right, the first of the three starting from the left). If this is a good one can I get the soldier's name translated please and any other thing you think it may be important (a city, a date, the Shrines). I have a few known people who may help me get a full translation with the time.

I was also wondering about the writting on the Bottom Down of the red circle, it almost seem cursive, any idea what kind of writting this may be?

Thanks in advance and hope you like it!!

Cheers,
Fabian.

[Nick Komiya]

I think you did well. The cursive writing is German, the first line reading, "Ich wünsche Ihnen (I wish you----)", but the second line needs a larger photo for reading. The owner was a Munenori Tsubouchi and the flag was signed by his buddies in the Japanese fencing (Kendo) club. From the shrine stamp on the top, it appears they were in Ehime Prefecture on Shikoku Island.

[gebris353]

Ah wanted to post earlier but somehow forums wouldnt load!

Thanks so much Nick for confirming it! I'm even happier now! I'm like a kid with new toy or a dog with two tails as we use to say here haha! You could make out many things from the not so good pics! I'm really thankful! Will get better pics when it arrives and make my homework on it aswell, these pieces of history are really good for relaxing! The German writting was unexpected for sure! Maybe a German doing Kendo in Japan by that time? How cool! I have taken many classes with friends just for a change since I do Aikido first!

Thanks again Nick!
Fabian.-

[gebris353]

Just found an interesting photo of what seems to be a kendo group! Can you tell anything about the writting in the flag at the left and in the right side of the photo? Dont think I can be that lucky but who knows, at least they are wearing kendo equipment! Thanks in advance! Fab.-

[Nick Komiya]

The flag in the B&W photo is just a 1st prize banner from a martial arts competition.

[gebris353]

Thanks again Nick! It's a really nice photo tho, despite of having nothing to do with my flag!

[Paul G]

Nice looking flag. It would look great displayed with the period photo

PG-

[Death-Ace]

Beautiful! Also a couple of German/Japanese Cooperating items would be right at home under a flag like that if ya had ta ask!

[gebris353]

Glad you like the flag guys, cant wait to get it at home!

[gebris353]

Better Pics!

It arrived! Today I got it and I'm sooooo happy! It has that been there agying, smell and look! Much more than in the seller pics where the flash seems to have bleached it. So here are some better shots including all the seven seals and the German lines! Hope you can help me locate anything of relevance. Also, is there a name for the Kendo School? If there is any site where I can check seals let me know, since some of them are not that clear and dont want to make you lose time on them, I will be more than happy to do it haha! Will be googling kanji and seals now! Thanks in advance!

Cheers,
Fabian.-

Seals!













German lines!



General shots - In the search of place/date!

[gebris353]

This is harder than I thought but I just discovered comparing many many seals that they all have the same ending: 神社 which means jinja = Shrine! So it means those are from Shrines and not associations. Now I "only" need to find the resting kanjis to identify the Shrines!

[Nick Komiya]

Congratulations for the nice flag. The name of the Kendo Club was the "Hokuto Kenyukai", "the Great Dipper Friends of the Sword Association". It's clear that this flag was done after 1937, because there is one vet signing as a " Survivor of (the Battle of) 羅店鎮”, which is part of Shanghai, a battle in which the 12th Inft Regiment took part. That regiment also came from the same island as this flag, so it is most likely that the owner of the flag joined the 12th as well. As to the shrine stamps, I could read all except the 3rd one, which is too faint. There're all from Matsuyama City. I'll give you the Japanese below so you can enjoy some research yourself.
還熊八幡神社
勝山八幡神社
恵依弥二名神社
桑原八幡神社
生石八幡神社
日尾八幡神社
All except one are here http://ieki.com/osamu/gallery/jinjya/menu_jinjya_l.html

The German inscription was done by a Japanese, probably a student or a doctor. Because of his spelling errors and odd hand writing, I couldn't make out the middle line, but it says " I wish you a ------------return". German was the standard language in medicine in those days and obligatory in University.

[gebris353]

Thank you!

Amazing!! You are the best Nick! Thank you so much! Not only the translation to know the origins of this flag but you even included the Japanese spelling! I was sure this was gonna take me like 10 years luckyly! You have great culture and history knowledge to know about the regiment and the German language at that time! I have checked some pics from the Shrines, they are beautiful! Love the caste of the city aswell!

I think the flag has all the things I could ever wanted to start a research at least about the regimient, kendo club and Shrines! Now I only need to decide about how I'm gonna to display it, if framed or not.

Thank you again!

Cheers,
Fabian.

[Edokko]

Nick, Fabian,

A bit of guess work on my part but the 3rd shrine stamp could be from Isaniwa Shrine (伊佐爾波神社). Since they got so many of the major Matsuyama shrines, figured they must have gotten Isaniwa, since it's a pretty shrine right there at the famous Dogo hot springs.
Anyways, very cool flag and all the provenance to Matsuyama is very trendy, since the latest big drama from NHK is about a few historical figures from that area (Saka no ue no kumo).

[gebris353]

Woot! Thanks Edokko! Will have to watch it then! Here is the first link I found: http://www9.nhk.or.jp/sakanoue/ Have to leave now to my Aikido class but will check it later! Thanks!

Cheers,
Fabian.