help with Japanese flag

[Paul G]

Hello everyone,
Does this look like original Japanese writing in a very stylised form? or does it look more like gibberish? It looks good to me, but am looking to confirm this with those who are more knowledgeable with the Japanese language.
Thanks,
PG-

[Paul G]

I know the second picture is hard to read from a distance, its more to give a feeling of how the overall flag looks. Thanks for any comments,
PG-

[GHP]

The flag is reversed back-to-front; I had to "flip" it to read the characters.




大船 is Ôfuna, a town; another 富士山 is Fujisan (Mt. Fuji). Calligraphy done by a Japanese, but I don't know why.

--Guy

[Geoff Ward]

Grass writing

There is a style of writing called "Grass writing" I have been told it is like Europeans writing in cursive. Although I cannot read kanji or Grass writing
my concerns would be it appears to me that the the inscriptions and the
penmanship are in the same hand with the same pen.This is just an opinion
It may be that someone was using this flag as a postcard of places they visited in the way R.V.folks post the states that they have been to on the backs of their campers.

Just another thought,

Geoff

[GHP]

...my concerns would be it appears to me that the the inscriptions and the penmanship are in the same hand with the same pen.This is just an opinion...

Hi Geoff,

Yes, I wholeheartedly concur with your above observation.

--Guy

[Paul G]

Thank you greatly gentleman for your help Only history given is that it was brought back from WW2. Now I see what you guys are seeing! It does appear to be possibly an occupation flag? With the signing all being done in the same hand, and places listed, instead of names or patriotic slogans, Its most likely post war. Maybe a GI had all the places he had been signed in Japanese on the flag? All the ones I normally see have both the Japanese and English translations next to each other. Just a theory??

PG-

[Paul G]

There was another flag brought home with this one. Looks very close, in style. Maybe it can help solve the mystery? Can anything be told about this second flag?

PG-

[Paul G]

..

[Nick Komiya]

It surely is not a war time flag with random words like Democracy, Symbiosis, Mt. Fuji, Ofuna, Yokohama, Kamakura, Tokyo, friendship etc.

[Paul G]

Ok Nick, that sums it up nicely! Thank you all for your knowledgeable input!

PG-