Help with Japanese Flag Translation. Thanks!

[Mark Sikes]

Greetings,

I am writing today with the hope that someone from the Forum might be willing to translate the kanji on a flag that is in my possession. Any assistance is greatly appreciated. I know nothing about it accept that it did not glow when a I submitted it to a black light and it was already framed.

There will be a total of 8 scans.

Thanks again in advance,

Mark

[Mark Sikes]

more scans

[Mark Sikes]

2 more

[Mark Sikes]

last 2 and thanks again

[GHP]

祈武運長久

Except for the greeting and presentation, everything else looks to be signatures of well-wishers.

祈武運長久
Ki Bu’un Chōkyū
Prayers continued luck in the fortunes of war

岡田広君
Okada Hiroshi-kun
[to] Mr. Okada Hiroshi


--Guy

[Mark Sikes]

Guy,

Thank you so much for replying to my post and to adding such details for this flag. It is greatly appreciated.

Is Mr Hiroshi the soldier that this flag was given to for good luck? Also and this question is for anyone. What are the details on possibly researching this soldier? I'm use to US and British research.

Thanks much

Mark

[GeorgeP]

Unfortunately, researching the soldier without further information is next to impossible. If there was a local shrine stamp or municipal related messages/signatures pointing to a particular town in Japan, it might, however slight, open some doors. As it stands, there is no central database to research Japanese soldiers. Yasukuni shrine in Tokyo would probably be the best place for finding a name if the soldier was enshrined there, but that information is restricted and not open to the general public.

Tom

[Mark Sikes]

Tom

I thank you for replying to my follow question(s). Might I ask if this soldier's name a common name like John Smith or is it in any way uncommon?

Best regards

Mark

[GeorgeP]

Hopefully others can speak further about the name, but I feel that Okada seems to be a fairly common surname. I have seen other threads with names that tend to be more common regionally, say, in Okinawa, etc. per information from other members, but I cannot comment on this name.


Tom

[imperialjapan]

Except for the greeting and presentation, everything else looks to be signatures of well-wishers.

祈武運長久
Ki Bu’un Chōkyū
Prayers continued luck in the fortunes of war

岡田広君
Okada Hiroshi-kun
[to] Mr. Okada Hiroshi


--Guy

Just for the record (in case the OP is keeping this info), the flag recipient's personal name is indeed Hiroshi, but the kanji here is 弘.

And Tom is right--very common name with no other specifics, so research is quite near impossible.

[GHP]

Just for the record (in case the OP is keeping this info), the flag recipient's personal name is indeed Hiroshi, but the kanji here is 弘.

Doggone it Rich! I KNEW that .... I just selected the wrong kanji when I wrote it out. It's good to have you and Tom around to catch my errors.

Thanks!
--Guy

[imperialjapan]

Guy, you're the one doing the heavy lifting. I just come 'round with a broom and sweep up once in a while. Thanks for helping out everyone!

[Mark Sikes]

Thanks again for all of the assistance.