Japanese soldier flags, World War II

The following question was received by FOTW:

My Dad was in Japan in World War 2 and brought back a Japanese flag. I was told that the Japanese soldiers would carry the flag folded inside their shirt and the flags were brightly painted with pictures and family names and/or prayers. I was also told that after the war, the U.S. men on the ships returning home from Japan made duplicates of these flags for souvenirs . I believe that I have one because on the bottom of the material is printed "U.S.N." Could you tell me more about these flags?

I heard that it was popular for Japanese soldiers to bring folded national Hinomaru with family names and prayers for luck in the war and a thousand-stitch flag which is long piece of cloth with one thousand red thread stitches sewn by one thousand women. This was worn by soldiers as a good-luck belt to protect them against bullets during World War II. In some cases flags with brightly painted strong animal like a tiger or dragon were used.
Nozomi Kariyasu, 26 February 2002

Private School of Kanai Seiran Technology

"[World War II] Japanese Rising Sun naval school flag. [...] The story I got when I bought it was that this flag came from a naval school in Japan during [World War II]. Each school had one of these flags named to them. The flag was a focal point for the students and staff."
William Garrison, 23 January 2008 quoting E-Bay seller

The wording says Private School of Kanai Seiran Technology. I am not sure if the school is a kind of navy school. The sun seems to be placed in the center like the Imperial Army flag at that time rather than the Imperial naval ensign.
Nozomi Kariyasu, 23 January 2008

World War 2 era religious-shrine seals stamped on flag

Japanese Signed Nomonhan Incident Flag (1939)

From the E-Bay seller's description:

[Part of] a rare group of items from the Nomonhan Incident (Battle of Khalkin-Gol), 1939; all the former property of a Kwantung Army officer named Sasaki Seitaro. This next item is Sasaki's signed Hinomaru Battle flag made of silk and measuring 27 1/2 X 31 1/2 inches. It is dated Showa 14 (1939), August, Nomonhan, in Japanese. [...] Background: In the months prior to the Nomonhan Incident, the Japanese Kwantung Army Command made a fatal miscalculation. According to Japanese intelligence, Stalin's purges had weakened the USSR's capacity to respond to a military challenge in the region. In April, 1939, the 23rd Division of the Kwantung Army moved against Outer Mongolia. Starting in May, Soviet bombers attacked Manchukuo and Imperial Japanese bombers retaliated. These were among the greatest air battles ever recorded with 150-200 war plane formations. The Soviet response was to dispatch Lieutenant-General Georgi Zhukov to the region in July, 1939. The Red Army's surprise assault began in August, 1939, with a thrust into Western Manchukuo. The superiority of the Soviet mechanized units resulted in repeat reversals for the Japanese. At the Battle of Khalkin-Gol (Nomonhan to the Japanese), Zhukov's forces wiped out the Japanese 23rd Division. When the fighting was over, 18,000 Japanese were dead, and another 20,000 wounded. In the wake of this defeat, which was kept a secret from the Japanese public, Japanese military planners gave up the "Go North" strategy and began to probe areas sensitive to the United States, thus culminating in the attack on Pearl Harbor in December, 1941. A very historic signed Japanese Hinomaru Battle flag.

William Garrison, 25 February 2008

Captured Japanese flags

Not to load an enormous page full of images. Image (also somewhat larger)
Caption: "Russian sailors with captured Japanese flags"
No other information regarding the photograph, except that the page context is operation August Storm, the Soviet operation against Japan's mainland conquests, directly following the destruction of Hiroshima, Augustus 1945.
Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg, 28 January 2013

Well, let's see what we can add:
- The flag to the viewers right is the only one that is actually intended to be vertical, but the tag hanging in front of it makes it impossible to read the character. At first sight it would appear to have two zigzag lines, as more Japanese flags have (Does anyone know more about what those stand for?), but a closer look reveals an extra line above, and the two dark lines might not be the exact same colour. The flag held by the second flag from the viewer's left follow this patterns with its lines as well. Though the colours can't be determined exactly, they would seem to follow the pattern on the flag of Manchukuo. Indeed, this matches the location of Japanese mainland conquests. The "tag" hanging in front of it would probably tell us all we wanted to know, but unfortunately it can't be read in the photograph.
- The Second flag from the viewers left has the same colours running as four lines across the flag. In this case the colour of the field really seems a bit darker than what would be the white stripe, so I expect this to be mustard yellow. The order of the lines tells us the Russian sailor is probably holding the flag the wrong way round. The flag is longer even then it would seem; his gun prevents him from holding it up properly. In reality the badge is likely to be in the centre of an 1:2 flag. The structure of the ring gives the impression of a very short circular rail road. That's not the common style for rail road emblems, though, and the flag isn't mentioned on Japanese controlled transport companies (China). It may well have a different meaning entirely, though I can't shake the feeling I've seen it somewhere before. Though the reverse of the flag, the character seems to be correct; at the moment I can't come up with its meaning, though. Anyone?
- First to the viewer's left. Definitely saw a wreath like that before, but where?
- Second from the viewer's right; I'm tempted to say this one is held the wrong way as well, as the character would seem to read best from the viewer's right. It's still unreadable because of the folds, though. Comparing with the other flags, I'd go for blue thick border, than white then black inner border, with a mustard yellow field and red character. The blue and red aren't all that certain, though.
Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg, 3 February 2013

War Souvenir Flags

About 10 years ago I read various books about the war experiences of American soldiers involved in fighting against the Japanese in the Pacific Theater. I recall reading that one method for unemployed women of Japanese origin (on Guam, Saipan and Okinawa) to earn some income was to take locally produced Japanese flags, get in a "sewing circle" and write Japanese-character names on them, and then passing them on to another Japanese gal to get different Japanese-character "handwritings" on them. These flags would then be sold as "war trophies" to unsuspecting, late-arriving, second-echelon American soldiers who were occupying the islands. Many of which may be appearing on eBay nowdays.
William Garrison, 26 February 2008

OBON flag-return Society

"A Japanese Soldier's Son Receives a Memento of His Father, Who Was Killed During World War II" The so-called good-luck flag, which hung on an American veteran's wall for many years, returned home last month after nearly eight decades Ellen Wexler, Assistant Editor, Humanities (Smithsonian Magazine) September 23, 2024 "On the day Asae Hiyama gave birth to a son, her husband left to serve in the Imperial Japanese Army. It was the summer of 1943, and the young couple had been married for a year. Asae waited dutifully until 1945, when she learned that her husband, Yukikazu Hiyama, had died in China. Officials said that he had been killed in combat, but Asae never received his remains or any of his possessions. Without any material confirmation of Yukikazu's death, Asae felt as if he had vanished. Their son, Tsukasa Hiyama, grew up knowing very little about his father, though he thought of him often. "Since childhood, I often imagined what my father was like," Tsukasa, now 81, tells the https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2024/09/12/japanese-good-luck-flag-wwii/'s Cathy Free. "What kind of person was he? What did he smell like?" These questions lingered, but Tsukasa received few answers. He and his mother rarely spoke about Yukikazu. At the same time, Asae seemed to believe that he might one day walk through the door. Up until her death in 2000, she never received the closure she needed. Then, in April, Tsukasa got a phone call. Researchers had identified a Japanese flag that had belonged to Yukikazu. They had been working for years to track down Tsukasa, who had never possessed a memento of his father. Tsukasa Hiyama, who is holding the flag, poses with his family and community members during the return ceremony. OBON Society During World War II, many Japanese soldiers carried https://www.nam.ac.uk/explore/japanese-good-luck-flags, which featured handwritten well wishes from friends and loved ones. They varied in size but were usually small enough for their owners to fold up and wear inside their uniforms. They also happened to be an item that Allied soldiers collected as battlefield souvenirs. One of those soldiers was Bernard Stein, who served in the Philippines with the United States Army's 38th Infantry Division. When he returned from the Pacific, he brought Yukikazu's flag home with him and hung it up in his den. "He never talked about his wartime experiences," Bernard's grandson, Scott Stein, tells https://www.stripes.com/veterans/2024-08-27/japan-ww2-good-luck-flag-return-14989950.html' Seth Robson and Hana Kusumoto. "He must have seen some intense stuff in the war, but there were no mental health things when he returned. He just kept it bottled up." Scott has distinct memories of seeing the flag on the wall as a small child. He wondered where it came from, but like Tsukasa, he rarely asked about such matters. Still, he sensed that the flag was important to his grandfather. "I would stare at it in fascination," Scott tells https://www.fox5ny.com/news/nyc-japan-journey-home-wwii-heirloom?fbclid=IwY2xjawFbLlxleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHe2nGPaEx3_R0Iual7PuKyutggTRY2K4KPP8ov3_PacCgDnk2oS7YPSCkg_aem_pJL03GtggR-Fqm9RP6GCOQ's Jennifer Williams. "My grandfather told me one day that it would be mine." When Bernard died, Scott inherited the flag, which he initially hung on his own wall. Eventually, however, he took the war souvenir down and stored it away. "I started to realize a while back that maybe it wasn't the best home decor," he tells the Post. As time passed, he also realized that he didn't want to pass the flag down to the next generation. Instead, he wanted to send it home. Around 2017, Scott learned about the https://www.obonsociety.org/, an Oregon-based organization that works to return missing good-luck flags and other belongings to the families of Japanese soldiers. Since it launched in https://obonsociety.org/eng/page/history, the group has identified the rightful owners of more than 600 flags. When the researchers received Scott's flag, they spotted numerous clues: Yukikazu's full name is written on it, as are the names of his well-wishers. Still, it took them a long time to find Tsukasa, who lives in Tottori, Japan's least populous prefecture. He has no siblings, as his mother never had any other children. Tsukasa Hiyama unfurls the flag at his mother's grave. OBON Society "She never remarried because she never believed her husband was dead," https://obonsociety.org/eng/page/our-team, the OBON Society's president and co-founder, tells Smithsonian magazine. "She always expected him to come home to her and held that hope until her final breath." At a ceremony last month, Tsukasa accepted his father's flag. He invited dozens of friends, family and community members to witness the return. Some of them had their own connections to the artifact, as their ancestors' names are featured on it, too. "The return of my father's flag has brought a significant sense of closure," Tsukasa tells the Post. "When I held the flag in my hands, it felt as if I could sense my father's warmth for the first time." He also brought the flag to his mother's gravesite, where he unfurled it as his wife and family looked on. After all these years, a memento of Asae's husband had finally come home. "Ellen Wexler is Smithsonian magazine's assistant digital editor, humanities.