Original Imperial Japanese WWII Framed Small “Good Luck” Flag & Rice Paper with Temple Stamps - 16¼ x 28¼”

Original Item. One-of-a-Kind. This is an interesting framed set consisting of a small Japanese “Good Luck” flag covered in Temple stamps and an associated piece of Rice Paper signed in the same manner as a Good Luck flag with a Temple stamp in the center. The frame measures 16¼ x 28¼” and uses a thin plastic as opposed to glass.

The small flag measures roughly 13¾ x 14¼” and is covered in seven temple stamps, with some Kanji stamps at the side which were too rough to translate. The flag has two small tie-strings at two corners.  

The rice paper measures roughly 10 x 14¼” and has a single Temple Stamp in the center. Some of the translated text includes “Arrive at Tazuke Kohan City”, “Oku Group leader Kambayashi”, “Seventh Group Leader Otokichi Ohashi”, “And Continued Good Fortune in Battle”, and “Youth Association Yoshikazu”. We believe this to have been signed perhaps by members of the soldier’s school or neighborhood, given the inclusion of “Group leader” and youth association. A great research project!

Ready to display!

The Good Luck Flag, known as hinomaru yosegaki (日の丸 寄せ書き) in the Japanese language, was a traditional gift for Japanese servicemen deployed during the military campaigns of the Empire of Japan, though most notably during World War II. The flag given to a soldier was a national flag signed by friends and family, often with short messages wishing the soldier victory, safety, and good luck.

The Japanese call their country's flag hinomaru, which translates literally to "sun-round", referencing the red circle on a white field. When the hinomaru was signed, the Japanese characters were usually written vertically, and radiated outward from the edge of the red circle. This practice is referenced in the second term, yosegaki, meaning "sideways-writing". The phrase hinomaru-yosegaki can be interpreted as "To write sideways around the red sun", describing the appearance of the signed flag. This particular example completely unique is written in old KANJI the writing are mainly Japanese names of this soldier's family and friends with quotes and phrases.