Original Japanese WWII Flag Lot - Tattered Rising Sun Flag & Meatball Flag - 26 x 35” & 27 ½ x 38”

Original Item: Only One Available. This is a great lot of two Japanese flags from the WWII era. The national flag of Japan is a rectangular white banner bearing a crimson-red circle at its center. This flag is officially called the Nisshōki (日章旗, 'flag of sun'), but is more commonly known in Japan as the Hinomaru (日の丸, 'circle of the sun'). It embodies the country's sobriquet: the Land of the Rising Sun.

The first flag is a Rising Sun flag, which measures 26 x 35” but is extremely tattered with two large chunks missing at two corners, and more missing in other spots. This one was likely a battlefield pickup.

The second flag is a national “meatball” flag, which measures 27 ½ x 38” and retains its original leather corner reinforcements, although the tie strings are gone. One of the reinforcements even retains a fragment of a period tag. 

The flags both appear to be rayon cloth, an early form of synthetic cloth made from wood. A great set of two flags, ready for further research and display!