Original Japanese WWII Hand-Painted Hand-Stitched Cotton Good Luck Flag with Indecipherable Writing & Fantastic Corner Reinforcements - 29 x 39”

Original Item. Only One Available. This is a fantastic handmade example of a Japanese Good Luck flag, with a great deal of writing, almost certainly the names & well-wishes of dozens of Japanese friends and family of the departing soldier. There are likely some well wishes such as Prayers for Eternal Good Fortune in War and Praying for You. Due to the bleeding-out of the ink into the cotton, we were unable to translate any of the writing, making for a fantastic research project.

The flag measures 29 x 39” and retains both of its original hand-stitched corner reinforcements, are hand-cut pieces of leather with laces for tie strings. Both are strong and well-retained, and in fact due to the construction, we’d say this is the strongest good luck flag we’ve had. The flag is in fair condition and has basic fold marks with some heavy water staining across the flag as shown which has faded the color of the sun and caused the writing to bleed heavily.

The writing is still somewhat legible to someone familiar with the language, and this would make a fine display piece for a wall or glass table as is. These are getting harder and harder to find in any condition.

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.