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Sun Circle 'yosegaki hinomaru' 75 years on...


TakMan

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As the photographer at auction house Richard Winterton's (you may know of him via daytime television - David Dickinson's Real Deal and Bargain Hunt), I get to photograph all sorts of interesting items for our various sales.

Be that fine art pictures and prints, ceramics, gold and silver, jewellery and watches, toys, coins and stamps, books, maps, glass, you name it, I probably photograph it!

I'm always on the look out for something 'astronomy related' be that cigarette cards, stamps, comemorative coins, watches (Omega Speedmaster - the one that went to the moon, or their 'Constellation' model) - anything to send out to our little WhatsApp group and on here - well, it mixes things up a bit, rather than post the usual piece of shiny new equipment purchase or processed astro image.

In the last week, I've been working through the Medals and Militaria lots for the July sale and came across this...

It piqued my interest. With our military expert away, I decided to start investigating in my own time.

What we have here is, to the untrained eye, just a Japanese flag (officially called Nisshōki - the "sun-mark flag", but commonly refered to in its homeland as Hinomaru "circle of the sun") -  with some traditional Japanese calligraphy on it...

Today this is often used for charity events and sporting activities, but, if from WW2, it could be entirely different.

A 'Good Luck Flag' - yosegaki hinomaru (寄せ書き日の丸)

342838506_GoodLuckFlag.thumb.png.54228645b4c6d57a8967e5937acffd1f.png

A quick search on the old internet, yielded some interesting and poignant results. I also sent photographs to our Japanese guide when my wife and I visited the country back in 2016 to see if she could help.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_Luck_Flag

Although the writing doesn't radiate out from the centre, there are plenty of examples like this, where a departing serviceman was given a national flag signed by family and friends wishing victory and a safe return.

As has happened for thousands of years, the victors of battle would scour the ground looking for a souvenir to take home. I have previously photographed old helmets, daggers and the like. A German Lugger pistol I am told was a highly prized memento.

But this flag, almost certainly taken from a dead soldier, is slightly different.

Japanese families rarely heard from their sons again after they left for the front lines, and these flags are often all that remains of them, with the Japanese government often sending bereaved families an official death notice alongside a box of local sand or pebbles. Family members have used these 'hinomaru yosegaki' flags in funerals as a substitute for human remains - the fact that they were on the body (usually worn under the shirt and close to the heart for protection against bullets), at the time of death and absorbed fluids means that these flags are probably as close as the family ever got to the remains of their family member. More than 2 million Japanese servicemen have no known grave.

Having witnessed first hand the Last Post Ceremony for our own WW1 missing in Ypres at the Menin Gate, been at school with Russell Aston, one of the six Royal Military Policemen killed in an ambush serving in Iraq in 2003 and with the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings approaching and VE/VJ Day next year, I wondered if trying to return this item may be a far more fitting act than just selling it on.

I've already spoken to Richard who thinks it's a great idea, but need to get our military expert to approach the vendor to see if they are in agreement. I bet they don't really know what it really is, or the significance it holds.

There is an American based charitable organisation, the OBON SOCIETY (formerly OBON 2015) that tries to repatriate these flags, so I hope in due course to get in touch with them.

354817938_Screenshot2019-06-04at23_27_09.thumb.png.fa1fff79a5ff508faa9ddba0b08f30be.png

http://obonsociety.org

What else then have I found so far...

That the Japanese government have requested that such items be returned to the families of their war dead.

1193235760_Screenshot2019-06-04at23_40_07.png.211f4035d4c1294e0ec992d4f7dd9ed7.png

I can tell you that the (British) allied soldier, whose name is also written on the flag, fought in Burma, for The Welch Regiment.

"The 2nd Battalion had been retained in India but in October 1944 the battalion moved to Burma as part of the 62nd Indian Infantry Brigade attached to the 19th Indian Infantry Division where it joined the British Fourteenth Army, led by Bill Slim. The Battalion saw its bitterest fighting along the Taungoo-Mawchi Road where for a hundred miles, with deep jungle on either side, the Japanese defended vigorously all the way. In November the battalion crossed the Chindwin River at Sittang, captured Pinlebu and saw some very hard fighting on the Swebo Plain".
Wikipedia

Plus my Japanese tour guide got back to me with some details:

"Yes, it is a good luck flag from the world war two.
It is very sad.
The four characters on the top mean protection of the Japanese empire.
One with the name on the left was going to the war and his friends wrote some words to him.
They are as follows;
Compose oneself
Destroy enemies
I will also come after you
Assailing heresy and revealing the truth

I hope it will be back to Japan."

I've since forwarded hi-res images and close-ups so she can give me more details. I hope to add to this thread if we can try and repatriate this item.

 

Thought this may be of interest anyway. What with my profile/nickname and part-Takahashi avatar on SGL, perhaps it was fate that our paths should cross.

Amazing how a 'simple' loosely astronomy related item can lead to such an interesting and poignant story... how much these flags mean to family members in Japan. A flag is more than just a piece of cloth. It symbolizes the spirit of the person who carried it...

 

From the OBON SOCIETY:

or01.jpg.46b1dfcaf48eadbc765eb26c0f01f976.jpg

 

It's the "you finally came home", that got to me...

Damian

 

 

 

 

Edited by TakMan
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Thank you for the wonderful photograph and information.

History, and those directly involved in making it are such an important things.

"Lest we never forget"! And more important, may we learn from it and never make the same mistake again.

I have a cherished collection from the European theater my father brought home.

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2 hours ago, maw lod qan said:

 ... may we learn from it and never make the same mistake again.

Indeed, that is more important.

History will repeat the lesson until it is learned.

Damian, thanks. 

Edited by Floater
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