This national flag of Japan is known as the Nisshohki or Hinomaru which means sun disc in Japanese.

This WWII era Japanese flags was given to a Japanese soldier by his family, relatives and neighbors. Their signatures and words of encouragement are addressed to this Japanese soldier and written on this flag.

During the WWII era or more specifically, the date of this flag, the people of Japan, the military and the Japanese nation belonged to the Emperor who was known as Ten-noh in Japanese. Therefore, many of the messages written on this flag includes phrases pertaining to the loyalty to the Nation or Emperor. This loyalty was thought of as one of the symbols of courage or bravery.

From what has been translated, I have learned that the owner of this flag lived at Inaho-machi, Otaru-shi in Hokkaido, Japan. Hokkaido is Japan's second largest island and the largest, northernmost of its 47 prefectural-level subdivisions.

It is thought that a women by the name of Kikuno was the flag owners fiancee back then. The flag owner is thought to have been born in the year of the Tiger, possibly 1914 or 1926.

As mentioned above, the writing on this flag is mostly statements of encouragement and the authors name. Some of the statements written on this flag include "Wish for no fear", "Death to the enemy", "Over throw the enemy", "Don't forget me", "Wish for thousands of merits" and many many more. All of the statements have been compiled in a .pdf document available for download by clicking HERE .

This flag is a personal and unique part of the history of WWII. If you are thinking about adding such a piece to your own collection please keep in mind that a number of these Nisshohki flags have turned up on the auction sites in years past. The trouble with some of these flags is that some enterprising folks in China have discovered the prices that collectors are willing to pay for such items. There have been numerous reports of collectors buying one of these flags and thinking that they are adding a unique piece to their Japanese WWII collection. Then when the collector starts to research the writing on the flag, it is then that they learn it is not from the WWII era but rather a modern fake. Some of the writings have included statements such as "Easy money", "Sucker", "Dummy" and so on.