Two questions: Can anyone read kanji, and can you iron really old silk?

[Monoriu]

I also see a date beside the 7 bold characters.  I see Showa [someyear], May, the word for "10", then a character underneath the "10".  Should be one or two or three horizontal strokes, so must be May 11th, 12th or 13th.  Besides the names, the characters are mostly "ready to die", "battle spirit", etc.

[Jaron]

I thought they didnt call it Showa til after the emperor died. Am I wrong about that?

[Monoriu]

I see a lot of mention of "loyalty" on the left hand side.  There is a big, prominent, bold character on a white strip on the left hand side.  That's the Chinese/Japanese character for "loyalty".  On the left hand side of that word, on a red strip are four characters sittong on the edge, and one of them is the same character.  They mean "To die for my country to show loyalty."  On the same red strip are two larger characters.  They mean "Big Male" 

[Monoriu]

I thought they didnt call it Showa til after the emperor died. Am I wrong about that?

"Showa" is really used to depict the year.  Instead of "The year of the lord two thousand" used in western countries, they follow the ancient Chinese system of allowing emperors/governments to name the year.  It is not really the name of the emperor, but the name of the years under him.

[Jaron]

Gotcha.

[Caliga]

Alright, I've turned the pic around on my computer and can start to read it.  The majority of these are names.  Looks like somebody in the unit had a flag, wrote five large characters at the top to wish for good luck, then asked everybody to sign their names.  Many also wrote a few extra words of encouragement when they signed.  The most obvious one is on the right hand side.  There are 7 characters in bold written vertically.  They mean "One male willing to die for his country", then there are 3 much paler characters (which is a name) below these 7.

Yes, exactly, that was how these flags were used.  Assuming that these flags were acquired by the restaurant owner personally during the war, he (or his unit) most likely killed the soldiers carrying them.

If that's not morbid enough for you, Princesca's great uncle has a collection of gold teeth/fillings he pried from dead Japanese soldier's mouths during the war (he was in the US Army... I believe he fought in the Philippines and on Okinawa).

[Monoriu]

I'm quite impressed by the level of caligraphy skill displayed.  For the most part, the people who wrote the words were used to writing.  They don't seem to be uneducated peasants. 

[sbr]

Magnificent. So much history in that flag.

Indeed, good stuff here. 

[The Brain]

Cool flag.

Today we laugh about WW2 but it's easy to forget that for the people involved it was anything but funny.

[Caliga]

Mono, what was the name of the soldier?  I think it'd be

They mean "One male willing to die for his country", then there are 3 much paler characters (which is a name) below these 7.

[Monoriu]

Mono, what was the name of the soldier?  I think it'd be

They mean "One male willing to die for his country", then there are 3 much paler characters (which is a name) below these 7.

Japanese names usually consist of 4 characters, with the first two forming the family name and the last two forming his given name.  This one has only 3 characters, if I am not mistaken.  I can only translate what those 3 characters mean in Chinese - first one means "south", second one means "rock", third means "bear (the animal)".

[Caliga]

I see, thanks. 

[The Brain]

Mono, what was the name of the soldier?  I think it'd be

They mean "One male willing to die for his country", then there are 3 much paler characters (which is a name) below these 7.

third means "bear (the animal)".

lol thank god

[Josquius]

Alright, I've turned the pic around on my computer and can start to read it.  The majority of these are names.  Looks like somebody in the unit had a flag, wrote five large characters at the top to wish for good luck, then asked everybody to sign their names.  Many also wrote a few extra words of encouragement when they signed.  The most obvious one is on the right hand side.  There are 7 characters in bold written vertically.  They mean "One male willing to die for his country", then there are 3 much paler characters (which is a name) below these 7.

Wow cool, that was my guess too, just the sort of thing students do at the end of the year.


Is it just me or are a lot of the names at jaunty angles? At the phone as is just above and to the right of the main message I can see a bunch of kanji written downwards which seem right way up, there are a few 'right way up' from the sides too. Wonder if this was a quick slap the flag down and everyone crowd around and write your name affair.
In fact the majority seem to be written in line with the beams of the sun with only a few being right way in line with the message.

[Caliga]

You have it upside down 

Corrected.