Good luck flag

[TheGoon]

Hi everyone, my latest pickup is this good luck flag. I know it says “may your military fortunes be long lasting” along the top and the surnames Nakada and Nakayama are present, could anyone help me out on the other translations? Thanks very much.

[Nick Komiya]

There are neither Nakayama nor Nakada signing, so the seller obviously cannot read Japanese and fed you BS . They made the mistake of signing the back side of the flag and the writing direction of the main slogan is postwar style (left to right). Other than those two liabilities, the rest looks OK. The slogans are the run-of-the-mill sort, as I marked off in the following list.

[TheGoon]

Thanks for the input nick, I purchased the flag from Michael at fortunes of war. So the slogan was done post war?

[Nick Komiya]

The main slogan is an anachronism that will have to remain a mystery, the kind of mistake that can get a prop-master fired. However, though regarded in those days as a very unpatriotic gesture, it was theoretically possible as explained here.

But when you combine that with not knowing which side of the flag was which, the red flag becomes redder.

I will not guarantee that flag as 100% authentic, but in all ages there are people who lack common sense and propriety, so who knows?

[TheGoon]

Thanks nick, I would imagine it would be possible to get the front and the back of the flag mixed up, I lack knowledge on these flags as I'm just starting to get onto the Japanese side of things. So the flag corners should be on the right hand side of the flag which would be the front?

[Nick Komiya]

As the flag is symmetrical in design, indeed when you sign the flag for the first time ever, it can be easy to place it down the wrong way.

However, in Japan, whoever signed the main slogan on this flag would have had more than enough experience signing these things that it becomes especially odd and embarrassing that he got it wrong.

That is because the most senior person is normally obliged to start the signing by first laying down the main slogan. This person is normally the boss at work, a mentor or teacher, city mayor, etc., who by this time, usually had signed scores of such flags, as a junior signee, if not the first signee.

Thus by the time you sign as the presenter of the flag, you already have "muscle memory" of what is correct.

Here you have the most senior of the signees laying down the flag the wrong way and also writing the main dedication in the wrong direction, which compounds the offense to an inexcusable or intentional degree.