Please help with possibly significant flag

[1942Arisaka]

I have found information on 三橋市太郎 from phrase #5, he was a member of the court as a (poor translation) grand prosecutor? from 1938-1941

[Nick Komiya]

The timeframe for the signing of this flag appears to be 1943/44 based on the titles held by some of them. In addition, two prominent members of Chuo University are signing, President Hayashi and Mitsuhashi.

Universities in Japan were receiving pressure from the government and military to place more emphasis on natural sciences rather than social sciences, due to the needs of war. Thus Chuo University set up Chuo Industrial College 中央工業専門学校 in late 1943, in which Mitsuhashi played a key role in setting up the aviation department and machine engineering department. See him in photo below. Other universities such as Meiji, Housei, Waseda and Nihon University all underwent similar shifts towards mechanical engineering studies at this time in 1943/44.

This project is possibly what brought the people together to sign. I did not bother to check where in Tokyo Chuo set up its new departments, but the mayor of Omori ward could have been involved.

I've checked the names of all rear admirals in the navy, but there were no full matches. The closest name was 日尾清, who was in reserve in Tokyo, but the first name doesn't match what's on the flag. Navy rear admiral Kanefusa Nakao (中尾金房) was actually invited to head up the mechanical engineering department at the new school, so the navy presence is to be expected, but the signature is not Nakao's either.

[1942Arisaka]

Wow, that's very cool! I've read back on some previous threads where you helped others with translations and I am in awe of your knowledge. So you feel this flag is a commemoration piece for the opening of the Chuo Industrial College rather than presented to an individual going to war? Also I have a thought on the Rear Admiral's signature... perhaps he was posthumously awarded a higher rank? Good to hear that my suspicions of it being a late 1943 piece are reasonable. I hate to pry more, but any developments on the untranslated pieces? Namely the poem, name in phrase #8, and the stamps. I understand I am asking a lot and I am very grateful for the help given thus far.

[ghp95134]

You’ve got everything I can find with regard to this flag; I’m not a collector or an historian, so my “knowledge” is razor thin.

I must, however disabuse you of the thought the flag can have any kamikaze connection merely from the “Seven Lives to Dedicate to the Country”. These phrases, slogans, etc. were patriotic in nature to encourage the soldier/sailor. Also, your flag is definitely an “Off to War” flag as seen from the 祝出陣 dedication.

Cheers,
— Guy

[1942Arisaka]

Thank you again. Part of my thinking on the kamikaze connection stemmed from a large portion of kamikaze coming from universities, and I found an article describing the send-off ceremony at Chuo University on October 21 of 1943, within the timeframe of the signing of this flag following the removal of student exemption to the draft. That combined with the phrase being common with kamikaze made me a bit optimistic, but I can see how I was misguided as it is just a patriotic slogan. Nevertheless, here is the article and the associated video of a former kamikaze from Chuo University being awarded his diploma 70 years later. Using the translated subtitles I can only make out every other sentence, but it is still a powerful video:

【News & Chuo University News】Student Soldiers to the Frontline - Harrowing Experiences and Reflection on Peace : HAKUMON Chuo [2015 Winter Issue] : Chuo Online : YOMIURI ONLINE

YouTube

[Nick Komiya]

Of course that flag is for someone going off to war, but unless all these people happened to live in the same neighborhood, generals and university professors will be seldomly seen signing a flag together. So to find out about those with ilegible names, finding out the context that brought them together at the same time is important. Chuo Industrial College is that key,which is why I focused on that point. The poem, etc are really not that that important in telling the story, so I will leave the rest to you.

[1942Arisaka]

Thank you! Do you know what the appropriate Japanese terminology would be to research the send-off ceremony at the Tokyo Meiji Jingu Gaien Stadium that occurred in 1943? I feel this may be a connection and I am having trouble locating information when researching the English terms.

[Sporter90]

If the flag was originally sold in Japan to a guy in the US, then sold it to you, the chances are the flag had been researched already. There's nothing significant about this flag, or else the Japanese would know about it.

The American soldiers were chasing the wrong flags from the beginning. The only important flag was the Regimental flag, which the GI failed to understand its importance, and none was captured.

[Nick Komiya]

This flag was not for a student of Chuo University and a Kamikaze connection is highly unlikely and farfetched. Student flags are always signed by other students of the same university sending off their senior. The combination of senior adult contributors point rather to staff of the college being drafted, a politician's son, etc. As I already explained, the key question is what did the signing people all have in common, what kind of social circle brought them together.
Here is a sample of a university student's flag with Tokko connections. Your's has the wrong people signing it.

[1942Arisaka]

I suppose we can rule out the kamikaze idea then, just a speculation of mine. Thank you for the link to that flag, Nick. My next best step may be to contact Chuo University and see if they could graciously provide a list of professors from the era, if the information is available, to see if the recipient may have been on the university staff. Perhaps they have information on the opening of Chuo Industrial College. I have been checking the names and titles against documents in the Japanese national archives and I found 200+ documents for Mr. Hayashi Raizaburo alone, though many of the documents are from the 1930's. Thank you all for holding my hand through this, I am learning a ton!