By David Fleet
dfleet@mihomepaper.com
Ortonville — They were traditional gifts for Japanese servicemen during World War II more than 80 years ago.
Japanese Good Luck flags or yosegaki hinomaru, carried into battle adorned with a distinctive red circular sun on a field of white often signed by well-wishers, friends, family, along with other servicemen.
The Ortonville Community Historical Society has three Good Luck flags from the WWII era in its collection, the origin of these historical items remains unknown.
Alan Allgaier, OCHS president recently completed a study on the three flags that have been a fixture in the Military displays at the Old Mill Museum for many years.
“The Ortonville Community Historical Society has concluded these flags are war trophies, taken from casualties or prisoners during WWII,” said Allgaier. “Many consider these flags to be non-biological human remains. Therefore, we have decided to run one last special exhibition showing these flags in the museum through the end of April. At that time the OCHS will repatriate these back to Japan to be returned to descendants and communities from which they originated.”
In Japan, these flags often included good-luck messages inscribed on them, wishing the bearer good fortune and luck in battle.  All of this was written in ink calligraphy.  Some were blessed in religious ceremonies and often Japanese soldiers carried these flags with them during military service as a personal item to remind them of home.
“It was a common practice for U.S. servicemen to confiscate these flags from fallen soldiers or prisoners to bring them home as souvenirs or war trophies,” he said. “I suspect no Japanese soldier would willingly part with such a personal item.”
Prior to the repatriation of the flags later this spring, Allgaier sought the assistance of Wakana Asakura, a Brandon High School exchange student visiting from Hino City in the Tokyo, Japan region. Asakura is staying with host family and OCHS members John and Pattie Fross.
During a recent visit to the museum, Asakura helped translate many of the Japanese characters on the flags.
Translation from 1940s Japanese to modern English is not a straightforward task, said Asakura.
“There is not one written Japanese language, and they are used simultaneously,” she said.
Asakura said the concept of an alphabet doesn’t exist and Japanese colloquialisms do not directly translate to English.  Still, Asakura provided her interpretation of the phrases and features on the flags.
One flag has four large characters which appear to be the main slogan on the flag which translates to a Japanese motto “To give up personal interest or wishes and be loyal to one’s master or country in time of war.” This concept of self-sacrifice for the public good was a central theme of Japanese culture during WWII, it brought honor to the family.  Also translated was, “Together with members of the Minglang company,” which was likely the nickname of a particular military regiment.   In addition, “Presented by,” followed by the name of the person who gifted the flag, and “Take Time to Pray.” This flag has a brown stain on it that could easily be blood.
A second flag has many names written in such a way as to represent rays emanating from the red sun.  None of the names are women. The phrase, “Pray that luck lasts long in the battlefield” appears on this flag. Unique to this flag was the red stamp, applied with a rubber roller, that shows the flag was blessed at a Shinmei shrine.   Shinmei is the solar goddess, the ancestral deity of the imperial house of Japan.  During the time period, there were somewhere between 5,000 and 10,000 Shinmei shrines throughout the county. The traditional spiritual connotation of a blessed yosegaki hinomaru is that the soldier’s spirit would be captured in the flag if he were to fall in battle.
The flags have allegedly “buried the needle” during ghost tours conducted at the Mill, and some folks who are spiritually sensitive have reported uneasy feelings with these items, said Allgaier.
The third flag is likely created to look like a yosegaki hinamaru, but appears to have been created specifically as a tourist item.  The phrase “To: Joe Junior” appears at the top – written in such a way that it is an American name translated into Japanese;  “From Uncle Naru” is written at the bottom.  On the left of the flag is the date Dec. 23 1945, which is over three months after Japan surrendered.  On the right of the flag is the name of the town – Hiromachi.
“We hypothesize this flag was created specifically for an American serviceman who wanted to bring home a souvenir but did not acquire one another way; perhaps it was purchased in a market,” he said.
The flags will be sent to the OBON Society (https://www.obonsociety.org/eng/) which specializes in finding the original families.
Rex Ziak, is president and co-founder of the OBON Society with the mission of cultivating and reconciliation by returning personal artifacts taken during World War II back to family.
“We estimate there are more than 50,000 such flags in the United States and another 200,000 worldwide, stuffed in boxes and attics of homes. An estimated eight million Japanese soldiers carried a few of these flags. It was the number one souvenir taken home since swords and guns were too difficult to carry. Americans brought them back by the thousands. So far about 600-650 have been returned.”
Rex along with his wife Keiko, who serves as the executive director, said sometimes flags are returned in just a few weeks, others it’s been six or seven years.
“We are like the FBI, always looking for clues,” Keiko. “Remember there’s no address or numbers. But every ink mark was created by someone.”
Unlike Americans, the Japanese have been in their country for thousands of years and so many live in the same area with the same last names, said Rex.
After World War II ended in the Pacific, America bodies of servicemen were exhumed and repatriated back to the United States. Today an estimated 71,000 are still missing. In contrast, more than one million Japanese WWII soldiers are still missing in the South Pacific theater.
“No remains came back to many families,” said Rex. “Japan was occupied after the war and they were often restricted to exhume bodies due in part to the span of the South Pacific battle fields. For many the only remaining trace of them are these flags. There remains a lot of grief and a hole in that family.”