Translation assistance and verification

[ww2colorado]

Guys I had met a collector of World War II Japanese flags, before I commit to a purchase I would like to know if the signatures on these flags read out to anything legitimate such as names or dates possibly places. I have read stories of people scribbling kanji onto flags and showing them to people who don't know what it reads or means. Can you guys tell me if this kanji actually reads out to anything?

 

Any help is always greatly appreciated

[SteveM]

Yes they are all legitimate kanji. The first one is just names, with 必勝 (certain victory) written in large at top of the flag.  The picture cuts off the name of the person for whom the item was intended.

 

The red seals in the flag shown in the second, third, and fourth pictures, are from shrines (Izumo Taisha, Hirahama Hachimangu). The very spirited large writing is a slogan and has the name of the person for whom the flag was given/intended (Mr. Okada...I can't get his first name). It was sent to Mr. Okada by the principal of the Shimane Seinen Shihan school, which was a school in Izumo city, Shimane Prefecture, that was in operation during the war. It was a forerunner of the current Shimane University. I reckon the names around the flag are from classmates and teachers. 

 

The flag in the last picture has the words  祝出征 (congratulations on going off to war), and a suspiciously few names and random slogans written on it. It was apparently presented to a Matsuo Jiro (松尾次郎), which is a pretty common name. 

 

While I can guarantee that the kanji are real kanji, I cannot guarantee that any of these flags are authentic items from the middle of last century. Flags are more easily faked than swords. The one in the middle, from Shimane Prefecture, looks to be the most interesting, because it has a specific, traceable name and location on it. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Izumo-taisha

[ww2colorado]

Steve M, thank you so very much for your reply. I was curious to see what they said on them. I suppose the kanji looks legitimate, as to the construction of the flags being silk, and how they are constructed i am still unsure of,.

 

Here are more pictures

[Ken-Hawaii]

Pretty good chance it's silk. Both of mine were, with the same corner connectors.