JAPANESE ARMY WAR WWII BANNER Identified 77th Infantry Regt Yosegaki Banzai Flag

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Offered by Over The Blue Horizon and obtained earlier this year in Tokyo is an amazing item: an Imperial Japanese Army World War II NOBORI – a banner typically used in sending off a recruit to active military duty. However, this particular nobori was used to celebrate the retirement of a military member. As translated from the nobori, the retiring individual’s last name was UMEDA and his first name was either SHOJI or MASAHARU (kanji can be read/pronounced in different ways, especially pre-war kanji). He was stationed with the 77th Infantry Regiment stationed in Pyongyang (now the capital of North Korea), and this nobori was presented by a Mr. Ikeda Mataichiro. A nobori (literally meaning ‘vertical banner’) was a send-off celebration banner which was created for special military occasions such as induction or, in this case, retirement. The nobori typically had patriotic messages handwritten in ink on it, as well as the name of the honoree. One can only surmise that Mr. UMEDA survived the war and put this nobori in his attic upon his return to mainland Japan. It survived the B-29 fire bombings and his family probably found it in the attic some 70 years later and just decided to get rid of it! We purchased this at a temple market earlier this year from a vendor we have dealt with for years, and we are absolutely confident about its authenticity. We did not wash it or clean it in any way; all we did was iron it to get rid of most of the wrinkles.We estimate this nobori was presented prior to 1943 because the 77th Infantry Regiment was transferred from Korea to New Guinea/Philippines on or about that date, and most of the soldiers from the unit who went on to New Guinea/Philippines did not have an opportunity to retire or even survive the war. It is approximately 54 inches long, and 15.5 inches wide. As can be seen on the accompanying scans, the colors remain vibrant, the characters are neatly inked, the gold fringe on the bottom is complete and remains tightly stitched, and the nobori suffers little to no fading. It is not perfect -- the gold star is worn through in a couple of spots (hopefully, you can see this in the scan). How this occurred is unknown -- it is not from bugs or tearing. Possibly it was a combination of the acids in the ink and the way it was stored .... The nobori is either silk or rayon (we believe it to be silk) and in very good condition – although there is a minor stain here and there, this nobori is in great condition with minimal damage. Although we do not specialize in noboris, we see many of them and this one's condition is in the top 5% of all noboris we have seen in the past 10 years.Note that we had four complete noboris from Mr. Umeda’s retirement and part of a fifth. This offer is only for the second of the noboris – the first was sold in early March and we will put the others on eBay over the remainder of the year -- keep your eye out for future sales! Note that most noboris that survived the war are for send-offs; the Japanese military in World War II did not have many retirements so this is a rare item. FREE SHIPPING & HANDLING : We offer FREE United States Postal Service (USPS) Priority shipping (4-6 days) with delivery confirmation for this auction to U.S. buyers. Hawaii residents pay 4.166% general excise tax. We wrap your purchase in bubble wrap or tissue, and then protect it with clean, sturdy cardboard to ensure that it arrives in the same condition described in the auction. We mail promptly and send you the delivery confirmation number when your purchase is mailed. Check out our feedback – we take pride in our high customer satisfaction rate. SAVE MONEY WITH MULTIPLE PURCHASES : We invite you to look at our other items for sale or visit our eBay store. Make multiple purchases, combine shipping and save money! For each additional Ebay book (or group of books) you purchase from Over the Blue Horizon and combine shipping, you’ll receive a $5 discount. For example, if you win a $25 book, and then win another book (or set of books) that co... read more

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