[Ikrleprl]

Hi all.
Last month, my Japanese class was presented with a very special piece of history. A local American man was given this nisshouki 日章旗 (Japanese flag from WWII) in the 70's by another American colleague of his. He has not known what to do with it for all this time, and had it stored in his attic until recently. He brought it to my Japanese class in hopes that we could find the descendants of it's original owner (who we believe is Yano Saiichi san) and ideally, return it to them when we go to Japanese on a study tour later this year.

If any of you have any resources or connections that you could provide me/my class with, that would help in this task, it would really be greatly appreciated.

よろしくお願いします
Thank You

the link again \/ \/ \/

[mbaueee]

If the flag belonged to the kottokai (kamikaze) then they probably would have been based in Chiran in Kagoshima. You could contact the museum there and find out if anyone knows of a Yano Saiichi.


Otherwise you would have to check the koseki tohon of Yano Saiichi to find out if he had kids or was married. To do that you would probably have to know what prefecture he was from.

[Anneskobsen]

If the flag belonged to the kottokai (kamikaze) then they probably would have been based in Chiran in Kagoshima. You could contact the museum there and find out if anyone knows of a Yano Saiichi.


Otherwise you would have to check the koseki tohon of Yano Saiichi to find out if he had kids or was married. To do that you would probably have to know what prefecture he was from.

ok, i'll definitely send that museum a email!
thanks for the advice

[maysubers]

I was searching for the relatives of a dead kamikaze pilot a few years ago. An old American sailor wanted to return the flag he took off the body of a pilot who smashed into his ship (the plane didn't explode). The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare has a special department set up for that sort of thing. Give them a call, talk to the Engo-kyoku division and explain the situation. They will want a photo of the flag and any other information you have. It took them about 3 months when I did it.

Kosei Rodo-sho, (Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare) 's Engo-kyoku

厚生労働省 援護局　援護企画外事室

03-5253-1111

[grofvuri]

On the flag of the soldier Yano Saichii ( 矢野才一君 ) there are no dates nor any place name. Only short auspicious messages accompanied with the names of relatives and friends.
But some useful elements are nonetheless present.

We find in big letters on the right “Shuku nyudan” ( 祝入團 ), that rougly translates to "congratulations on your enlistment". And we find also a smaller "Kaigun danji" ( 海軍男兒 ) here: http://img165.imageshack.us/img165/3...undanjizq4.jpg , which is the proof that Yano san was enrolled in the “Dai Nippon Teikoku Kaigun” ( 大日本帝國海軍 ), the Imperial Japanese Navy. That because differently from the Navy, soldiers enrolled in the “Dai Nippon Teikoku Rikugun” ( 大日本帝國陸軍 ), the Imperial Japanese Army, got send-off banners with written on the phrase “Shuku nyuei” ( 祝入営 ), that rougly translates to “congratulations on entering the service”.

So, for what I can deduct with my limited knowlede, there is no evidence here to presume that this flag is in any way connected with the “Shinpū Tokubetsu Kōgeki Tai” ( 神風特別攻撃隊 ).

I spent quite some time for this short research, reading through kanji, unstacking books from the higher shelves of my library and such; but I believe that it is worth and deserving to try to aid you guys in the noble intent to bring the banner back home to the descendents of the soldier Yano Saiichi.
So good luck with your quest.
And keep us posted. Thanks.

[chodeasyday]

Big thanks to both of you. My classmates and teacher will definitely be excited when I tell them about the great help I'm getting