Divine Wind

[Curtis Block]

Artifact from my personal collection.

[Pat Carry]

Kool! How did you acquire it and what is it's history?

[Curtis Block]

I picked it up at a surplus store for $50 about 15 years ago. It was obvious that the store owner had no idea what it was. It was marked as a Japanese flag. I have no history on it. I had a hunch when I bought it, so I had it translated. I was told it says Divine Wind.

I'm curious as to how common an item like this might be. Was something like this only carried by a Kamikaze volunteer? Or was it more wide spread. I know it was very common for Japanese combatants to carry a small personal flag with messages on it. What is it worth? Not that I'm planning to sell.

[Jack Cook]

Curtis,
Did you notice the framed display at OFM with the
data plate and the photo of the Sally bomber it came from???
Guess who donated that

[Curtis Block]

Yeah Jack,
I've noticed it, and I'm guessing it came from you. I can't remember off the top of my head what all is in there, but I've taken a look or two at it. Actually I have a few wreck pieces that I would like to do something similar with.

[tom d. friedman]

are you sure it's real?? do you you have documentation or provinence?? these hackimaki head bands are knocked off in countless amounts, & aged & beat up to make them look like the real deal. i hope you got the genuine article & at a great price, but i'm skeptical.

[Curtis Block]

I would put money on it being real. I have seen the headbands.

The flag is silk and the characters are most definitely hand painted. I would consider the whole piece to be of rather poor quality. I would say poor to the point of being authentic.

I'm not an appraiser however.
I have no paperwork on it. My gut said buy it, it's worth more than he thinks.

[tom d. friedman]

if you feel good about it & like it then that's great, you've got a gem to enjoy!! that's what it's all about, & that's good enough for me!!

[ColesAircraft]

Hello! (this is my first post here)

During WW2 these scarves were very common, and were worn by everyone from Special Attack pilots to women workers in arms factories.

Saburo Sakai told me that, in his experience, air crew would often cut-up the silk from their parachutes to make these. The real ones were hand-made, and everything was painted-on by brush - including the 'hinomaru.'

I have a real one that came from a former Army Special Attack pilot, who recently passed away from Leukemia. It is very crude, and in this case made from a scrap of military bandage. It does say kami - kaze, like yours, but many said other things.

There are a lot of fakes out there, though most are rather obvious and machine-made.

It's encouraging that yours is clearly hand-written. That style of Japanese writing is no longer in general use in Japan, and there are few who know how to read or write in the older style.

Neat!

- Ron Cole

http://www.ColesAircraft.com

[Dan K]

Welcome to the WIX, Ron.

I enjoyed touring your website, especially the wartime color pics.

[Curtis Block]

Ron,
Can you read this old style of characters?

[armyjunk2]

I posted these two photographs at the Axis History Forum a while ago and these are the replies I got, those people are good. This is sorta long but I thought interesting.







Goldfish
Member


Joined: 31 May 2004
Location: Atlanta, USA
22 Nov 2006 01:10
Post subject:
The top of the first photo gives the date of Showa 21 (1946) May 15. Other than that, they are hard to read.
Hope this helps,
Goldfish






armyjunk
Member


Joined: 21 Nov 2006
Location: US
22 Nov 2006 04:09
Post subject:
Goldfish, No question on the date? If correct interesting as the island was retaken bey the Americans in Feb. 1945, and all the Japanese should have been dead by then...thank you very much






Goldfish
Member


Joined: 31 May 2004
Location: Atlanta, USA
22 Nov 2006 04:53
Post subject:
It appears to read "Sho Wa 2 1 Nen 5 Getsu 1 5 Nichi." It certainly looks like a "1" after the "2" and so that would make it the 21st year of the Showa (Hirohito) reign, meaning 1946. It is possible that some help out beyond Februaury 1945 when you consider that some held out for decades in some places.






Kim Sung
Member


Joined: 28 May 2005
Location: The Last Confucian State
22 Nov 2006 05:21
Post subject:
Maybe these inscriptions are similar to this one.

I shall die, but I won't surrender






armyjunk
Member


Joined: 21 Nov 2006
Location: US
22 Nov 2006 06:09
Post subject:
Goldfish, could have happened but not likely as it is very small island and the tunnels were filled with gas/diesel mix and lit off....but i can argue the point I can't read it and you can, i really thank you for any help you can be....Army

and Kim I always thought it was a goodbye message, but that thought is based on nothing.






Van
Member


Joined: 05 May 2006
Location: Kanazawa, Japan
22 Nov 2006 21:22
Post subject:
The top picture says

Last edited by armyjunk2 on Tue Nov 06, 2007 12:11 pm, edited 1 time in total.