Good luck flag

The Good Luck Flag, known as hinomaru yosegaki (日の丸寄せ書き^?) in the Japanese language, was a traditional gift for Japanese servicemen deployed during the military campaigns of the Empire of Japan, though most notably during World War II. The flag given to a soldier was a national flag signed by friends and family, often with short messages wishing the soldier victory, safety, and good luck.

The Japanese call their country's flag hinomaru, which translates literally to "sun's circle", referencing the red circle on a white field. When the hinomaru was signed, the Japanese characters were usually written vertically, and radiated outward from the edge of the red circle. This practice is referenced in the second term, yosegaki, meaning "sideways-writing". The phrase hinomaru-yosegaki can be interpreted as "To write sideways around the red sun", describing the appearance of the signed flag.

The hinomaru yosegaki was traditionally presented to a man prior to his induction into the Japanese armed forces or before deployment. Generally, relatives, neighbors, friends, and co-workers of the person receiving the flag would write their names, good luck messages, exhortations, or other personal messages on the field of the flag. The writing usually flowed out sideways in a rayed pattern away from the red sun. However, if the messages became crowded, well-wishers improvised and wrote wherever they could squeeze in a message.

Normally, some kind of exhortation such as Bu un Chou kyu is written across the top within the white field. Loosely translated into English, Bu un Chou kyu means "May your military fortunes be long lasting." Dark, medium-sized characters may normally be seen that run vertically down the right or left hand margin of the flag. These usually occur in one, two or three columns and are generally the names of the man receiving the flag, and the name of the individual or organization presenting the gift to him. The kanji characters were typically written with a calligraphy brush (fude) and ink. While it was normally the custom to sign only around the red center of the flag, some examples may be found with characters written upon the red center as well.

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