Japanese personal 'good luck' flag : Chinese conscript

Printed silk Japanese personal 'good luck' flag with slogans and good luck messages written in Chinese.There are four large slogans, one on each side of the flag, and three rows of smaller characters radiating out from the centre to each corner. The hoist corners are reinforced with small triangles of brown leatherette with a pair of fine yellow cords attached to each. One corner, near the hoist, is faintly marked in black ink 'MANILA PI MARCH 6th 1945/ THIS WAS TAKEN FROM THE OWNER IN THE MARAKINA HILLS. BUT HE NEVER KNEW IT. REGARDS LEN'. There is a red stamped temple seal on the other hoist corner. The central red disc is severely degraded and fractured, with little remaining, due to an excess of iron used in the dying process.

This flag is thought to have been carried by a Chinese conscript in the Imperial Japanese Army, who was serving in the Philippines in 1945. The flag was captured by Australian Leonard George Griffin, on 6 March 1945, while he was serving with US forces in the Marakina Hills, and sent home to his family.