WW2 Japanese Yosegaki Hinomaru

I recently acquired a matching early 1943 Nagoya 4th series T99. It has all the early do-dads, chrome, mono, AA, matched dust cover, original sling, but with a scrubbed mum and the rare Kiska rear sight addition which allowed the sight to be manipulated with gloves. Anyway, the rifle also came with matching Kokura bayonet, frog, and scabbard as well as 30 rounds, some brass, reloading dies, and lastly a good luck Yosegaki Hinomaru. I have been in contact with the Japanese consulate in Boston in an effort to identify the soldier and if any family is living, to return it. Otherwise, I will remain the curator for the next 20 years or so, if I live that long.
t

Fantastic “good luck” flag. I miss mine and would love to own one like that.

Be cautious with some of the return programs to Japan. I’ve had some long discussions with other folks about this very topic. While the thought is nice, the reality is a lot of these return programs act more like storage facilities. Guilting collectors into return flags for families that barely exist anymore or have relatives that have zero interest in this stuff (many Japanese don’t).

99% of the time its better that responsible collectors keep it, so that it can be shared and actually appreciated as a historical artifact.

Flag is of the larger type; 29x33. I got all this for one partly matched Gew88/05 and ersatz bayonet. Flag alone is worth $500.
t

Pics of the rifle and bayonet. It's the highest known SN of the 4th series, although the info book is 40 years old.
t

Cool, w/ a sight lifter too! The SN range for the 4th is ~10,000 to 99,999

Bob in OHIO said:

Cool, w/ a sight lifter too! The SN range for the 4th is ~10,000 to 99,999

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Yes it is; I guess the run wasn’t finished. Or if it probably was, no examples higher than my SN has been reported (as of 40 years ago).
t

hale1940 said:

Fantastic “good luck” flag. I miss mine and would love to own one like that.

Be cautious with some of the return programs to Japan. I’ve had some long discussions with other folks about this very topic. While the thought is nice, the reality is a lot of these return programs act more like storage facilities. Guilting collectors into return flags for families that barely exist anymore or have relatives that have zero interest in this stuff (many Japanese don’t).

99% of the time its better that responsible collectors keep it, so that it can be shared and actually appreciated as a historical artifact.

Click to expand...

Seconding this. It's a nice thought, but frankly you're just sending it off into the void.

That looks really cool!