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Dragon Art Good Luck Flag


Fortunes Of War
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Fortunes Of War

Since the release of my book on tiger art good luck flags, we have seen a number of beautiful black and white and full color tiger painted flags.  Many were used in the illustrations of the book and it would almost appear that these flag examples are somewhat commonplace; they are not.  That being said, dragon painted flags are even more scarce.  The tiger and the dragon symbolize the Asian concept of Yin and Yang.  While the tiger is mostly terrestrial, the dragon takes its place in the celestial realm.

I found this flag many years ago and was intrigued by the rarity of the art, as well as the message painted in black ink on the front.  There is a poem on it, written by Matsumoto Kyujiro and Matsumoto Munehisa.  The flag is made out to a relative or possibly their sibling, Ichiro.  The poem reads something like, "The sun shows a ray of light on Ichiro's aircraft, expand thy wings, expand thy great wings, expand, expand thy great big wings! Be as the shield for the Imperial country, and off to the skies!"  Since the dragon commands the skies, it would make sense that a pilot might be given a flag with a dragon painted on it.     

If anyone else has a dragon painted good luck flag in their collection, I would love to see it.  Post war souvenir of occupation flags sometimes have dragons painted on them, so be aware of the difference.  

IMG_6417 (2).JPG

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