I just came across a sentence about the National Flag of Japan. I don't think I fully understood it. So here it is:


What I understand is this:

The topic is The Rising Sun Flag. The rising sun flag used by army support organization in the Nagano Prefecture's Shigeno Village (now Toumi and Komoro city). Before the battle and in case of the battle(軍関連の場合?), this flag was used commonly. There are 16 shining lines around the rising sun flag and the armada of Imperial Household is a gold chrysanthemum consisted of 16 petals. This chrysanthemum is in correlation with the 16 shining lines in the flag. Because this symbol symbolizes that the Emperor has a direct control over the army.

Did I understand it well?

旭日旗を使うのが常識だったの ''でしょう''

And does this phrase grammatically state a probability because of ''deshou''?

Like, Probably the flag was used commonly...

  • 1
    光房 is probably a typo for 光条. Also, what are the numbers 1 to 9 for? – jukbot Sep 9 '19 at 2:10
  • Or maybe a typo for 光芒... – jukbot Sep 9 '19 at 3:03
  • oh, sorry. I put numbers beside the kanjis, I took them down on my notebook, but then I forgot to delete the numbers, that's why. ^._.^ – translator witch Sep 9 '19 at 12:20

The word 戦前 normally refers specifically to the pre-WWII period. To say "before the battle", 戦闘前 or 戦いの前 is used.

In the prewar period,

if an organization was military-related,

I suppose the use of The Rising Sun (as the flag design of the organization) was taken for granted.

Your rough understanding of the remaining sentences seems okay. (光房 seems to be a typo for 光条 or something, although its meaning is self-evident in the context.)

  • Thank you so much. I just realized kanji for the Japan's rising flag is 日章旗(sun mark flag), so I did a little more research and found out Japan's naval ensign is expressed as 旭日旗. – translator witch Sep 9 '19 at 12:27

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