LOT Old Heritage Auctions  /  2007 Apr Books, Manuscripts & Autographs #658  / 

25294

Tokyo Trials Two signed Japanese flags

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Militaria Start Price:2,000.00 USD Estimated At:8,000.00 - 12,000.00 USD
Tokyo Trials Two signed Japanese flags
<B>Tokyo Trials Two 14" x 11" Japanese flags, each signed</B></I> by 12 defendants at the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, held in Tokyo, May 3, 1946, to November 12, 1948, a total of 24 different defendants. Each defendant has clearly <B>signed in black ink in both English and Japanese</B></I> for a total of 48 signatures. General Hideki Tojo (Prime Minister) has signed on one flag above the red sun. Others signing this flag to the left of the red sun are: Marquis Koichi Kido (Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal), General Heitaro Kimura (Burma Expeditionary Force), Naoki Hoshino (Chief Cabinet Secretary), General Teiichi Suzuki (President, Cabinet Planning Board), General Akira Muto (Philippines Expeditionary Force), and Foreign Minister Shigenori Togo. Signing to the right are: General Sadao Araki (War Minister), Okinori Kaya (sold opium to the Chinese), Admiral Shigetaro Shimada (Naval Minister), General Yoshojiro Umezu (War Minister), and General Kuniaki Koiso (Governor-General of Korea, Prime Minister). Signing on the other flag, to the left of the red sun are: Admiral Takazumi Oka (Naval Minister), General Jiro Minami (Kwantung Army), General Kenryo Sato (Chief, Military Affairs Bureau), Field Marshal Shunroku Hata (War Minister), Foreign Minister, and Baron Kiichiro Hiranuma (Prime Minister). Signing to the right are: General Seishiro Itagaki (War Minister), General Hiroshi Oshima (Ambassador to Germany), Baron Koki Hirota (Foreign Minister), Colonel Kingoro Hashimoto (radical politician), General Kenji Doihara (spy), and General Iwane Matsui (Shanghai Expeditionary Force and Central China Area Army). There were a total of 28 defendants. They were charged with war crimes, crimes against peace and/or crimes against humanity. Not signing the flags were: Foreign Minister Matsuoka Yosuke and Fleet Admiral Nagano Osami, each dying of natural causes during the trial, writer Okawa Shumei who was declared mentally ill - charges were dropped, and Shiratori Toshio, Ambassador to Italy, sentenced to life, died in 1949.<BR><BR>Doihara, Hirota, Itagaki, Kimura, Matsui, Muto, and Tojo, convicted of all three charges, were sentenced to death and were executed at Sugamo Prison in Ikebukuro on December 23, 1948. Araki, Hashimoto, Hata, Hiranuma, Hoshino, Kaya, Kido, Koiso, Minami, Oka, Oshima, Sato, Shimada, Suzuki, and Umezu were sentenced to life in prison. Two died in prison: Umezu (1949) and Koiso (1950). The other 12 were paroled in 1955. Shigenori Togo was sentenced to 20 years; he died in 1949. Mamoru Shigemitsu was sentenced to seven years; he was paroled in 1950. He later served as Foreign Minister (1954-1956) under Prime Minister Ichiro Hatoyama who, in 1955, paroled the prisoners named above, all convicted of crimes against peace. The vast majority of the 48 signatures (24 in each language) are dark and clear. There is one smudge on Seishiro Itagaki's signature. The flags are in fine condition with folds but no tears. Accompanied by three original 17" x 12" captioned Associated Press Wirephotos, one picturing the opening of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East on May 3, 1946, and the other two each depicting eight different 3.5" x 5.75" defendants' photographs. Each photograph bears a May 1946 receipt stamping on verso. While autograph collections of the Nuremberg defendants appear on the market from time to time, those of the defendants at the Tokyo Trials are scarce. This collection, appropriately signed mostly by military officers on the flag they fought for in World War II, would be a desirable and indispensable addition to a military collection.<BR><BR><b>Shipping:</b> Flat Material, Small (<a target="_blank" href="http://www.heritageauctions.com/common/shipping.php">view shipping information</a>)
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