1944 Japanese Port Department Boat Operations Authorization Flag

Approximately 17 inches by 24 inches. The flag is multi piece construction, with a cotton section bearing a red wool fly end. Two corners have cord ties.The flag bears the annotations of “From Showa 19 [1944], April 1” and “Until Showa 20 [1945], March 31”, as well as “Port Department”. Since the flag is dated with a specified finite period of one year,it is likely that the flag was issued by the port authority to a launch or some other vessel to indicate that the boat was authorized to operate within Harbor during the time period indicated on the flag.