WW2 Japanese Helmet Carried Battle Damaged Blood Stained Flag

This is a multi piece Japanese cotton flag with blood staining caused by a head wound from a bullet or shrapnel damage. Japanese soldiers and naval land based personnel, like the Naval Landing Forces, often carried hinomaru flags folded & neatly tucked into the top of their type 90 steel helmets. These were carried between the liner and the shell. Superstition was thought to protect those who carried a helmet flag from injury or death. You can see how it was folded up when the Japanese was hit! The wartime photo here shows how another flag was carried folded in the helmet and how a bullet or piece of shrapnel damaged it. As you know it does not take more than a small piece of shrapnel to penetrate a Japanese helmet and cause death or a serious head wound.