I am hoping you can help me with an item I have. It is a buckle with a dragon on the front with a small inscription in the lower left corner, and on the back, a longer inscription. It was given to me by a dear friend whose father gave it to her when he returned from World War II.
At first I thought it was Japanese. I got a rather odd interpretation about "Health Insurance" based on modern Japanese Kanji. But this buckle was made before the use of modern Japanese, and someone asked me if it might be Chinese.
One thing I have noticed, is that the characters are rounder than the Chinese I have looked at - they are very "rounded". So I am at the end of the line in my search - and after all of this, I'm not sure if its something in Japanese about Health Insurance, or if its something very different in Chinese.
Can you help me? I have pictures of the buckle.
Here are links to pictures of the buckle, front and back.
Front of Buckle with dragon and small inscription:
As you can see when viewing the back of the buckle, a few of the characters on the ends of lines two and four are hidden by the hinge on each end. So here are additional views of the inscription on the back, where the hidden characters are visible:
If you can provide any information or insight at all on this writing, I would be extremely greatful.
Thank you, sincerely,
Kat
ANSWER: Hi, Kat,
Thank you for bringing up this interesting question.
I'm pretty sure it is Japanese, judging by its content.
so the Kanji's in the back read(line by line)
7th
Health Insurance Sports Meeting(or Assembly)
Kumamoto（a city in Japan)
Syowa 11th yr(the year of 1936)
So it's obviously Japanese. Speaking of the single kanji in the front by the dragon head, i'm not sure about it. just bind guessing: it looks like a "land" for me. it could stand for "army". Give it a second thought, it could also be another kanji standing for friendly or harmony. i may have to borrow my grandpa's "dictionary of origin of Characters" lol
You said that "this buckle was made before the use of modern Japanese", i'm wondering what time you were referring to, for i'm not familiar with the history.
You also mentioned that "the characters are rounder than the Chinese I have looked at". thought very round, it doesn't necessarily indicate they're not Chinese. Well, actually, there are many variations or "fonts" of Chinese character writing and many are still used nowadays in calligraphy or on special occasions.
Thanks for sharing with me this interesting buckle with history. Now that it's confirmed it's Japanese, you may want to consult a Japanese expert. but of course, you're welcome to bring up any further questions.
Best regards,
John
---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------
QUESTION: John, thank you for your kind patience in explaining this. The interpretation you gave is in line with what I was told.
You were wondering what I meant by the buckle being made before the use of modern Japanese. What I meant was that the current Kanji came into use in 1946 (after this inscription). Which leads me to wonder if it can be relied on to translate an inscription from 10 years before.
I also was told it may be in the dreaded "Manyogana" (which I'm sorry, I know I am not spelling right).
But mainly I wondered if the modern Kanji implemented in 1946 could be relied on as this buckle was created before that Kanji came into use.
Any thoughts on this? (I realize your right and I probably now need to turn to a Japanese expert, but I wanted to explain to you what I was referring to).
Many thanks again - and if your Grandpa's old dictionary turns up anything, please let me know :-).
Right now I'm beginning to think the buckle is supposed to teach me that I ask too many questions :-).
Answer Hi Kat,
I finally got my hands on a dictionary about ancient characters. i found that the single character or kanji by the dragon head is Lu4(land) but i don't know what it stands for here. have you talked to any Japanese expert about it?
Thank you for the follow-up. i think this is a benificial mutual learning process. I didn't know about the reform of Kanji until you told me so. by the way, in China we had similar reform of characters which resulted in today's Simplified Chinese vs Traditional Chinese. Your spelling of Manyogana is correct. I did a little bit digging myself. My understanding is that the reform in 1946 was simply about substituting the new Kanji(shin-jitai) for the old one(kyū-jitai). And Manyogana had evolved into kana before the reform. Again, i'm no experts in Japanese, so don't take my word for it. I'm gonna go to my grandpa's in a week or so, i hope i'll find something interesting.
Curiosity keeps us young i guess while it's cats' poison :> thanks again for your informative question and follow-up.
