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Japan/Difficult Kanji

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Expert: Steve Battisti - 10/30/2009


Question

kanji1
Hi Steve,
I am working as a volunteer archiver and cataloger for the National Parks Service and due to my work I recieve many Japanese language related items to catalog. I have OK language experience in the area, however many things I recieve are pre-WWII and contain difficult kanji.
I am working on a name tag now which is cloth and has the kanji for the name "Matsumoto Takashi". The whole text appears to read 皿年  松本隆. The 皿 however is written in a way that leads me to believe it may be another kanji altogether however, as horizontal the line at the bottom is shorter than the on on top, and the two outer vertical lines are sloping inward from the top. I do not have a camera at the moment but I have attached an ms paint image of how it looks. Any help or advice is appriciated! Thanks alot!

Answer
Hi Tim,

Thanks for your message. I'm sure you realize, it's pretty difficult to decipher without seeing the actual kanji, but having discussed this with a native speaker, and with the proximity to "年", we suspect that your mystery kanji is something incredibly challenging: a four　（四）.

Yep, we think that it says "Year 4" or perhaps "4th Year," or there may be another character missing.

What do you think?

Steve

Steve Battisti

Expertise

I`m always willing to give help, or at least my opinions on things related to Japan. I think I'm especially strong at helping out non-native Japanese speakers with the language. Also, helping others understand the culture, such as U.S. businessmen who have to do business with Japanese. I'm not doing translations right now, unless it's just a phrase or a word. More of a language and general Japanese culture guy than a travel/history expert.

PLEASE NOTE: I cannot answer questions about the following:

  • Pottery or art object - I strongly recommend you take these to an antique specialist
  • Finding people - I can't answer these. I just have no way of knowing if the person you're looking for WANTS to be found, and I'm just not willing to risk it. I recommend you contact a private investigator if you desperately need to find someone.

Sorry for the inconvenience!

Experience

10+ years of studying Japan and Japanese language. I lived there for 5 years, one as a student, four as a businessman. Most importantly, I lived there because I wanted to live there, not because someone sent me there!

Education/Credentials
BA in Japanese

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