# Pre-WW2 Japanese Help Needed **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 8, 2007, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-ww2-japanese-help-needed/421964 "2007-10-08T18:12:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Obligate\_Carnivore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/35a633/32.png) [@Obligate\_Carnivore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Obligate_Carnivore)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2007, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-ww2-japanese-help-needed/421964/1 "2007-10-08T18:12:07Z")
My dad recently found a family keepsake that had been ‘lost’ (ie packed) for a long time. It’s a silk scarf my grandfather got during WW2 when he was in Japan. We’re not sure exactly how he got it, but since it was originally wrapped up into a small bundle and is very feminine, I’m guessing maybe it was a good-luck charm given to a soldier by a wife or mother. Totally wild guess, it’s probably just some random woman’s scarf. But the thing is, it has some Japanese writing on it that I can’t figure out. I’m definately not anywhere near fluent in Japanese, however I am pretty good at looking up unknown kanji. However I can not find anything for these items. I’m thinking it’s a combination of pre-WW2 kanji and calligraphy that’s holding me up. Hopefully someone with a better knowledge of the Japanese language can help me out here. First, in the corner of the scarf is a ‘patch’ of cotton fabric with a name written on it. I’ve been able to figure out the last name as being either Omata, Obata, Onomata or Komata. Apparently they’re all spelled the same. I was able to find the kanji on the very right but for the life of me I can NOT find the 3rd kanji from the left. Thus I can’t figure out the first name. [Written Name](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v65/demonseishi/name.jpg) There are some illustrations on the scarf of trees and plants, and there are some blocks of text. I have NO idea on these. They don’t even look familiar to me. [Text #1](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v65/demonseishi/text1.jpg) [Text #2](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v65/demonseishi/text2.jpg) And finally is something that’s more my curiosity than anything else. It’s obviously the stamp of the artist so I was wondering if anyone recognizes it. [Signature Stamp](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v65/demonseishi/signaturestamp.jpg) Thanks for the help guys! ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2007, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-ww2-japanese-help-needed/421964/2 "2007-10-08T19:45:14Z")
After all that, you could have at least shown us a picture of the entire scarf. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Obligate\_Carnivore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/35a633/32.png) [@Obligate\_Carnivore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Obligate_Carnivore)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2007, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-ww2-japanese-help-needed/421964/3 "2007-10-08T20:02:50Z")
[QUOTE=hajario] After all that, you could have at least shown us a picture of the entire scarf. 😉 [/QUOTE] I’m in the middle of a move so my camera is MIA. I’ll definitely look for it though and take a picture as soon as possible 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Obligate\_Carnivore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/35a633/32.png) [@Obligate\_Carnivore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Obligate_Carnivore)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2007, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-ww2-japanese-help-needed/421964/4 "2007-10-08T20:27:56Z")
Found the camera much quicker than expected. [Whole Scarf](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v65/demonseishi/scarf.jpg) [Closeup 1](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v65/demonseishi/closeup1.jpg) [Closeup 2](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v65/demonseishi/closeup2.jpg) As you can see it’s pretty beat up. There’s even a patched up area that was done by whoever owned the scarf. We’d love to clean it or even attempt to get out the wrinkles but we know better than to try anything without a professional. ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2007, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-ww2-japanese-help-needed/421964/5 "2007-10-08T20:38:28Z")
It looks like it’s a big square, right? That’s not a woman’s scarf, it’s a [furoshiki](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Furoshiki). It’s a cloth you use to wrap up whatever needs wrapping; a very handy item. ---
**Author:** ![Obligate\_Carnivore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/35a633/32.png) [@Obligate\_Carnivore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Obligate_Carnivore)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2007, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-ww2-japanese-help-needed/421964/6 "2007-10-10T17:39:25Z")
dangermom, thanks 🙂 We had no idea that’s what it was. I’m guessing though that noone really knows about the writing? Perhaps someone knows a more Japanese-specific forum I might try? ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2007, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-ww2-japanese-help-needed/421964/7 "2007-10-10T17:52:04Z")
NOw, just wait a bit. A Japanese-speaker will along shortly. ---
**Author:** ![jovan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/0ea827/32.png) [@jovan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jovan)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2007, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-ww2-japanese-help-needed/421964/8 "2007-10-11T01:31:01Z")
[QUOTE=Obligate Carnivore] I was able to find the kanji on the very right but for the life of me I can NOT find the 3rd kanji from the left. Thus I can’t figure out the first name. [Written Name](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v65/demonseishi/name.jpg) [/quote] The third kanji is 兼, which usually reads as _kane_ but _kazu, kata_ and _tomo_ are also possible. The last kanji is: 亮, which in given names can be read as _aki, chika, toshi, suke, nao, naga, nari, michi_ and _yuki_. The most common reading for 兼亮 is _Kanesuke_, though there is also _Kaneaki_ and other readings might be possible. I’d place my bet on Kanesuke Omata, though. > [@](#): > > There are some illustrations on the scarf of trees and plants, and there are some blocks of text. I have NO idea on these. They don’t even look familiar to me. > [Text #1](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v65/demonseishi/text1.jpg) > [Text #2](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v65/demonseishi/text2.jpg) The first picture is written in cursive style. The first two charaters are 花枝 which mean flower and branch and read as _hana-eda_. The second character is a bit problematic. It looks a lot like a cursive 者 (_mono_) which means “person”. The last character is 梅, plum tree – read _ume_. I’m not sure about person because the sequence 花枝者梅 doesn’t make much sense and the only character that’s out of place, meaning-wise is the third one. The second image shows a seal that reads 伊年, which is read _inen_. It was a seal that was used by painters of the [Tawaraya Sōtatsu](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tawaraya_S%C5%8Dtatsu) school. > [@](#): > > And finally is something that’s more my curiosity than anything else. It’s obviously the stamp of the artist so I was wondering if anyone recognizes it. > [Signature Stamp](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v65/demonseishi/signaturestamp.jpg) This is a form of _tenshōtai_, which is a very old way of writing Chinese characters that’s still used on things like stamps. That said, I have no idea what it says. ---
**Author:** ![jovan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/0ea827/32.png) [@jovan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jovan)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2007, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-ww2-japanese-help-needed/421964/9 "2007-10-11T02:33:39Z")
[QUOTE=jovan] That said, I have no idea what it says. [/QUOTE] For what it’s worth I’m almost certain that the right part of the seal is 其 and it looks like it’s used as the body but I can’t figure out the radical. It thought it _might_ be 騏 but 馬 isn’t usually written that way in _tenshōtai_.