I'd like to know the name of the maker of this bokken, which I purchased in France some years ago:
To make it easier to read the characters, I have traced them (correctly this time):
Asked
Active
Viewed 221 times
4
-
The first kanji is "separate", I think. – Macaco Branco May 22 '19 at 23:03
-
The second might be "grade 4" – Macaco Branco May 22 '19 at 23:07
-
It's also not far from the kanji for "bokuto", 木刀 – Macaco Branco May 22 '19 at 23:36
-
4I dropped a link over in the Japanese SE chat room. The indication was that TonyD's answer is correct, essentially it means "New". – JohnP May 23 '19 at 14:12
2 Answers
4
Your tracing isn't quite right: the bokken has a short down stroke at the top of the left character. The correct kanji is shown below, is pronounced "shin" or "arata", and means "new" in English.
新
Unfortunately, it's such a ubiquitous kanji that I haven't been able to narrow search matches down to anything useful.
Tony D
- 4,150
- 12
- 10
-
-
I believe you're right. My answer is probably wrong. I found this kanji in the following link... Google translate says the first character is "shin", second character is "dome". So the character that's on your bokken is likely "shin". https://www.sinonome-japan.com/en/bokken/97-aikido-quality-wooden-sword.html – Steve Weigand May 23 '19 at 16:12
-
@DanieleProcida: You're welcome. By the way, the updated image isn't quite right... it should have that small downward stroke at the top left. – Tony D May 23 '19 at 19:46
-
@SteveWeigand: I must admit I "cheated" a bit - my partner's Japanese and I went straight for the "hey, what's this kanji?" - actually got confused for a bit when told the first version of the trace wasn't the same as the photo - so hard to tell. – Tony D May 23 '19 at 19:48
-
The real question is why is it "shin"? What's the significance of it? I know it means "new", but does that mean it's natural wood or something? Or is it "shin" as in "spirit" or "live"? – Steve Weigand May 23 '19 at 19:51
-
@SteveWeigand: I suspect it's being used as a brand name, and that likely because it was part of the name of the person who created the company or crafted the bokken. It's sometimes used as a first name for boys or girls
- https://japanese-names.info/first_name/shin/ - but can also be used as a surname - where it's pronounced "arata" (on vs kun readings) - search for "arata" at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_name. But as you say it could have been chosen to describe the company or wood or even the spirit with which it was to be wielded as fresh and new....
-
With the circle around it, it suggests a name. So you're probably right that it might be part of a family or company name. – Steve Weigand May 23 '19 at 20:09
4
I believe I have an answer for you about the manufacturer. There is a circle around the character, which is common in Japanese for use in brand names, logos, indicating special meanings, and so on. In this usage circle is "maru" so I searched for 丸新 (Marushin) and found this company (#14 of the last section, same information as below).
新留木刀製作所 Niidome Bokutou Seisakujo
新留 義昭 Niidome Yoshiaki
〒885-0017 〒 indicates zipcode
宮崎県都城市年見町10街区8号 Miyazaki-ken Miyakonojo-shi Toshimi-cho 10-gaiku 8-go
tel:0986-23-1098
fax:0986-23-1098
木刀製造業 Manufacturer of bokutou
Their website. The representative's name is 新留 義昭 (Niidome Yoshiaki. 新 is read nii [like knee] in some names). It looks like the symbol comes from the first character of their last name, but there was no image of such a mark on their website. So while it's possible this is where it came from, I can't guarantee it.
By137
- 141
- 2
-
Welcome to the site! This is an excellent addition, thank you for the digging and the find! – JohnP Jun 03 '19 at 14:02