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This is the stock to my Type 99. I was told that the last two characters translate to East Asia. The first one - very large, the 2nd - bright light? I don't know for sure. I was kind of thinking "Greater East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere".
Can anybody translate these more?
Would a Japanese soldier carve his stock or would that be disrespecting the Emperor?[IMG][/IMG]Quote:
I don't beleive a Japanese soldier would have done that. That said I would like to own it. Sorry I don't know Japanese. I have taken the liberty to post your picture over on Gunboards for someone to translate. riceone
Mike, my Japanese friend says is seebee marking, meaning some meaningless carving by a GI. Does not say anything. You can read the thread at:
Translation Pleas
riceone
I appreciate the help riceone, thanks. But, I am not impressed with your friends translation skills. I have had three different asian people tell me that the last two characters mean East Asia. A Chinese man actually gave me the most info and said that the second character means very large. The first character he said he only knew how to describe as the light in a picture that shines behind Jesus. Thats kinda where I got the "Greater East Asian Co-Prosperity Theory".
Just a minute ago I thought of google translator. Translating English to Japanese I typed in "East Asia" - the last two characters came up ,almost exact
Then I typed in "huge" - the second character came up ,along with some others
Haven't been able to find the first character.
I think this is most likely a GI done thing too. But either way, it definitely means something. When I find out more I'll let you know.
There are gouges and dings visible in the stock that are sanded with new finish inside and the edges of the "kanji" are crisp and clear. My opinion is that this is a recently added "enhancement" by someone who doesn't speak Japanese. Japanese soldiers did not carve in their stocks... they would have been beaten by their NCOs. With the Chrysanthemum, their rifle was considered property of the Emperor. They took this seriously and did not deface the emperor's property. When you do see something carved in a rifle, it is normally GI done. You do see Japanese painted on rack/unit numbers. You also sometimes see school brands or warnings for "blank ammunition only" burned into in training rifle stocks; these were not marked with the mum and did not belong to the emperor. This was also done to help distinguish training rifles from combat rifles at a quick glance.
Thanks for all the input guys. The kanji is definitely not as old as the rifle. They do seem to be Japanese. Most likely done by somebody not Japanese or they would be better done.
Still wish I could get some kind of meaning out of it. What it means and why its on the rifle.
I'm going to start another thread with more pics on this rifle. I'd like you "pros" to tell me more about it! Thanks, Mike
Takehito Jimbo aks Edokko is the foremost translator on the Japanese Gunboards and it was he who said "Roy, sorry but it's one of those seebee special non-Kanjis." riceone
Riceone- Maybe the four characters together do not have a clear meaning, but individually they most certainly DO. I would love to speak with Edokko via email.
Go over to Gunboards and send him a message, I'm sure he will answer.
Got this email from Yale Professor earlier today- ;)
- Show quoted text -
并大東亜 HEI DAI TOU A (?)
The first character is pronounced “hei,” and it means “side by side, parallel,” but given the fact that these characters look rather crudely carved my guess would be that it’s an error for 兵、also read “hei,” which means “soldier.”
“Daitoua” is the term translated as “Greater East Asia,” as in “Greater East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere,” or what the Japanese said they were creating through their invasions of other parts of East Asia in the 30s and 40s.
I don’t know anything about rifles but I’d hazard the guess that someone other than the original Japanese military owner of this rifle put these markings on it.
-- Edward Kamens, Sumitomo Professor of Japanese Studies
Dept. of East Asian Languages and Literatures, Yale University
Box 208236, New Haven CT 06520-8236
- Show quoted text -
On 1/11/10 12:24 PM, wrote:
These are on a Type 99 Arisaka rifle from WWII.? It doesn't look like they are as old as the gun or done very well, but I was hoping you could help with translation.? I think the second character means "large" and I'm pretty sure the last two are "East Asia", don't know about the first. Any info you could give me would be GREATLY appreciated. Thankyou for your time, Mike - Military surplus firearms collector
I sure wish I knew who put them on the stock! I sent a message to Edokko and I think he answered but gunboards is having problems I think.
I came on this rather late. My wife is from Okinawa. Her interpretation of the carving agrees with the Yale prof. She says the Kanji is not quite correct but she thinks that is the probable meaning. Agree that it is added later. By the way, my wife survived the battlke for Okinawa. Lucky for me.;)
afret20 - Thank-you for your comments, and tell your wife I said thanks, too!
When I went over to Gunboards and asked riceones' friend myself, he responded with this -
Hello Mike,
Sure no problem, and I'll be happy to help you along with the interpretation of this marking set. The carved Kanji look alike on your rifle is an attempt to copy some Kanji that the person in question probably saw or had from some other sources. The first character is completely inaccurate in it's representation of any Kanji character and I have no idea what the original source Kanji was. The 2nd,3rd and 4th Kanji I can very clearly see is an attempt to copy the words 大東亜 (Dai Toa) meaning Great East Asia (the naming used by the Imperial Japanese political machine to integrate all of asia). Unfortunately the carvings of the Kanji are very unbalanced and the strokes are incorrect, meaning that it was done by a non-Japanese, non-Asian, or better termed as someone who does not natively read or write Kanji characters.
Now, who may have done these carvings will forever be a mystery. It could have been done by the original GI who picked the rifle up, it may have been done by an enterprising seebee who was "enhancing" these pick-up rifles for a quick high-value sale, or it may have been done after the rfile was brought back to the Stateside (not modern work but could late 40's to 50's).
Hope this helps.
Warm regards,
Takehito
I kinda figured it wasn't done by a Japanese WWII soldier from the get-go. But it is still kinda neat. It is part of a nice Type 99 with intact mum. I am happy with what I know about the kanji.
When I first got the rifle, I visited a couple of Japanese massage parlors looking for help with the kanji. I got some help, but not with the kanji! :rolleyes::dancingbanana::rolleyes: