Example of "shi" in a date

[John C]

Just something interesting (I hope) for those who have not seen it.

Below is an example of using 2 twos rather than the traditional number 4 to avoid alternate meanings of the word "shi." The date would be Meiji 43.

Here is an explanation from Japan-forward.com

There are some variations of some of the characters. In the case of the number four (四), it is pronounced “shi.” This is the same sound for the pronunciation for the character 死, which means “death.” Similarly, the character for nine (九) can be pronounced “ku,” which also invokes the idea of “kurushii,” or extreme pain. Therefore, inscriptions containing these two characters are often avoided and alternative characters are used instead. For example, the character for four will almost always be written as two two’s.

 

John C.

[Bugyotsuji]

Sometimes you will see the four strokes radiating out like cat's whiskers, i.e. not parallel.

[Bryce]

Gassan Sadakatsu was a smith who always signed this way.

Cheers,

Bryce

 

[Fuuten]

How do you know you've been away too long? Read title and mind processed it as in being on a date with someshi