Pronunciation and translation of 𫝹之

[Kiipu]

I have not run into this ending on a date before.  What would the Japanese pronunciation and English translation of 𫝹之?

 

表 omote: 以軍艦三笠砲鋼　秀明 motte gunkan Mikasa hō hagane　Hideaki.

裏 ura: 昭和五年五月二十七日𫝹之.

拵え Koshirae: 白鞘 shirasaya.

𫝹 = 念.

 

Kapp, Leon, Hiroko Kapp, and Leo Monson. Modern Japanese Swords: The Beginning of the Gendaito Era. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2015. Page 87.

[moriarty]

Greetings Thomas, 

 

Seems the forum formatting isn't helping your cause.. 

Maybe a pic would help? 

[Conway S]

@KiipuI'm surprised you did not get any answers yet. I don't have the book, so I cannot take a look at the picture. I'm interested to learn the application of 之 in this context. 

 

Conway

[Bruce Pennington]

Silence probably means no one knows.

@SteveM @k morita @Nobody @BANGBANGSAN

[Brian]

Isn't that just 'kore'?

 

[Kiipu]

It is a Chinese character and I will post a link tomorrow.  The reason for the character is that May 27th was the start of the Battle of Tsushima 日本海海戦.

[Kiipu]

On Windows, I guess one needs the Chinese language pack installed to see this character.  In MS Office, the font used is "MingLiU-ExtB."  The character that comes before 之 can be seen over at Wiktionary.org.

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/𫝹

 

The key to understanding the meaning is the relationship of the battleship Mikasa 三笠, the steel used 砲鋼, and the Battle of Tsushima 日本海海戦.

 

Thanks to Mal & Sueko for their help with the translation.

[uwe]

念之…?

 

[SteveM]

Was hoping to get a shot of the actual inscription. Presumably it means "in commemoration of", but I can find no other reference to this kind of inscription, and don't know how you would pronounce it. Maybe (in kanbun style) 

 

kore de (date) wo omotte. (With this, we commemorate/remember the date). 

 

But... I suggest this with low confidence. 

[uwe]

I had the same idea, Steve!

“念” derives from the kanji Thomas has postet and can be read “nen” or “omu” (which can be translated as: sense, idea, thought, feeling, desire, concern, attention, care, to remember…etc)

 

“之” ,on the other hand, can also mean “this point in time”.
 

So the suggestion Steve made is worth to consider, I think. Although I couldn’t find another example as well….

[mecox]

 Motte gunkan Mikasa hō hagane　Hideaki      以軍艦三笠砲鋼　秀明.

 昭和五年五月二十七日𫝹之    May 27, 1930 this year.

 

The concept was:     It reads "nenn kore" which is something like "this memory"  "this memorable date".   ......which was the 25th anniversary of the Battle of Tsushima  in which the battleship Mikasa 三笠, was damaged and the main gun destroyed.   The steel from the gun barrel was used to make memorial   250 +  long swords and 900+ dirks   between 1928 and 1932.....and this was one   Hideaki changed his name in 1932 to Toshihide

@Kiipu

[Bugyotsuji]

記念

Often expressed in the word Kinen, memorial, to mark some worthy or notable event.

記念館 Memorial Hall Kinenkan.

記念日 anniversary, observed day, etc. Kinenbi 

[Nobody]

45 minutes ago, mecox said:

 Motte gunkan Mikasa hō hagane　Hideaki      以軍艦三笠砲鋼　秀明.

 昭和五年五月二十七日𫝹之    May 27, 1930 this year.

 

The concept was:     It reads "nenn kore" which is something like "this memory"  "this memorable date".   ......which was the 25th anniversary of the Battle of Tsushima  in which the battleship Mikasa 三笠, was damaged and the main gun destroyed.   The steel from the gun barrel was used to make memorial   250 +  long swords and 900+ dirks   between 1928 and 1932.....and this was one   Hideaki changed his name in 1932 to Toshihide

@Kiipu

 

To be precise, the steel which was used to make Mikasato (三笠刀) was taken from the gun barrel destroyed in the Battle of Yellow Sea (1904 – one year before the Battle of Tsushima).

 

Ref. Mikasa-tō (Gun material use of a battleship "Mikasa.")

[Kiipu]

The date inscription under discussion is coming from page 87 of Modern Japanese Swords.  The picture below shows the ura 裏 side of the katana-mei 刀銘.  It also has a horimono of 皇國興廃在此一戦.

 

For more information about the book, see the link below.

New Book Out. Modern Japanese Swords: The Beginning Of The Gendaito Era

 

Some corrections for the book can be found below.

Mistranslation On The Book [Modern Japanese Swords: The Beginning Of The Gendaito Era].

 

[Kiipu]

After consulting with some of the translators, I am going to use the following translation.

昭和五年五月二十七日念之 = 1930-0527 kore o omou/omotte = in remembrance/commemoration/memory of 27 May 1930.

[k morita]

Hi,

 

At that time, May 27th is the anniversary of the victory over the Russian Baltic Fleet in the Battle of Tsushima in 1905.