Mujitsu and Tairaku's Shakuhachi BBQ

Jon wrote:

looks a lot like a "ru" る

Could very well be but what is the square or bubble inside the top part doing? As far as I know there is way to write る in this way unles the carver was that much sloppy. I had a good feeling about the bonji thing but then again the bubble or dot in Bonji are usually external and not internal.

Last edited by Gishin (2008-08-27 23:02:42)

Sure looks like a beauty... how does it play?

Zak

Sorta like a certain Kodama flute I have

Last edited by shaman141 (2008-08-28 01:06:37)

It looks like 昌 to me, but I wouldn't want to bet on it.

Daniel Ryudo wrote:

My wife, who is the kanji expert in the family, thinks it is might be the onyomi (Chinese reading) 'eki' of the kanji 易.  An ekisha is a fortune teller.

Could make some sense as well if it is in freehnad art calligrahy style called sosho 草書. But to my wife this one made no sense and looked pretty sloppy to her. But for now I feel this is mostly a freehand Kanji or possible bonji that can be identified by the writer himslef or people that had flutes by him before.

易 is an interesting possibility. Normally freehand 易 have an extra line or squiggle or something in the bottom half (and be more stretched vertically, actually), but this character is obviously stylized.

It also looks a lot like 男 (man), except without the final stroke (the one that would end on the bottom left).

There is a good chance that the top part is 日 or 田 or something similar, in any case.

It probably isn't 'e' (ゑ) because of that top part (that vertical stroke in the upper left). I would be surprised if it were any of the kana.

I don't know much about Siddham (bonji), but I'm skeptical of that idea because this looks so much like kanji.

(Not trying to be a jerk, just trying to help narrow down the possibilities logically.)

I can't lend any input as to whether it is a Kana, Kanji, Bonji or a Roman numeral (well maybe not a Roman numeral), but the square or bubble part, Gishin, looks to me to not be part of the Hanko. It looks to me as some kind of dent or ding in the bamboo that just happens to be in the middle of the hanko. If you look at the two parts, the hanko is darkened, either through age or ink/burn/etc while the dent is less darkened - likely newer.
Just a photographers observation.
Damon

So negative! Brian can speak for himself, but we have at least established that it is definitely Japanese, probably a single character, and we also have two good candidates for what the character is.

If the kanji is 易, then it might be pronounced "eki" or "i" as part of a name or pseudonym, or it might mean "change" or "divination" (that character is the "I" in "I Ching") or "easy".

If the kanji is 昌, then it might be any of the following as part or all of a name or pseudonym: shō, aki, akira, masa, atsu, suke, masashi, yoshi, sakae. Or it might be being used for its meaning: brilliance, prosperity, clarity.

At least one of those is wrong (maybe both are!), but it still beats "unknown squiggle" as far as possibilities for investigation go.

Last edited by No-sword (2008-08-29 09:04:32)

No-sword wrote:

So negative! Brian can speak for himself, but we have at least established that it is definitely Japanese, probably a single character, and we also have two good candidates for what the character is.

At least one of those is wrong (maybe both are!), but it still beats "unknown squiggle" as far as possibilities for investigation go.

Yes taking it from this angle can surely at least give us some meat to chew on and ask around makers or other collectors etc in Japann if ever they have seen such a thing.

The problem on my side wanting stuff to be clean cut and non sloppy stems from the stuff that made me go to Japan at first. I used to collect and sell antique Japanese swords so on any swords if we saw such crappy carvings of this type either on the blade or tang this almost automatically indicates a poorly made sword  or one that has been tampered with by some incompetent. Now that being said I always aplied this gut feeling to other Japanese crafts and antiques and was usually on the ball with the value,age. quality etc. Since usually Japanese craftsmen that will finish a product that should bear their name will have at least  a good hanko or if carving it will make sure it is a nice and clean job. Which leads me to think that put aside the meaning of the writing that this carving must have been made by the owner.

mystery hanko hand etched into bamboo.


First image:
1. Original
2. Inverted color from original
3. Posterized color level 2 from original
4. Inverted and posterized to level 2


Second image:
Column 1: Presented in 4 different orientations
Column 2: Presented in 4 different orientations with out the "bubble".

Thanks to everybody for using their brainpower to unravel the mystery of this flute. I find it intriguing to play a Myoan flute of this vintage which is so LONG. I think when you play a vintage flute you bring the bamboo to life and honor the original maker and players who used it before. So it's fun and interesting to know about the maker and history of the flute.

edosan wrote:

So...um....what DO we now know about this hanko?

Mostly, we seem to have pointed out what it isn't.

Yep. Well at least we know it DOESN'T say "Watazumido" or "Nishimura Koku" or "Rickenbacker".