Japanese POW Art.

[Jared S.]

I visited a WWII veteran friend recently and he asked for help with these. He acquired them in Guam right after the war from Japanese POWs. He'd like to know if anyone can translate the writing, and what is their approximate value? He had the three framed. I'll pass along anything you guys can tell me. Thanks in advance.

[GHP]

Perhaps Yoshiyuki-san can help with the written portion -- most of it is "broken" and unreadable to me.

The bottom left corner is a subtle nationalistic exclamation:
国光
Kokkō
Light of the Nation [i.e., "National Glory"]

Kokkō can be found on many sake cups and yosegaki flags. The cup below has the possessive の between the two kanji: Country's Light/Glory; but meaning the same "National Glory." Of course now it has to be pronounced differently? (^__^)

国の光
Kuni no Hikari


[edit: just found another cup 国光 Kokkō


-- Guy

[Jared S.]

Perhaps Yoshiyuki-san can help with the written portion -- most of it is "broken" and unreadable to me.

The bottom left corner is a subtle nationalistic exclamation:
国光
Kokkō
Light of the Nation [i.e., "National Glory"]

Kokkō can be found on many sake cups and yosegaki flags. The cup below has the possessive の between the two kanji: Country's Light/Glory; but meaning the same "National Glory." Of course now it has to be pronounced differently? (^__^)

国の光
Kuni no Hikari


[edit: just found another cup 国光 Kokkō


-- Guy

Thank you!

[chen]

.

[GHP]

Thanks to Mr. Chen's post, I was able to "see" what I couldn't read.


Top right:
富士乃山
Fujinoyama
Fuji Mountain

日本一
Nippon'ichi
Number One in Japan


-- Guy

[Jared S.]

I appreciate the additional translations!

[chen]

.

[GHP]

.

Hi Mr. Chen,
Actually, in Japanese 日本一 is Nippon Ichi "Number One in Japan"
Sunrise is 日の出 Hi-no-de [sun's coming out].
======
For others: The reason we say "Japan" instead of "Nippon" is because Marco Polo was told by the Chinese those islands were 日本 Xipangu [Shi-pangu] "Origin of the Sun. Xipangu transliterated into Polo's Franco-Italian as Cipangu [pro. Chia-pangu]; thence we get "Japan."

日本 > Xipangu > Cipangu > Zipangu > Japan

Likewise, the Moslem traders of Marco Polo's day (1271~1295) refered to Japan as Wāqwaq; Wāqwaq is probably the Arabic transliteration of the Chinese 倭国 [Wōguó] -- another name for Japan. Wōguó is perhaps the origin for the Japanese word 和国 Wakoku (or perhaps vice-versa?).

Oh!! I just found a great article"

Before Nihon came into official use, Japan was known in China as Wa (倭) or Wakoku (倭國). The name was first used during the third-century Three Kingdoms period, and can be translated as "dwarf" or "submissive". The native name for Japan, Yamato, was written using the character until the eighth century, when Japanese scribes found fault with its offensive connotation and requested that the name Nippon be used instead.[2] The earliest record of 日本 appears in the Chinese Old Book of Tang, which notes the change in 703. In Japan, the character for Wa was replaced with the homophone 和 ("peaceful, harmonious"), which was often combined with 大 ("great") to form the name 大和, also read as Yamato. During the Heian period, 大和 was gradually replaced by 日本, which was first pronounced with the Chinese reading Nippon and later as Nihon, reflecting shifts in phonology.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Names_of_Japan+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us]Google Cache[/url]

Sorry for going off tangent .... I do this sometimes.


-- Guy

[chen]

Guy,
You are right!