Japanese fan and bank

[RodneyO]

Hi All
Here's a nice fan that I'm not sure if it's a military or not. Hoping someone here can please translate the kanji.
Thank you,
Rodney

[RodneyO]

[ATTACH]1714376[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]1714375[/ATTACH]

[RodneyO]

Here is the bank:
Jpns Bank.jpg

[RodneyO]

Hi All,
Going through some of my stuff, I remembered posting it up earlier. I used the Kanji Slogans Translation at the top, chart by Nick Komiya (#3) ! and it's the first one on his chart...."Everlasting Fortune in Battle"...military good luck fan. I'm still getting a hard time with the two smaller rows on the left. The only ones I could make out was Showa (top two kanji on the right) and maybe Mitsu Aki ? (top two on the left). Can anyone help with the rest of the translation?

Thank you,
Rodney

[Nick Komiya]

These require very advanced knowledge to read, so I'll help out. The fan is signed height of summer 1938 by Mitsumasa. The piggy bank says "This one Sen". In this case, the old monetary denomination below the Yen, but it is a pun of Sen as in battle of "This one battle". It is a clever pun on words that turns "a crucial battle" into "a crucial penny".

[RodneyO]

Thanks Nick, I really appreciate your help!! Your Kanji Slogan Chart also came in handy !. Even with a kanji book and John Yumoto’s book, they’re very difficult to translate. In Yumoto's book Chapter 6,” Inscriptions and Their Reading” it shows the same style of writing which he calls Romanized reading (a cursive kanji style).
I like the translation on the bank!! Would the bank have been used to help raise money for the war efforts or just a children’s piggy bank?

The fan would have been during their China Campaign. I have a Type 11 shell that has an inscription "Summer of August 1935 Northern Manchuria Suppression Anniversary.... owner Takahashi", I think they will display nicely together.
Jpns Shell.jpg


Thanks again Nick, you've been very helpful with translating kanji here on the Japanese forum. Japanese is one hard language to translate especially pre-war time ones.

[Nick Komiya]

I can't tell you whether the piggy bank was for a kid or the war effort, but here are more examples of writings by Mitsumasa http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitsumasa_Yonai What sort of provenance does the fan have?

[Nick Komiya]

No two are identical, but yours show consistent traits in the brush.

[RodneyO]

Hi Nick,
No provenance now I wish it did. I bought it in a Japanese grocery store in California, was just laying in a case with another fan an other Japanese antiques and sake cups. I asked the lady clerk if she could translate the fan but she couldn't. They also had some military sake cups (which I bought also) with the same kanji as the large kanji on the fan so I figured it might be a military.

The brush signature example post #8 (top) looks pretty close. Interesting Naval Career he had. He would have been Full Admiral and Navy Minister (1937) when the fan was made. I also have a postcard of one of the Battleships Mutsu he was captain on the from 1924–1925.
Japanese battleship Mutsu.jpg

Can't thank you enough for the help and information you given me!! It's very interest, just a simple fan (that I must have opened and closed many times) I bought and it might turn out to be a hidden treasure!!!