ww2 japanese mess kit with a few questions

[ww2germanclltr]

Hi Everyone
I recently picked up a ww2 japanese mess kit off of ebay. Its a really awesome set. I just had a couple questions regarding it. I noticed in the photos I noticed then their is some kanji scratched into the side of this I asked the seller what this was and they didn't seem to know. So could some nice person out there translate it for me?
2nd of all I noticed the bottom seems to have been burnt. Is this common? I know it was for cooking food but not sure if it was common or not.
All help is greatly appreciated
Thanks
Scott

[GHP]

Oチ

The symbol looks merely like a "maru-chi"; that is, the katakana syllable チ "chi" within a circle [maru]. I have no idea what this would indicate. Perhaps the first syllable of the family name. E.g., "Chiba" is 千葉 in kanji, but would be チバ in katakana ... hmmm that's too close the チ and 千 are too similar. Okay; entirely different example: Chikafuji 近藤 would be チカフジin katakana.

I've seen modern Japanese Self Defense Force pots blackened on the bottom from boiling water for rice.

I expect this phenomenon would be normal in WWII as well.

Added: You simply pour pre-soaked, uncooked rice in the container, add water, and cook on the open flame until the water is evaporated. It takes about 45 minutes. Beware: this technique works with "JAPANESE style rice" (you can buy in California because they grow it here); does not work with typical long-grain pre-washed "Uncle Ben's Converted Rice" type of rice.

Hint: Wash the rice to remove talc and/or starch. After washing (use your fingers and swish the rice around the water as it flows into the pot), allow 1 measure of water per measure of rice; allow to soak for 30 minutes, then cook. [But that's using a rice steamer ... I've never done this on an open fire.]

Koshihikari:



--Guy

[cbuehler]

Its a unit code marking. No way to determine what though.

CB