Interesting civil defence helmet

[Geoff Ward]

Civil defense Kanji

Thank you all for the spirited discussion. It has greatly helped my perspective on the concept of kanji interpretation. "association for expending soldiers".Would it be fair to say if spoken in English "American" the translation would be close to something akin to "association to make use of soldiers for a specific purpose ?"

Thanks,Geoff

[Bob Chatt]

It would be closer to "Time Expired Soldiers League", which was a veterans homefront association.

[Geoff Ward]

Translation

Thanks Bob ,makes sense.

[Nick Komiya]

You are missing the whole point by trying to "make American sense" of it. Literally the organisation "consumed" or "squandered" soldiers. If that is the vet's league to you, so be it. It is actually a name more suitable for a club of inept generals.
Like the others have suggested, it must surely be an idiomatic quote from some ancient Chinese text like Art of War or Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Like "casting of a stone" or an insider's joke, its true meaning can only be appreciated by those who know the original text. The problem is that the founder took his personal inspiration from an obscure section that no longer rings a bell to those not fully educated in the classics. There are many Japanese idioms we use in this way. When we want to say "strange bed fellows", we say Goetsudoushu, literally Go and Etsu on the same boat
, and "between a rock and a hard place" is Shimensoka or "Songs of So on all 4 sides". Both are idioms from the Battle of the Red Cliff( Romance of the Three Kingdoms) for those familiar with the John Woo film.
Japanese can be more than meets the eye, as before you can make American sense of it, you first have to make Chinese sense of it.

[Geoff Ward]

Japanese

Hello Nick,Geoff here.

I would like to thank you for your post regarding the perspective of idioms and "Making American sense" I, being ignorant of the Japanese Language have regarded it as a very "blunt" for lack of a better word' Language. Short words and combinations of multiple combinations of short words. I have never taken into account the emotions of slang or sarcasm or any other type of poetical licence. I now have a different perspective.

Best wishes,

Geoff

[Nick Komiya]

Here's a good example of how Japanese can convey a sophisticated message in just 4 characters. At a glance it is gibberish, but when one realizes that the body of water in the middle is supplying the missing component in all 4 kanji, meaningful characters of 吾唯知足(Ware Tada Taru wo Shiru) emerge、which is a Buddhist teaching that says "I know to be content with enough". It means those who can be content with sufficiency finds peace of mind whereas those driven by constant greed will remain frustrated and unhappy how rich they may get.

[GHP]

白水泉中一大 天

Great post Nick. In a way, it reminds me of a Chinese poem I saw years ago in a book by a Chinese monk living in the US; I was able to memorize it:

白水泉中一大 天

This, too, doesn't make sense: White Water Spring in the Center of One Big Heaven.

But:
1. 白 + 水 = 泉
2. 一 + 大 = 天
3. 中 = centered between the two cryptic phrases.

Therefore: 白 + 水 = 泉; 中; 一 + 大 = 天

It still doesn't make sense .... but someone familiar with kanji can follow the logic, how two separate words combine and make up a third word . I don't think it qualifies as poetry (Nick???); but it is ingenious.

Okay, weird enough; I'll go to bed now.

Cheers!
--Guy