How did I do?

[grimnar]

Ok, So I have been attempting to translate a little leaflet I have, and too be honest I don't think I did a bad job. Using an assortment of programs, books and a great deal of research I think this mans military career is starting to unfold.

I am certain I have gotten a few things wrong, but how do you think I went???



FRONT
故陸軍兵上等兵 藤田利一君 - Late Army Infantry Private first class Fujita Toshikazu Mr.

略 歴 - Career

明治四十三年一月十二日 京都府葛野郡川岡村大字川島小字北襲十九番地二生 - January 12,1910. Kyoto Prefecture, Kadono County, Kawaoka Village, Birth

大正十四年三月 京都府葛野郡川岡尋常高等小學校高等科卒業 仝十五年三月乙訓郡高等小學校第三年卒業 - March 1925. Graduated from school

大正十年四月ョリ昭和五年十二月マデ米穀商=從事 - April 1921. to December 1930. ???

昭和六年一月十日 徴兵卜ツテ歩兵第二十聯隊=入營 - January 10, 1931. Conscripted into the 20th Regiment = Entered camp.

昭和六年一月十七日ョリ仝年四月二十日迄滿州駐在 - January 17, 1931. to April 20, Stationed in Manchuria

昭和七年七月 歸 休 歸 郷 - July 1932. Discharged to hometown

昭和十三年五月二十日 歩兵第二十聯隊廡召 - May 20, 1938. Called back to the 20th Infantry Regiment

昭和十三年六月二十日 中支派遣支那事變=參加倩水本 - June 20, 1938. China Expeditionary Army dispatched to China =

昭和十三年六月二十日 中支派遣支那事變=參加倩水本部隊阪口部隊入江隊=編入 - June 20,1938. China Expeditionary Army in China = Joined the Sakaguchi unit,creek corps? = Entered compilation

昭和十三年十月八日 轉戰幾多ノ武勳ヲ樹テラレ中支馬鞍山ノ大激戰=於テ男戰奮鬪逐=壯烈ナル名譽ノ戰 死ヲ逐ケラル - October 8, 1938. ???

即日上等兵=進級 – Same day Private first class = Promoted

行年二十九歳 – 29 years of age.



BACK- Why would 2 peoples names be mentioned here?

故陸軍步兵上等兵 藤田利一君 - Late Army Infantry Private first class Fujita Toshikazu Mr.

故陸軍輜重兵上等兵 豊田政彦君 - Late Army Logistics Officer Private first class Toyoda Masahiko Mr.





How do you think I went? Epic fail or keep on trying?


Many thanks in advance.

[GeorgeP]

From my limited knowledge, it looks quite impressive! One thing that popped out to me was the rank. It looks like he was Private First Class while alive and posthumously promoted to Superior Private after death (death notation Oct. 8, 1938). As to the other name, maybe there was a separate leaflet for the other soldier that has since been lost. Very cool!


Tom

[GHP]

You haven't studied Japanese???? How did you do this? I think you've done a TOP NOTCH job. Very impressive. I've just skimmed over it since Japanese is not easy for me to read (kinda like "moving my lips when I read at 2nd grade level") ... but I did find one correction

You misidentified Shimizu HQ, though (heheheheh ... like *I've* never made a mistake in Japanese!)

倩水本部隊阪口部隊入江隊二編入

清水
Shimizu Honbutai Sakaguchi Butai Irie-tai ni hen'nyū
Shimizu HQ
The equal marks you make = should actually be 二; in the old days they used katakana (vice hiragana) for particles and suffixes. Today the particle 二 would be written as に, meaning "in", "into".


Impressive job!


--Guy

[GHP]

P.S.

How long did that take you to finish? I might be able to take a break now and let you do some translating.


--Guy


(^___^)

[GHP]

昭和十三年十月八日 轉戰幾多の武勳を樹てられ中支馬鞍山の大激戰に於て勇戰奮鬪逐に壯烈なる名譽の戰死を逐けらる
[I substituted hiragana for katakana]

8 Aug 1938. He [exhibited] military valor/merit while fighting in numerous battles in Central China at Ma On Shan in a major fierce battle. His heroic bravery will be honored as he attained the great prestige of a war death.

.... [or words to that effect]


Slight corrections:
1. 樹 This means "wood" or "woods" .... it makes NO SENSE to me or my dictionaries.

2. 勇戰 yūsen - Desperate/hard fight [lit. brave battle]. You originally wrote 男戰
男 = man/boy
勇 = brave

[grimnar]

Tom,
Many thanks for your kind words. You may be on to something, will have to investigate further.

Guy,
Thank you for your corrections and words of encouragement. It took me about a day to nut it all out, with a few tea breaks in between. haha.

I dislike being a burden on anyone and like to rely on myself and my knowledge as much as I can, so being a collector of Japanese items, I thought it was only right to learn a bit of the language to help myself. Afterall, fine people like yourself are not going to be around here forever.


I am still not up with all the nuances of all the characters but your link will be a great help.

My next project is to have a go at translating a booklet that came with this gentleman's grouping, which is going to be one heck of a tough job. Will be worth it though as this document has an in depth history of his military service, including, I believe, the particulars surrounding his death.


The little white rectangles are text boxes for me to keep track of what I have translated.





The last page. You can really see how thin the paper is here. This is my great task ahead of me. haha

[Lea Hall]

... Using an assortment of programs, books and a great deal of research ...

I'm very impressed with your efforts. Would you mind sharing some of your resources and methods for folks who have similar interests? Specifically, what programs, books and research resources? Thanks

[GeorgeP]

The situation map is interesting. This seemed to be somewhat common for the IJA to create such “site of death” maps. I have such an example that came with a techo for a member of an Ind. Mixed Brigade that fought in Burma. There is also a really nice unit example that has been up for auction online for quite some time now (don’t know how I feel about forking over 7 g’s, but there you go). It would be interesting to hear what circumstances there were surrounding the soldier’s death.

Tom

[GHP]

The map shows exactly where Fujita was killed.


--Guy

[Rod G]

Terrific, thanks so much for sharing! Wonderful to have his picture along side his story. It's always sad when a young life is cut short, even if it happened 80 years ago.

Awesome to be able to translate for yourself!

Regards, Rod

[Death-Ace]

Amazing job! I studied German for three years and I still couldn't do the job you did with this project! It is definitely a somber reminder, noting what every soldier possibly faces. And unlike the Bandai charges of the late war era, hopefully wasn't as senseless a death.

Lev