Can anyone read what it says here?

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Well, I can sound it out. Or… make an attempt.

What it says, though, I have no idea.

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This is what I got:

マ ウ ク ブ
ル フ ホ フ
イ セ ? セ
ネ ン キ ン
ス テ ン テ

Although the フ’s look more like hiragana っ’s and the ブ could be a questionable ヴ. It seems like it’s just gibberish though.

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i think its just random kana

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They just look like random kana wrote by a random kid to me. May be I just don’t understand calligraphy…

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Somehow I get vibes of a very long spanish personal name too xp

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I asked a native speaker and they just sounded it out and said, “I don’t know.”

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I dabbled a bit in Jisho and I think these are four Spanish (or Portuguese?) first names (written in columns) just like @Korinoshikkan suspected :slight_smile:

The second and fourth column (from the left) seem to say “Vicente” (i.e. Vincent) if you compare it to this spelling: *ヴィセンテ - Jisho.org

The first column seems to end with Ines? But I have no idea what the stuff at the top stands for.

The third column reminds me of this: ジョアキン - Jisho.org but not exactly - so it might be a variation or a different katakana-ization of Joaquim maybe?

Where did you find that by the way?

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Vicente Joaquin Vicente Martinez.
(with one kana misspelling, and one uncommon choice)

What is written, in four columns, right to left:
(in bold kana that are drawn in an unusual way).
センテ
アキ
セン
マルイ

For last line I think the intended thing was マルネス instead.
Interesting also the ク and small ホ, it seems a transcription of “kho” (which is how the Spanish sound “jo” would be phonetized in English).
The イ and クlook almost the same, and look also like リ; But of course only ヴィ makes sense (not ヴク nor ヴリ). The イ on last row looks fine… but it isn’t an イ (otherwise it would be like the other イ before) but チ missing the horizontal stroke.
The セ, ン, ル are quite well drawn (as if they have been drawn in right stroke order/number/direction).

At first I thought it was some copying from someone not knowing how to draw kana; however, after looking at it some more, I am not so sure; it could also be a willfull writting in “broken letters” for some effect (the columns are very well aligned; and some individual strokes show some practice. The writting has been put under a glass, and there is a hanko signature (alas out of frame) at the bottom)

If I were to write it myself, I would do it as (if it is indeed Spanish Vicente Juaquín Vicente Martínez and not Portuguese)
ビセンテ
ホアキン
ビセンテ
マルチネス
if it is Portuguese (Vicente Joaquim Vicente Martines) as ;
ヴィセンテ
ジョアキン
ヴィセンテ
マルチネス

(I just looked at ja.Wikipedia, and they use same transcription; with マルティネス also being used sometimes. If I type マルイネス the search engine says " もしかして: マルティネス " (“maybe you wanted to say Martinez”))

(EDIT: added some more things)

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Yeah, that’s my grandpa’s name, the writing probably misheard or something to write イ instead of チ

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No, I think that’s pretty unquestionably a ヴ. :stuck_out_tongue: That’s one of the more easy-to-read kana.

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I feel like it’s more likely to be spanish due to the ク and small kana ホ, as you mentioned. I don’t see how a portuguese speaker would come to that conclusion for our pronounciation of Joaquim, as I feel ジョ is very close already (and almost 1:1 in some accents)

How long ago has it been written ?

There are old instances of katakana charts that have some signs look more like the ones in your picture, eg: in this old katakana chart

Sorry, it was, like, fifteen years ago

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Yeah, it is Spanish

It’s very odd because my grandpa got this in Japan. Imagine a Japanese person who doesn’t know how to write writing unsuspecting tourist’s names in dubious kana

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Upon closer examination I see that the top right stroke is actually two strokes. That’s why I was confused, I thought it was a single stroke and they just stylised the two top strokes

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I think it’s the Zodiac Cipher translated into Japanese.

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