Let's decipher stylized kanji!

Top left is 生, and bottom right seems like it would be 常, but maybe not

These seem to be correct, according to my seal script resources (and oof, it’s been so long since I used them that I can’t find most of them any more…) but neither I nor Google have any idea of what 狸常生会 is supposed to be.

Ah… 学生!(?) Considered it before, but the former is so oddly shaped (in my uninformed opinion) and the latter seemed to miss a stroke, so I had dismissed that idea, but I think it has to be that, then.

It’s a student association (of Japanese studies) named Tanuki.

Or it is, and someone messed up in creating this logo…?

Ah, yes. 学 does match better.

This is 狸学生会, dynamically generated in seal script with a hanko simulator:

stamp.cgi

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As an aside, it’s weird (to me) to have 学 or 会 converted to seal script… Weren’t they 學 and 會 at the point in time seal script would have been used?

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I made a similar remark awhile ago about the japanese passport. No one reacted :sweat_smile:

edit: and I was replying to one of your messages :see_no_evil:

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Those might actually be the seal script versions of the more traditional characters, because I certainly can’t find any other seal script-y forms that look more complex than those. Couldn’t say for certain, though - I’m no seal script expert.

It’s possible to get it in seal script form, but I don’t know the history of seal script vs shinjitai forms.

images (2)

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Supposedly “looks” mattered more to whoever made this than historical accuracy. It does look a bit strange, because I associate this type of script specifically with archaic and intricate characters.

Also reminds me of the comments exchanged with @Jonapedia about using modern forms as the basis for 草書。At least cursive writing makes some sense, but this… well, it’s now just a font, I guess.

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As it always happens, “you know japanese right, what does this mean?”
Found on a knife, probably made in japan…


My best guess would be 堺派?該 though that makes no sense?.. I have no idea.

Any of you recognize any?

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I have figured out how to read every bottle of sake…

They all say “Drink me!”

:rofl:

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Regarding @Leebo post: This seal style here looks similar to the kyujitai than the seal style in the OP:

堺孝行別誂. That’s what came up after some searching and reading. The last kanji can mean many things, including ‘to tease/mess with’, but the relevant meaning here might be ‘order’. I think the first three characters might be the maker’s name. 別 often means ‘separate’ or ‘special’. I don’t know what words are usually associated with blades in Japanese though.

Could I ask for the source? I’m curious about these etymology sites in English. I had the impression they were really rare. (PS: not questioning the validity of the information, because that looks about right to me too.)

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That’s some excellent deciphering. :ok_hand:

You’ve phrased it rather cautiously, but Sakai Takayuki is indeed a knife maker, and 別誂(読み:べつあつらえ)apparently means “custom order” → 「特別に注文してつくること。また、そのもの。」

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I think this might be the site that @sergiop picture was sourced from, if not mistaken:

https://kanjiportraits.wordpress.com/

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Hahaha. More like Google search experience. I just guessed that searching 堺刃物 would bring something up. I don’t even know how I knew the word 刃物. I just had a feeling I had seen it as the word for ‘blade’ before. Thereafter, I just kept looking through the search results and adding kanji that I felt probably fit.

Thanks for the extra information. I did see that Aoki Hamono link, but I thought it might just be some sort of middle-man website that gathers products from multiple knife-makers rather than one that would clearly list Sakai Takayuki on its homepage. Also, yes, I had a feeling 別誂 might mean what you posted, but I didn’t think of looking it up. That’s an interesting reading though.

Ah… OK, I’ve seen this one before. I didn’t think there was a search function. Then again, I’ve never seriously tried to use the site before. Thanks for the help! That does seem to be the right site.

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It’s an interesting site. Upon quick browsing I found that Noriko Kurosawa Williams, whose website that is, has a book out that looks at 1,100 Kanji and their history. Fascinating stuff… :wink:

The Key to Kanji –A Visual History of 1100 Characters 漢字絵解き

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Not sure if this counts as stylized but it took me a while to decipher the fourth character:

至急救援

援 is Level 22 on WK :man_facepalming:

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Well, I don’t know if it’s stylized (it’s a fairly basic font, right? :thinking:) but ‘pixelated’ is definitely also a category of kanji that can be in need of deciphering!

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Honestly, with no other kanji around it, I might have had a harder time figuring out what kanji it was. However, since 救 was there, and there seemed to be two horizontal strokes in the middle and something vaguely resembling three diagonal dots… I guessed what it was. Perhaps it’s a little like those ‘Yanny/Laurel’ recordings, where you don’t really know what it is until someone/something else gives you a clue.

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