I'd like to know the name of the maker of this bokken, which I purchased in France some years ago:
To make it easier to read the characters, I have traced them (correctly this time):
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The first kanji is "separate", I think.– Macaco BrancoCommented May 22, 2019 at 23:03
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The second might be "grade 4"– Macaco BrancoCommented May 22, 2019 at 23:07
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It's also not far from the kanji for "bokuto", 木刀– Macaco BrancoCommented May 22, 2019 at 23:36
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4I dropped a link over in the Japanese SE chat room. The indication was that TonyD's answer is correct, essentially it means "New".– JohnP ♦Commented May 23, 2019 at 14:12
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2 Answers
Your tracing isn't quite right: the bokken has a short down stroke at the top of the left character. The correct kanji is shown below, is pronounced "shin" or "arata", and means "new" in English.
新
Unfortunately, it's such a ubiquitous kanji that I haven't been able to narrow search matches down to anything useful.
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I believe you're right. My answer is probably wrong. I found this kanji in the following link... Google translate says the first character is "shin", second character is "dome". So the character that's on your bokken is likely "shin". sinonome-japan.com/en/bokken/… Commented May 23, 2019 at 16:12
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@DanieleProcida: You're welcome. By the way, the updated image isn't quite right... it should have that small downward stroke at the top left.– Tony DCommented May 23, 2019 at 19:46
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@SteveWeigand: I must admit I "cheated" a bit - my partner's Japanese and I went straight for the "hey, what's this kanji?" - actually got confused for a bit when told the first version of the trace wasn't the same as the photo - so hard to tell.– Tony DCommented May 23, 2019 at 19:48
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The real question is why is it "shin"? What's the significance of it? I know it means "new", but does that mean it's natural wood or something? Or is it "shin" as in "spirit" or "live"? Commented May 23, 2019 at 19:51
I believe I have an answer for you about the manufacturer. There is a circle around the character, which is common in Japanese for use in brand names, logos, indicating special meanings, and so on. In this usage circle is "maru" so I searched for 丸新 (Marushin) and found this company (#14 of the last section, same information as below).
新留木刀製作所 Niidome Bokutou Seisakujo
新留 義昭 Niidome Yoshiaki
〒885-0017 〒 indicates zipcode
宮崎県都城市年見町10街区8号 Miyazaki-ken Miyakonojo-shi Toshimi-cho 10-gaiku 8-go
tel:0986-23-1098
fax:0986-23-1098
木刀製造業 Manufacturer of bokutou
Their website. The representative's name is 新留 義昭 (Niidome Yoshiaki. 新 is read nii [like knee] in some names). It looks like the symbol comes from the first character of their last name, but there was no image of such a mark on their website. So while it's possible this is where it came from, I can't guarantee it.
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Welcome to the site! This is an excellent addition, thank you for the digging and the find!– JohnP ♦Commented Jun 3, 2019 at 14:02