A few hard to read characters in a WWII letter

Buckaroo Banzai · 18 Apr 2009

I'm translating a couple of letters from WWII but I'm having a bit of trouble figuring out a few of the characters. The handwriting is just so bad/so cursive that it's almost illegible; at least to me. No private information will be revealed because I would only post a picture of the illegible characters. I don't help with the translation - that's not my problem. I just need a little help figuring out these few hard to read characters. Would anyone be willing to help me out?

I have attached a compilation of a few of the hard to read parts. Number 1 is a person's name "Nobu---". I've never seen that second character before. Number two says "o----ri arimasen ka." I didn't include the "arimasen ka" that follows after because there wasn't enough room, but it will help to understand what the character is. Number three says "??? yasu-yasu." I think the first character is "kei," but that doesn't make much sense to me. And I think the third character is a repetition sign that's just very poorly written. Number 4 and 5 are actually one long phrase, and I think it says "negatta no desu ga tame desu ga." But again, that doesn't make any sense. If anyone is willing to help I have a couple more characters I need help reading, but I won't post them now.

Thank you in advance.

Toritoribe · 18 Apr 2009

1: 信子
2: お変り(= お変わり)
3: 御安心

#4 and 5 indeed seems like ねがったのですがためです、(= 。)が, but it could be a miswriting of ねがったのですがだめです。が in my impression.

Buckaroo Banzai · 18 Apr 2009

Ah, that makes a lot of sense. Thanks very much for the help.
I have 5 more here. I'm pretty sure #1 is 学, #3 is しょうかい、I haven't the slightest idea what #4 is, and I'm pretty sure #5 is 国民学校.
Again, thank you for all the help!

Buckaroo Banzai · 18 Apr 2009

Here are the last 4 I can't read. #1 looks like とうても？？, I believe I have #2 in my previous post, I have no idea what #3 is (probably 四人？と？）, and I know that #4 says 一年, but then I don't know what the last one is.

Toritoribe · 18 Apr 2009

The second picture
I agree. #1, 3, 5 would be 学, しょうかい, 國(= 国)民学校 respectively.
#2 is 入る.
#4 seems like チャう(?)しか. Can you give us the words preceding/following that part?

The third picture
1: とってもらふ(= う)
3: 四人位との
4: 一年働いて

#2 seems like チャう(?), too.

Buckaroo Banzai · 18 Apr 2009

Sure, this is everything leading up to it サイパンの第一学より級長副級長が入る先生のしょうかいで入る事になって居りまして二人だけがとりません

And here is everything that follows after: 国民学校よりもとうていとりません。

Toritoribe · 20 Apr 2009

Correction. The third picture #3 would be 四人位とる.

Whmmm, I'm sure that the first 2 character of the second picture #4/the third picture #2 is チャ/チヤ, but I can't think of the words suitable in that context. Also, I looked more closely and found the last character of the third picture #1 might be not ふ.
Sorry, but, may I ask the words preceding/following the third picture #2 and the words following the third picture #1? if that's OK.

Buckaroo Banzai · 20 Apr 2009

Yeah, I thought that was チャ myself, but I just wasn't sure. I think it may be a person's name.

Here's what precedes #1: 私はせめて信子さんだけは and what follows: つもりでいちいちしゅだんをとりましたがだめです。 I think it probably is ふ; it would make sense.

Here's where チャ appears again: しかしチャうが病院へ四人位とる事だそうですが

Toritoribe · 21 Apr 2009

Yeah, とってもらふ seems to suit that context. いちいち might be いろいろ, just my instinct.
I thought チャう(？) may be person's/place name, too. If so, it could be possibly チャラ.

Buckaroo Banzai · 21 Apr 2009

Ah yeah, could be チャラ as well. As for the いちいち、the writing really looks looked like ち the first time, but now that I look again it could very well be ろ. And いろいろ would make more sense, too.

Thank you for the help!

Buckaroo Banzai · 5 May 2009

Hello again. I've finished translating all three pages of the letter, but I encountered just a few more characters I couldn't read. They aren't impeding my understanding of the letter, but I am missing out on one or two sentences because of them.
I know that the first one says やう, but I can't read the first character(s). It's really a jumbled up mess. #2 says something like 父光にさんが or 又光にさんが, but neither of those makes any sense. #3 says ひながら at the end, but the first Kanji I don't understand. It looks like 児 but it can't be because it's clearly a verb.
Here's the context for each excerpt:
#1: 試験受ければ＿＿やぅで内地の赤十字に行こうではありませんか。
#2: しかしせっかく山より持って＿＿＿＿＿ですのといふのでしかたなくもらい。
#3: 父母によると＿＿ひながら嘘を吐いて病院の人よりもらってとったえたのです。
If I can get help figuring these last three phrases out I will have completely translated this letter. So, thank you in advance for any help you may offer!

P.S. Apparently チャラ is actually チャラン in both instances, and it is a place name of some district in Saipan.

Toritoribe · 5 May 2009

#2: 又光江さんが
#3: 思ひながら

#1 might be ゆうしやう = ゆうしょう(有償?). My wild guess is that the writer miswrote it as ゆしやう first, and then added う.

Buckaroo Banzai said:
P.S. Apparently チャラ is actually チャラン in both instances, and it is a place name of some district in Saipan.

Buckaroo Banzai · 6 May 2009

Ah, I see now. She probably means 優勝.

Awesome, thanks for the help!

A few hard to read characters in a WWII letter

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