that was quick Majestic - thanks. Sure thought the 1st and maybe the 2nd moji was 川 and the moji 止 for stop I get but would not do for me to be a translator ! Lot easier seeing the "block" style kanji and makes sense. The meaning of scepter is one held by a ruler or sovereign but surely this would have not come from someone of that status ? wish this scepter could talk ! also have no clue as to age but would think 1900's or earlier ? I see you answer quite a few posts. May I ask your background ? I was stationed at Misawa 61-63 and Saitozaki (near Fukuoka) 66-68 and did study some Japanese but not nearly enough to be fluent- just everyday conversation. Have traveled as far North as Sapporo(1962 yukimatsuri-it was cold but we had charcoal stoves to warm us) and as far South as Kagoshima (1967 ) and always had a wonderful time ! If one can read some kanji and speak a little it is so easy to travel in Japan. Last time back was 2018 and at 80 am doubting I will ever return but tis a lovely country and I have many many memories ! Again, Majestic , thank you for the quick response and info concerning this scepter.It is a ceremonial scepter, called a "ryuyi" in Chinese. In Japanese its called a nyoi-bō.
The inscription is somewhat difficult.
以明鏡如止水
The characters in black are a 4-character idiom 明鏡止水 meaning clear and calm, free from distraction or evil influence. It's a phrase that evokes the calm and clear spirit of the Buddha. The other characters (in red) kind of break up the idiom, so I don't have high confidence that I've accurately got them right. You might post on Reddit under the "translation" sub-reddit to see if any of the people there can help.
I think yours may have been wrapped so that it can be carried like a weapon, but that wouldn't be the original purpose. (Although I agree it makes a formidable weapon!).
I found a similar one on Yahoo with a different inscription.
(I like the inscription on yours better).E300 希少 古い鉄地如意棒/在銘あり/仏教美術/仏... - Yahoo!オークション
xvpbvx 商品詳細 ■商品■如意棒 ■状態■経年の汚れ、傷、擦れあります。 ■サイズ■長さ約29㎝ ※現在代引きサービスはしておりません。 ※落札金額に消費税10％+全国一律送料700円が加算されます。ご確認ください。 ※離島の方は送料の変更がある場合がございます。 支払page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp
Edit: I think yours is Japanese.
Dang, at first seeing the Hakata and Security pics I thought maybe you were a ditty-bopper or interpreter. May I ask what area you live in ? Yes, I know the kanji as you have written. Did go to C Dictionary MDGB and gave 明镜 (mingjing) as a metaphor for (sth beautiful, bright and flat – such as a lake – or sth that provides clarity and insight). Maybe: calmness brings clarity to one's thoughts ? Well, by my little bit of learning the language and some kanji I was able to amass a great collection of Samurai swords. Bought my 1st 2 at a local auction in 73' and had around 400 at my peak. My biggest mistake was selling a Kiyomaro (the very one listed in Fujishiro but with his other name of Masayuki). Found it in 1984 and sold 9 months later to Saito, Daisuke , a dealer out of Tokyo. But, never had to sell another sword . It probably went Tokubetsu Juyou. Did you attend the 1998 50nen kinen Tokenkai at Shinjuku at Keio Plaza Hotel ? I actually was sick of seeing swords as it was just too much. Then we "gaijins" were invited to Kurokawa's shop Sokendo to view 100 swords but I walked out after 1st 25 ! Too much of a good thing is just too much. Have sold my juyo's and few other papered blades and some not papered. Still have some fine blades that should be papered. Just too many and the mail these days makes me paranoid. Probably die with a bunch and just couple sisters who wouldn't know a juyo from a kazu-uchimono. Maybe my best sword now is Sa Yukihide and dated. Submitted to Juyo Shinsa but same shinsa were 2 of 80+cm and mine is 68 give or take so it failed. Was told to resubmit but I figure if it's juyo it should go regardless but I don't run the show. Really enjoy the NBTHK museum display the times I returned. Been to the DaiToken Ichi few times but just to look. You must be a collector too as surely if you appreciate the sword/koshirae workmanship you could not help from owning a few. If I ever would get back to the islands I'd buy ya a Asahi or whatever you imbibe in. Thanks for replying Majestic, O ki wo tsukete ne ! PS; had a few Shunga books and wish to heck I could have been able to read the storyline but NO way.Hello Laoto - I first came to Japan in the late 1980's as an English teacher. After that I joined various companies in sales and marketing. Now I've got one foot in the corporate world and one foot in translation of various exotic documents, mostly related to Japanese swords and sword-related items. Would love to earn a living from translation of Japanese esoterica, but there is not much money in it, and the number of people who can do it better than I can do it is...sobering.
Regarding your item, I say "ceremonial" because it is not part of any royal regalia or collection. Most likely it was part of a statue or some other display in a Buddhist temple. 20th century is probably right. The characters in red I have not much confidence in, so they could potentially change the nature of the inscription, but I'm pretty confident its related to Buddhism. The characters aren't a name or a date or anything like that.
ok, I was hesitant to send msg as I thought you were in Japan and maybe sleeping when I sent it. Figured you were a 24hr guy or insomniac ! Yes, Kurokawa is said to be the most prolific dealer in Japan - probably had /has more juyo blades and koshirae then anyone on earth. 1999 he came to Chicago Tokenkai and asked about buying the Sa Yukihide but I didn't want to sell and it had no shinsa paper at the time. Hope ya get back to Japan. I'd sure like to return but the world and my mental attitude just don't seem to jive at least for now.Ah, the Hakata and the Security pics are from Uncle Frank, our erstwhile moderator and fellow Japanophile. He was in Japan much earlier than I was. You might be contemporaries.
If you had to part with a Masayuki blade, I can imagine your sense of frustration. I didn't attend anything at the Keio Plaza, but I've attended probably 5 or 6 of the Daitoken Ichi. I have been to Kurokawa's shop many times, and he has a big exhibition in New Year's and in the Spring, and I used to visit those. I bought two of my swords from Sōkendō, but they are not great swords. One is OK, and the other is mediocre. I have another sword that is bargain basement level stuff. All in koshirae. I don't think anyone in my family is interested, so after I'm gone they will probably go to some dealer.
I'm not in Tōkyō anymore, sad to say. I'm in the US now, but may be back in Japan sometime in the near future.
So Uncle Frank , did you not marry your Japanese gal ? If memory serves me right I think the only gals one could marry and not lose the clearance was English and/or Scottish girls. When at Misawa a guy married a "mizushobai" gal from the local town and lost his clearance. He spent the days being a go-fer until he was assigned stateside. A fellow about 40 miles from me married a gal from Kashii who he met at the Airman's club. I never went but ever so often a bus load of J girls would come over to socialize with the guys. They now live in Fl. And look at the current situation ! TopSecret Docs here and there - No big deal right !? We would have been court-marshalled for sure if caught with any of this - not sure why we bother to classify anything or have laws as - no sense talking about it as it just makes me more depressed.I worked HFDF down the road from the main base. I live in Portland , Maine and asked to be stationed at Winter Habor so naturally the Navy sent me to Japan. With only one year left in the Navy and my time at Hakata coming to an end , I put in my request to marry my Japanese girlfriend. A few days later I was on my way to Adak , LOL. Back then when the spent around 10 grand for your security clearance , they didn't want you marrying a foreign national . After almost 73 years on this earth , I still look at my 2 years in Japan as the best.
I hear ya fella, I've been to a lot of funerals too. Lots of firefighter buddies are gone and don't really have many close friends now. Kind of ironic that u mentioned not having much in common with your navy buddies for reunions. The reunions we had were put on by a few guys who were the ones who mostly stayed on base. And originally was only our shift D as in Dog and Snoopy was our emblem. But Danny from N.C. and Dezi from LA were the only guys I cared to see. Damn Dezi was of Mexican descent and when we went anywhere I spoke the language and the J person would look at him and answer back. He looked a lot more like a J than this ol guy. Had a guy who had been to Wakkanai, Misawa and Saito. One day he asked me to take him on a trip to Kumamoto - he was afraid of traveling by himself ! I never went with him anywhere and could not believe he never involved himself with the Japanese. He was the type to sit in a bar in Saito and pass his life away. I just wanted to learn the language so I was always going where no English was spoken. Kinda sad that so many guys had the chance to see the country and learn the culture or something but they just weren't motivated or whatever. My J girlfriend Setsuko died about 15 yrs ago but she raised her nephew. Her sister remarried and the new husband didn't want the boy around so he lived with Setsuko. He did visit his mother occasionally but he graduated from Sangyou Daigaku there in Fuk and went to Tokyo but I did find the old home and he had moved back when Setsuko passed. But he had a stroke and does not work but it was great seeing him after 20 some years. The area had changed so much and the house had been remodeled as I had gone to the area couple times before but figured all was lost. Tell ya another story; Setsuko had a sister who married a GI from Hartford , Ct. I met her around 67-68 and seemed like a great gal. She had never gotten pregnant and bought some snake oil while there in Fuk "inochi no haha" ? I think ! but it never worked for her. in the 70's I had rec'd a few letters from her and she seemed paranoid and very upset. I dismissed it as she had a good job with Hartford Ins. and let it go. Maybe around 77-78 I and a friend drove to Eldred's Auction on Cape Cod but along the way I wanted to look up Hiroko. We arrived at her house but the place was vacated. Asked the next door neighbor where Hiroko and husband were and she told me Hiroko had hung herself in the back yard ! He had treated her rather badly - didn't want her speaking J nor being involved with any J groups and his family was Catholic and never liked her from the getgo ! Even Setsuko had not thought that much of the situation but Hiroko was definitely miserable for much of her married life. I always thought "if" I did marry a J I would live in Japan as I thought her coming here might be difficult , especially in central Illinois as there are no Japanese and I kinda thought she would be lonely for some J friends. Chinese all over the place !!!When I got out , my love for firearms sent me into the local police department. I took law enforcement tech for 2 years on the GI bill and 2 more of business mgt. I planed on being a Maine State Police officer when I finished college. The local PD was too quiet for me. Just a college was getting over , my dad's business started taking off and he needed someone to start a wholesale division. I said I'd do it just till he found someone else to run it and didn't escape for over 20 years after , LOL. When he sold out and retired I was too old for police work , so I went back to school for a bit and became a home care nurse. Did that till I blew out my back lifting and transferring patients and retired at 62. As it ended up , I married a girl from England and lived happily ever after , LOL. While in Japan , I took a college course that had 2 big text books and a couple reel to reel tapes. I never bothered with much Kanji because I rarely needed it. I learned later in life my spoken Japanese was considered gutter quality on a trip to Tokyo. People in Tokyo asked if a retarded fisherman taught me , LOL. After about 10 years back in Maine , I took a class in Japanese and my female instructor informed me half the words I used were impolite Japanese to say the least. Covid turned me into a home body right after it started. A high school buddy in better shape than me caught it and died in just a few weeks and that panicked me into staying home. I spend my time on the computer almost all day on Facebook and here on JREF to keep me busy. For some reason all the people I used to hang out with kicked the bucket before me , so no social life to speak of now days. I think the fact I quit smoking & drinking in 73 while working for the Chaplain expanded my lifespan , LOL. Glad you had the opportunity to go back to Japan. The cost and flight time from Maine was a major factor in me not trying to go back. When I was in Japan , I felt like a rich guy with Yen at 360 per US dollar. My E-4 pay was around $380 a month and on top of that the $80 they paid me to live off base made me feel rich. I often wonder if not teaching my Japanese girlfriend to speak any English was a major reason for her not coming to the US. Dumb on my part , but I didn't want her talking to any other gaijins , LOL. I must say , when you mentioned duty in Hakata , I thought you were Navy. I forgot we had Navy , Marines , Air Force , Army and even Canadians all working there. The HFDF building had a small room for each branch with closed doors so we didn't know what the other group were up to. The big main building on base had a posit that worked with about 12 ditty boppers acting as a relay out to the DF building and also to the the section that used equipment that would tell the ditty bopper that it was his man he was listening too. I worked that job a lot at the beginning of my time there and the last 6 months I was in charge of the Df section on the mid-watch. You had to be an E-6 to do it , but they were so short handed by then , I got to do it. Not long after I left , the whole base closed down. Later on the whole area became an amusement park. The old DF station was turned into some type of unmanned aircraft control unit for the big airport nearby .