Masu Mystery

[Clcmasterworks]

Hi Everyone!

I’ve inherited a masu (ichi-go?) and would love to know what the kanji on it’s two sides is in English. I’m so grateful for this website!

Thank you, Cynthia

 

[Majestic]

The writing on the side of the masu in the bottom picture is a play on words.

春夏冬 Spring, Summer, Winter. "No Autumn" = in Japanese is "aki nai". Akinai is also a homonym for "business" (商い)
五合　gogō (= half a masu). In Japanese 1/2 of a masu is pronounced "hanjō", which is a homonym for "success". (繁盛)

So the two together mean "business + success", and is a just a kind of good luck phrase/pun.

I can't make out the two kanji in the oval. The top one is 彌, but the bottom one eludes me. It would be the name of the company that made the masu. I'm thinking it must be a sake company, but a search on those key words doesn't turn up anything.

 

[Clcmasterworks]

Thank you, Majestic. It makes better sense now. At first, Google translate thought it was Chinese for the three seasons but I couldn’t understand why no Fall. That was after I got a translation for “half” and something weird like “pale head child”. I’m still not sure how my photo was seen as that (in Chinese) but you can imagine my confusion. I love my Japanese adventures in translation. 🧩😵‍💫😱🌊