Translating Prison Grafitti... "Something" Bones?

JPNola · 25 Dec 2018

Hello, everyone! I have a question that has my colleagues and me stumped. Attached is an image of Japanese graffiti written on a wall in a prison cell in the 1940s, presumably written by someone in their 30's or 40's. I can recognize the last kanji as "bone," but I can't figure out what the top character is. It looks like it is part of a larger character and is written in an "old" kanji form. Any help would be most appreciated! I have no clue what the meaning could be or how it could be read. Something about bones? Thank you for your help and time!

Toritoribe · 28 Dec 2018

Something seems to be disappeared from the upper right position to me.

Majestic · 28 Dec 2018

I think the bottom one works better as 言 rather than 骨, because in the top one you have vertical descending lines that 月 should have (curving off to the left, and the "hane" of the other parallel line). But the bottom kanji has no such curvature or "hane". So it seems odd that someone intending to write 骨 would ignore these bits, yet would make such neat curves and "hane" on another kanji.

If I look at the bottom as 言, I start to look at the whole as a word like 警, but nothing comes to mind. I first thought it was 幣 or some variation, but nothing pops up when I search for it.

joadbres · 28 Dec 2018

Majestic said:
But the bottom kanji has no such curvature or "hane". So it seems odd that someone intending to write 骨 would ignore these bits, yet would make such neat curves and "hane" on another kanji.

Actually, when the にくづき component is shorter in height than full character height, such as when it is placed at the bottom of a character, it has no curvature on the left downward stroke. Compare 胸 and 腕 with 腎 and 胃 in the font of your choice, and you can see this. And the "hane" in the right downward stroke is sometimes omitted.

The bottom character written on the prison wall closely resembles 骨.

Toritoribe · 28 Dec 2018

Majestic said:
If I look at the bottom as 言, I start to look at the whole as a word like 警, but nothing comes to mind. I first thought it was 幣 or some variation, but nothing pops up when I search for it.

Yeah, my first impression was also a variation of a single kanji 瞥. The position of the lower component is a bit unusual as a single kani, though.

JPNola · 29 Dec 2018

Thank you all very much for your help. It is a difficult puzzle piece to solve, indeed. I agree that the bottom resembles "bone." I'm working on trying to see what the top one could be, though I am getting more convinced that these two kanji should be read in isolation and not together.

Toritoribe · 29 Dec 2018

Even so, it's obvious that the upper one is incomplete and there must be something at the right side of it.

Translating Prison Grafitti... "Something" Bones?

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