translation please
 

Would someone kindly assist me by translating what is written on this wooden case?
domo in advance

That's Chinese. But the first character appears to be 花 to me.

花(something with 它)前(something with 子)
＿＿＿＿他硯＿

nah, the beginning is 花籠 means flower basket. I will work on that it's challanging, i ll possibly write it by hand because i dont have the Chinese font on this pc. It is also not 前 in my opinion, as right hand side of the 月 is not written that way in 草書 . Last ４ are 梨地硯箱. It would mean that this may be a case for 硯　すずり, a stone for making ink for calligraphy. 梨地　なしじ is a lacquering technique used for covering objects with silver / golden powder or flakes.
花籠 at the begining may be a name (4 kanji total) and smaller characters, besides flower basket has nothing to do with 硯.

You know better than I, ryuurui. I can't read grass script for the life of me! ;) I can barely read 1500 kanji in Mincho!

nah, the beginning is 花籠 means flower basket. I will work on that it's challanging, i ll possibly write it by hand because i dont have the Chinese font on this pc. It is also not 前 in my opinion, as right hand side of the 月 is not written that way in 草書 . Last 3 are 地硯箱. It would mean that this may be a case for 硯　すずり, a stone for making ink for calligraphy. 花籠 at the beg. may be a name (4 kanji total) and smaller characters, besides flower basket has nothing to do with 硯. It's a name of the maker, but why is it on the right side. In calligraphy all sigs. are at a left side, or the bottom. Perhaps with crafts is different, but this calligraphy isn't very good anyway, looks more like a note made in mixture of　行書 and 草書.

Oh shit sorry I double posted, just added some stuff. This is tough, some kanji I can find in the calligraphy dictionary but I haven't got a clue what they mean. By the way it isn't grass script. That is a common mistake. 草 also means rough, it's a rough script as it was applied naturally to write every day memos. Hope you don't mind me pointing that out ;-). If I can;t break this puzzle I ll ask my calligraphy master.

Trust me Kyle, Japanese can;t read running script, it really does not matter how many kanji one knows. It's all down to rules of 草書. And it's a jungle lol.


Ok, here it goes. I cannot read one character, and cant understand meaning of two. There are the two that follow 花籠 and I am 99% positive it's a name. 3rd one reads ぼう i ll try to find a meaning of it. 4th one is a my educated guess, judging from the 草書.

地由 makes no sense but I reckon combined with the first kanji it can be name of the place. The swipe to the right in 用 is incorrect, or my knowledge is not enough. Right side is misleading but could land somewhere near 痛. It is also possible it's a mistake. I can;t make anything out of it.

all in all, it's a wooden case, i reckon made of Paulownia tree (as majority of the wooden cases for scrolls, ink and calligraphy supplies), that contains or rather contained a suzuri, possibly lacquered and covered with gold flakes, made or belonging to a person whose name starts with 花籠

Thanks for the pointers. Also, all the little pieces of kanji I did know but didn't help finding a full kanji you came up with something similar (e.g., the 子-esque radical in the first line), so that makes me feel a bit better about my kanji recognition at this point in my studies.

And I knew 草 also meant "rough" because I just learned the vocab 草稿 ("rough draft" for the beginner and intermediate learners out there) a couple days ago! I just assumed 草書 was named that way because the strokes are smooth and pretty like grass blowing/bending in the wind. I have learned something new!

Thanks.

I was surprised to hear the script is Chinese. I had hoped it would identify the maker of the contents. I guess I was in error by not showing the contents in my post. As you can see in my image, it holds a finely decorated suzuribako or writing supplies and ink stone box. I have always been enamoured by the arts of Japan, especially lacquer and metal work.
Your translation seems right on track and I would love to hear your opinion of the maker's name. This is my first post here and your kind assist is most welcome. I will be away from my computer for 2 days so I will not be able to respond again before then.

Hmm, could that be Japanese art? I must admit that I can't really tell the difference between much of Japanese and Chinese art, despite repeated viewings of Mulan and 蛸と海女.

ah man I thought exactly like you, flowing as grass on the wind. But yeah, it's a running script, rough or cursive. Grass script is the same mistake as rice paper. Paper for calligraphy is not rice paper, Rice paper is used for wrapping food. It's just something we got used to. :)

Oh that is a beauty. Are you stationed in Japan? I'd love to see it. I study calligraphy and this makes my heart go boom -tt - boom -tt - boom. Could you post pictures of the stone without the cover?

Last thing: the script being in Chinese characters does not mean it is a Chinese item. It all depends how old it is, I do not think it's very old though. Nonetheless, calligraphers are not the only ones that use Chinese in their works, many craftsmen, especially older ones, use it as well. Kana is not used on 桐箱　（きりばこ）.

Well what do you know. We solved the mystery of the flower basket, have we not. I think, that in order to crack where it is from, we would need to reveal the last letter. Also, since the wooden basket is not a name, apparently (which now confirms what I have said about signatures being on the left hand side or bottom of the text) I would love to crack the two remaining meanings of the right hand side 行 (vertical verse). The third kanji with kusakamuri radical is surely pointing at a flower or that plant. Perhaps those two characters are a name of a plant that sits in the basket.

So, the 4 on the right side is a description of the lacquering. On the left we have the contents and how it was made. Now, the question is, does that box have any stamp at all. Perhaps at the bottom? Also, check the item itself. There should be a manufacturer stamp. Work of a craftsman in Japan is like sex without orgasm, generally pleasant but rather confusing.

On Sunday, I am meeting my teacher. I'll try to remember to bring a pic. of it and show it to him. If I do not solve this till then, or someone does not help us out, he should nail that sig. :)

Oh yeah, and the design is definitely Japanese, in mho.

The writing is 100% in Japanese, period. There is no Chinese element there whatsoever.

"Flower Basket Lacquer Work
Ink Stone Case with Pearskin Finish (of dense sprinkling of gold powder) over Dark-Brown"

花籠蒔絵
蝋色内梨地硯箱

Haha, I was almost 100% sure you'd show up and demonstrate I was 100% wrong in my "not Japanese—it's Chinese" comment!

Nice one. I need few more years on the cursive script. :D
This 蝋 also explains the hook. Never seen this kanji before.

Now we need the seal to check who made it.

Sorry to barge in, ryuurui, i know you do calligraphy and your comment on rice paper made me think you might be able to solve a problem for me. I do sumi-e, but living in the UK, it's really hard to find the right paper in shops here. Most of it's decorative stuff for scrap-booking, or A4 calligraphy pads. I think you might know the kind I mean, long-fibred acid-free mulberry paper. I used to have a card for an internet retailer that bulk sold the stuff (50 or more BIG sheets (each would do 4 standard size paintings) for about £40) , but I think the company's shut down now. I'm not really looking for exceptional quality, but I want a large-sized sheets if possible, that I can cut to size myself. Do you happen to know anywhere in Japan I could order from that might ship to the UK?

The stone is missing and only the lacquer brackets which held it are inside but the inside is covered with gold powder as mentioned by another poster. The outside background which does not show well in photo is mirror black without any powder decorations. I am in PA, USA so I can only show pictures to you. I will post interior shot on Sat as I must leave computer for 2 days.

No marks or seals are present on the container or the suzuribako to identify the maker. I was hoping the script might shed some light on that but figured it would just describe contents as other containers I have seen in the past have been described.

Thank you all for the help. Please post any other thoughts in future.

Hi there,

Size is not the problem, neither will be a shop shipping it to UK. The issue is the paper characteristics, and mainly its thickness and absorbing abilities (にじみ) Depends what you like. General rule is the thinner the paper is, the more expensive it gets, although it has nothing to do with absorbing abilities. Further, paper made in Japan tends to be more expensive than one made in China. With paper it's a trial and error method, till you find what you really like.

Size charts are here:

http://hgs.shodo.com/size.html


Another issue is that paper is sold in min 50 sheets, and that is for the really big packs. No one sells paper sheets separately. The more or less A4 size paper (or is it A4) so called 半紙　（はんし） is sold in pack from 1000 sheets up. Good quality paper starts at 3000 yen per pack and goes as high as 30.000 yen.

How large do you need. You could get 全紙　which is 700x1350cm (it depends on the measuring method), which is the biggest standard paper size. I bought 100 sheets for 5000 or 6000 yen and I basically stole it for that price. Decent quality 全紙 usually starts at 8000-9000yen / 100 sheets.

You can get 半切　はんせつ which is same length as 全紙 but half that wide (350x1350)

If you OK with the prices, I ll be more than happy to search for it. Perhaps the store I am buying at will ship it to you.

You need to post some of your works, I'd love to see them.

Anytime, it was fun. Sashimister was the chief safe cracker.

Thanks for the prompt reply! If I have to ship it from abroad i don't mind buying in bulk, and I definitely want at ~least~ A3 size paper. I have some time before my stock runs out so I can save a little money, so whilst 30,000 yen is probably out my price range, 10,000 yen wouldn't be a problem.
My 'standard sized' paper is about 1mx30cm, so a full sheet was about 1m x 1.2m. I'll have to download a new language pack to read that the tables you posted, for some reason the coding doesn't want to work on mac, but I appreciate the effort and i'll definitely try and check it out. :)

700x1350cm is probably a little too big, if you really mean cm! that's 7 meters by 135 meters?! Not sure if I could fit that into my work-space.

In terms of characteristics, as long as it's long-fibered and acid free, I can be fairly flexible. I can vary my style and mix the ink to cope with the absorbency without too much trouble. I do prefer it to be rough on one side and smooth on the other, and I'd really like thin paper rather than thick paper, or else I'd just use water-colour paper!

I'll make a post in the art section and show some of my work!

Oh lol I am sorry, of course I meant mm.

Not sure about acid free, but it is a typical hand made paper, mistakenly referred to as rice paper, for calligraphy and sumi-e, which is what you are doing. Indeed it has one side smooth and another soft, and has long fibers. One side feels fluffy and slightly plush or rough to the touch. Its main characteristic is that any correction made to the work, even a split second later, will be visible as an overlay. I guess that is what you are after, right?

Try to adjust website coding in view option on your browser, to Japanese. You should be able to see it. If it doesn't work, i ll send you a screen shot of it. :)

I have found you a pdf file with sizes, perhaps this will help.

http://zokeifile.musabi.ac.jp/conten...ze/wa_size.pdf

Ah, the PDF works perfectly, thank you!

From what I recall my teacher saying, if paper is made from wood-pulp, like mulberry, and isn't treated, then there are natural acids in the paper that make it go yellow as it ages. It goes brittle and thin paper doesn't last very well; also, when you try and back the piece for display (pasting another sheet of paper behind it) the acid in the paper eats the paste, which can make it mold, and the whole thing is ruined. Apparently there are some forms of sumi-e paper on the market where they don't treat for the acid, which is why you have to be careful. I would think if the paper is from Japan or a reputable trader though, it should be OK.

mhm washi is made of various things including mulberry, although not necessarily. It all depends on the maker. It boils down to actually going to the calligraphy supplies store and asking them about it. Next time I go, I ll ask, and then give you the prices.

found a maker signature
 

I just returned and now had time to take more photographs and look closer at the suzuribako itself. Inside is profusely filled with gold flakes and while under lights I saw the gold signature hiding in plain sight.

I took a macro and converted the colors to bring out the calligraphy so you can see it more clearly.

Could you please attempt to translate what I believe to be the name?

domo

It says "Created by Kouun".

Thank you so much for the rapid responce. Your assist is most appreciated.