Need help with Japanese calligraphy--

[Khaos]

Hi all, a pre-thanks for all who read,

Enclosed is a picture of a 'Build-A-Bear' tag from the Build-A-Bear workshop in my local mall. This was given to me as a gift, as the person knows I love anything to do with Japanese culture, she swears she will never tell me what it is and claims I get more than bragging rights if I figure it out. Well she underestimates my inner-nerd and herself doesn't know what a message board even is!

This is my last attempt to figure this out, posting on a board I mean. I've tried character books (wasted hours) and even sent this photo to a close buddy who is stationed in Japan for the Navy. He asked three locals and they even said differen't things. The only hint I have from the girl is that it's two names.

Please if anyone has any spare time to look at this it's greatly appreciated. Or if someone could point me in a better direction to how to figure this mystery out. Thanks

-=Khaos=-

[KyleGoetz]

It says 知乙, and this never shows up in Japanese wikipedia, and every search I do on Google turns up Chinese pages. I did find a few pages in Japanese, but every single one uses the pair in the exact same phrase:

長崎県対馬市美津島町鶏知乙 (Nagasaki Prefecture, Tsushima City, Mitsu Island City, __??__)

I can tell you that 知 means "knowledge" and 乙 means "two" but originally meant "fish guts."

It's weird, and I cannot fathom why anyone who knows Japanese would assign this bear this name when it seems that this name does not exist in Japanese.

I mean, there's nothing I can find using that pair of kanji in Japanese except, from what I can guess, an extremely obscure place name in Nagasaki.

Edit: I mean, look at these Google results: site:jp -"鶏知乙" -"雞知乙" +"知乙" -"鷄知乙" -鶏 - Google Search

After you remove every occurrence of 鶏知乙 and the variants of 鶏, you're left almost exclusively with Chinese results and results of 知 and 乙 with punctuation between them. And almost none of those, either.

Is this person Chinese or Korean?

[masaegu]

Originally Posted by KyleGoetz

It says 知乙, and this never shows up in Japanese wikipedia, and every search I do on Google turns up Chinese pages. I did find a few pages in Japanese, but every single one uses the pair in the exact same phrase:
I can tell you that 知 means "knowledge" and 乙 means "two" but originally meant "fish guts."

It's weird, and I cannot fathom why anyone who knows Japanese would assign this bear this name when it seems that this name does not exist in Japanese.

Actually, it says 知己.

知己　＝　ともき　＝　Tomoki

It's an existing masculine name.

[KyleGoetz]

Originally Posted by masaegu

Actually, it says 知己.

知己　＝　ともき　＝　Tomoki

It's an existing masculine name.

As Charlie Brown would say after life beat him down once again, OH GOOD GRIEF!

[hatsuto11]

Originally Posted by masaegu

Actually, it says 知己.

知己　＝　ともき　＝　Tomoki

It's an existing masculine name.

that's rignt.... TOMOKI

[Khaos]

You guys rock--this is easily now my #1 go to site for any Japanese related question

Thanks again!

[Khaos]

Haha I'm wondering what this girl was thinking--she told me it's two names. I haven't brought it up to her yet but I feel like that's the general problem in today's person who looks for the correct characters to spelling Japanese Calligraphy or Kanji (most peoiple don't even know the difference) and ends up getting totally different meanings. I mean they are probably thinking 'What does this American know anyway?".

I know when I tell her, she's gonna tell me 'no you're dumb, that's not even close.' when she's the idiot and I know I went an authentic source. Hell, maybe she did mean a Japanese name, but odds are this particular girl didn't mean to .

Thanks again guys!

[Khaos]

Soul Mate she says it means....guys?

[KyleGoetz]

Originally Posted by Khaos

Soul Mate she says it means....guys?

Wait, so this is a non-Japanese person? Haha. Tell her to turn the anime and Girugamesh CDs off and go to class.

知 = knowledge
己 = self

So it translates roughly as "knowledge of oneself."

Edit Also it can mean acquaintance. Thanks, Columbine. I was so locked into thinking of it like a name, where you break the parts down and read it (e.g., "Philip" = "philia" + "hippus" = "love horses"), that I didn't think of looking at it as an actual word.

[Columbine]

知己 can also be read ちき、meaning 'acquaintance', but that's as close as you'll get to 'soulmate'.