Japan - Postal Card Questions

Here's a beaut!



Can anyone tell me the date this postal card was mailed? To and from locations would be a nice plus.

Thanks,
Smauggie

Well, let us see. The card was issued in 1911 and has a H&G # of 35. So I would venture a guess it is (somehow) saying January 1, 1914 using the yy/mm/dd system as the US military does. The European system is dd/mm/yy as Japan used later in time when the month was in roman numerals. Other than that can't read Japanese, so good luck on getting it translated. Hope this may help?
Bob

The date's the easy part: New Year's Day, 1925.

The origin is a bit hard to read. Can you do a close up of the cancellation, Smauggie? The vital character is a bit hard to make out.

The destination was Fujisawa-cho on the Tokaido (the old post road from Tokyo to Kyoto. The 53 Post Stations on the Tokaido is a famous series of woodcuts by the artist Hiroshige. Fujisawa was No. 6 coming from Tokyo. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fujisawa-shuku)

Reading Japanese dates Post by nr-notrare, a former member.
https://goscf.com/t/6258

Very nice, very neat all around and I'll add this one; somewhat beat up, one of several old Japanese items. Can't read anything on this one - help?





Thanks, Dan

I'll add one more card to ponder, plus an unknown item from this old album.







latter item is about 6 1/2" x 1 1/2" and postcard thick paper. Other side looks similar.
Thanks, Dan

Love that red hexagon cancel at the bottom of your second card.

Dan, your first was sent from Kawaguchi (in Osaka) to Kobe. I'm sorry I can't make out any dates. They may be in the small figures and letters in the outer rings around the place names, but I don't know how to make sense of them.

Your second is from Kobe to Umehara in Himeji City. Again, I'm sorry, but I can't make any sense of the dates - if that's what they are.

Your last is upside down. Could you re-scan it right side up, please? It would make it easier to read!

Dan, your first was sent from Kawaguchi (in Osaka) to Kobe. I'm sorry I can't make out any dates. They may be in the small figures and letters in the outer rings around the place names, but I don't know how to make sense of them.

Your second is from Kobe to Umehara in Himeji City. Again, I'm sorry, but I can't make any sense of the dates - if that's what they are.

Your last is upside down. Could you re-scan it right side up, please? It would make it easier to read!

Sorry, but kiban are right outside my area. I just read Japanese - I don't collect the stamps.

That said, I can't make out anything from your first card. The cancellations are too faint or blurred. The second and third are both from Kyoto to Osaka. The second is from what is now Fushimi Ward, the third from Nishikyo Ward. Both seem to be dated Meiji 8, which would make them 1875.

Tonymacg - thanks so much for the info, I've put a printout of it with the cards. I've flipped the third item and also included the other side scan, showing the old white paper hinges.

Dan

Hi Tony,

Thanks for the information. Here is the cancel, closer up.

741opamp, thanks for flipping that item.

Unfortunately, I'm right out of my depth here. It appears to be a receipt for '1 [something] of silver', and it's dated Enkyo Year 2, which is 1745. That puts it bang in the middle of the Edo Era, when the Shoguns ran Japan, and a bit over a hundred years before Commodore Perry sailed into Tokyo Bay, and re-opened Japan. For the rest, you really need to get an expert on old Japanese onto it, I'm afraid. I'm more comfortable with 21st century iron and steelmaking than 18th century finances.

And Smauggie, yours is much more straightforward. The CDS is from Kamata ('Bulrush Field'), in Ota ('Big Field') Ward in Tokyo. I suspect it's rather a long time since bulrushes grew in Kamata! (The character 'kama' is one of those obscure ones that only turn up in place names, and always send me scrambling to the dictionary. I'd never have guessed it without the blown-up view. The second character 'ta' - 'field' - is so common in personal and place names, that it's completely impossible to guess the location from it alone.)

The bottom ring of the CDS seems to say '9:00 am'.

Thank you so very much, Tony.

It makes a nice change from more mundane stuff, Smauggie!