弥 – MI ・ BI ・ iya ・ ya ・ amaneshi ・ iyoiyo ・ tooi ・ hisashi ・ hisashii ・ wataru – all the more; increasingly
吉 – kichi ・ kitsu – good fortune; good luck
The thing about all this is there so much more data packed-into a single byte of language than a computer can hold – the mind of man can grasp way-beyond the on/off mechanics and see into the past as well as the future.
The first glyph: 弥 – MI or BI, originates from the ancient Namu Amida Butsu, a prayer to Amida Buddha for a peaceful death – which on a GUN intimates a whole bunch of things, but in Japanese also means, “I worship Amida Buddha and follow his doctrine.” – or it means Maitreya (a bodhisattva) – and in a vulgar meaning it is a verb to jeer (at); to hoot; to boo; to catcall; to heckle – something a GUN can also do, so to speak.
The second glyph, 吉 – KICHI or KITSU can bit-flip depending on it’s position – it can be good luck or ill-omened, ominous, unlucky, black as night, sinister, bad luck, ill omen, inauspiciousness – which again, in the context of a GUN intimates even more… And in another location is a part Paladin: a man of incorruptible character.
Or it could be a family-name: Yayoshi 弥吉
UPDATE: And the winner is BornLib – for Yayoshi! Turns out it is a family name. I returned to the gun-shop and gave them the translation I had collected. The owner was there and thanked me, confimnring the seller of the gun was a Japanese-dude (or of that ancestry) with such a family name… At least now the new owner can be happily confident in his purchase of the, “Always Increasing Fortune” gun! Or whatever. 🙂
And it’s still a price I can’t afford in a caliber I don’t already have.
Whoops, never mind! I did ot see your update. My bad!
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I work for a Japanese owned company, we have several on site. I can print a copy of your picture and see what they have to say Monday if you like.
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Whoops, I've been corrected downstream in another post/thread, it's a first-name, “Yakichi” – but in other texts it's a choice – I think one is a more modern usage? There seem to be parallel streams.
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If I were to get some Kanji etched onto my gun, I would opt for “jiyuu” which is Japanese for freedom or liberty.
http://tinyurl.com/3sou6sj
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Hmmm… Interesting research there! I agree the price is a bit high though.
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