Japanese "good luck" vest

[tmys]

Alan,

Was hoping you would do another photo shoot. Also, have any of the characters bled into the back side?

Tom

[Alan M]

Hi Tom , i`ve got some more photos of the belt ( sorry but i had to take them longways to get all the characters in one line ) , but i`m not sure they will help you ! I took the belt from it`s frame and got some from the rear ( the small flag was stitched over other characters as i thought) . If you can make anything out of it that would be great , many thanks , Alan

[Alan M]

More

[tmys]

Alan,

The meat ball portion is unusual and hard to explain.

The characters seem to be random without any connection with each other,

All of the characters have their tops oriented toward the meatball.

12 o'clock 東京市 (Upside down) Tokyo City
2 o'clock 生ル道 (Upside down) Way of life
3-5 o'clock 子夫妻 Child-husband-child
2:30 o'clock outer ring 界世 World
3:30 o'clock outer ring 愛 Love/affection
5 o'clock outer ring 民 People
6 o'clock outer ring 春 Spring
6:30 o'clock 秋 Autumn
7-6:30 o'clock 埼玉 Saitama (name of a prefecture close to Tokyo)
8 o'clock 生 Life
8 o'clock outer ring 京 capital
8:30 o'clock 愛 Love/affection
9 o'clock outer ring 小僧 Young Buddhist priest/youngter
10 o'clock 日本太郎 Japan Taro (man's name)　
11 o'clock 國民 Nation's people

Hope this was not too hard to understand...

I'm still working on the writing outside the meat ball cloth. Pretty rough and might not be able to do much with it; will let you know.

Tom

[Alan M]

Hi Tom , you`re a top man , many thanks for your help . I find it wonderful to get some meaning to the writings , it kinda personalizes the item . You have described it all so well , it makes perfect sense to me , it would be great if you can make anything out of the other writings but that area is very stained , cheers Al