Japanese senninbari for review

[Alex W]

Hello everyone,

Let me start by saying I have zero knowledge in this field. I recently picked up some items during a trip to Japan and would like opinions on whether this Japanese senninbari is good and a translation if possible. It measures about 93 by 5 1/2 inches, appears to be cotton with a thicker section about two thirds down on from the writing. I apologise for the photos, its raining and I'm struggling with light.

Thanks

Alex

[MichaelB]

Hi Alex-
Senninbari belts tend to be between 5.5" and 6.00" wide but are normally between 40.00" and 70" long, not including tie strings. Your belt lacks the tie strings, so at 93" is quite long. It does not appear to have any means of fastening it around the waist such as buttons, snaps, etc., so if given to be worn, it would have to be tucked into the waist belt and/or wrapped around the waist multiple times. My guess is that it was either given as a presentation gift to either be carried in a pocket, pack, etc. or was stashed away and saved. Senninbari saw heavy wear/use by Japanese troops in the field and were often thrown away because they became nests for vermin. I see what appears to be the line, "Buun Chokyu" written on your belt. It would be great to see what the other lines say and to see close-up images of the 2 seals on the belt's front. I can also mention that it is made with its red knots/strings remaining long which came to be known as the "hairy" example.
MichaelB

[Geoff Ward]

Hey Mike,I was going to ask but you answered my question before I had a chance! Is the term "Hairy" a modern term for this style of stitch knots or do you know if this term was also a reference used by the Japanese as well? Regards,Geoff

[ghp95134]

I'm having some trouble with a couple of lines which I'll highlight in magenta.


身体健全
Karada kenzen
Physical Soundness [health]

清正公大尊儀守護
Seishōkō-Ōjinja-Shrine Protective Charm
[not really a jinja/shrine ... hopefully Nick can help me here; I found 清正公大神社 and borrowed the pronunciation.]
[清正 is also read as Kiyomasa ... which threw me because that's what I noticed first ...]


武運長久
Bu'un Chōkyū
Continued Luck in the Fortunes of War

帝国軍人
Teikoku Gunjin
Imperial Soldier

三十三才
33 Years old

増田鈴雄
Masuda Suzuo

者也
mononari
A Person

I'm pretty certain it is Mr. Masuda who is identifying himself as being 33 years old. Usually I see the age attribution on the left side of the artist's name.

--Guy

[MichaelB]

Geoff-
I had a correspondence going with a former Japanese army pilot a number of years ago regarding senninbari belts. He was one of a number of guys who told me about their experiences with 1000 stitch belts during the War. He said that the flat stitched belts were much preferred. He went on to say that the belts with outer knots, as well as the "hairy" type with knots and long strings proved annoying after awhile. I used his description when describing the senninbari with the extra long strings.

MichaelB

[Alex W]

Thanks for your comments MichaelB and your translation Guy.

MichaelB, as for more photos of the 2 seals on the belt's front - which part exactly would that be?

It's fairly clean so I don't think it was ever worn so might have been in a pack as mentioned. The fellow who sold me this had another more traditional style senninbari but in very worn condition. I'm regretting not buying it as well but having no previous knowledge in this field I didn't want to get in too deep.

[MichaelB]

Hi Alex-
You acquired some interesting pieces for sure. You can see the small seals on the front of your senninbari: they are stamped in red ink with one being round, and the other one square. These are generally placed on the item at a shrine or temple but not always. The square ones are normally anywhere from 1"-3" square. The round ones are likewise similar when measured across. Typically you see belts that have been stamped with the seal of a shrine or temple and no other ID to the place where they were blessed (no lines of black inked kanji to identify). If you can read the often stylized characters of the stamp, you can determine the name of the temple/shrine; some of the seals are much easier to read than others. In addition, you may encounter senninbari that lack seals altogether, and therefore have no temple name either. On the other hand, you also see examples where the stamp has characters written over it in black ink that spell out the name of the shrine/temple or give clues as to the place where stamped. I should add that the seals being discussed are different than the smaller ones that give a person's name. These may be square but are typically oval in shape and maybe .25" long +/- I think you would agree from the discussion that there seem to be quite a few senninbari "types", and you would be correct. I find them just as fascinating as good luck flags, perhaps more so......
MichaelB

[Alex W]

Sorry measurements in centimetres

[ghp95134]

Impossible (for me!) to read the seals. I can only see the last kanji 所 "place."


--Guy

[MichaelB]

Guy-
I took a look at the images of the seals that Alex posted and thought with your "computer magic" you might be able to pull something out of the hat with the square one. Not sure if even Houdini could pull anything out of that one.......!

MichaelB