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this came with my shamisen
not sure what it says though… theyres also charactors on the inside of my silk bachi case
Whoever wrote that definitely has some calligraphy training…
and whoever’s going to make sense of that is gonna need some too.
Man, all I can get from that is like a 代…maybe a ね and a と? 全然意味わからへんな。(I have no idea what it says.)
By the way, the bottom picture is the correct orientation.
Yeah I felt the same way when I saw it. I can see a stylized ね. And some kanji like中, I think. But really have no idea what it all means.
Maybe one of the native Japanese speakers here can help.
As Jamie says the bottom is the right side. I am helpless even though being a native Japanese.
What I can say is left three letters look like Kana letters which show Japanese sound and most other letters are Chinese characters still being used in Japanese. Among Chinese characters I find 代、武、切 but meaningless to me. The paper piece may be traced back to one or several hundred years ago.
Top 一、一、一、mean maybe item number and assumed to be the names of the accessory or explanation. May be not.
Only what I feel is the previous owner of shamisen took a very good care of it and must be happy if you love the instrument and practice a lot! Good luck, Cana(^_^)
^.^ thankies 
will frame it i think then
the paper feels really old too…
like parchment not really paper
That is a good idea to frame it,Cana! There is a possibility to be the warranty for the instrument. It could be your decendant’s family treasure.
Hey Kyoko,
Just wanted to mention that there is a blue “Edit” text that you can click on on your own posts. You can fix spelling issues with it without making a new post about it.
Thanks, Karl! I will try it next time.
And successfully done!
Nice work
Maybe I should get going with my Japanese learning now. I feel like I need to learn how to speak Japanese to get as much as I want from any visit to Japan. Making progress each day with Rosetta Stone
Happy to hear it, Karl. It is always good to know young people want to learn Japanese.
Since I have received a lot of help from westerners in learning English for a long long time, now is the time I might, in return, hopefully be any help with you, earnest learners of Japanese culture and language.
Let’s see what I can do !?(･_･;?
Happy to hear it, Karl. It is always good to know young people want to learn Japanese.
Since I have received a lot of help from westerners in learning English for a long long time, now is the time I might, in return, hopefully be any help with you, earnest learners of Japanese culture and language.
Let’s see what I can do !?(･_･;?
Thank you, it’s very important to have native speakers helping you. If I come up with any questions I’ll send you a message
Unless you are a teacher I guess it’s very hard to just give advice from out of nowhere. If someone was going to learn Swedish I could help them with questions but I would probably have a hard time helping them what they should start with. If you think you have some good idea about something I should learn early I would be glad to hear about it.
I’m using Rosetta Stone now after having heard the good reviews from Kyle and Grant. I have a good feeling about it so far. Maybe in a month I can speak a little bit more than “The cat is sleeping” 
Oyeah ^^
this is my bachi case
mind telling me what it says?
its a silk bachi case and a waterbuffalo and bekkou bachi
It says Ki kawa. I think Ki as in listen like Ki ku. And kawa as in river.
Most likely someone’s name.
It’s definitely possible to get around Japan and be part of the Shamisen community without speaking any Japanese. I say this with personal experience. However, if at all possible, I recommend going the complete opposite route and studying as much as possible.
Knowing the language really helps you form lasting relationships and add your personality into the mix and you’ll immediately regret not studying as much as you could have every time you don’t know what people are talking about!
Sorry Cana, I have no idea how to read those. : /
I wonder who Ki kawa is?
^^ thanks for translation kevin
It says Ki kawa. I think Ki as in listen like Ki ku. And kawa as in river.
Actually, the first character is kiku (chrysanthemum). So Kikukawa or Kikugawa and, as Kevin said, probably someone’s/the previous owner’s name.
Ki Kawa is most likely to be someone’s family name. And it is not very common as Kato, Sato or Nakamura.
I checked the name on line and found as follows.
菊川怜(Ki Kawa Rei) is a famous Japanese actress. She is very intelligent and beautiful. She is so popular and often on TV.
There are Ki Kawa eel restaurant, Ki Kawa city, Kikawa station and Ki Kawa hot spa(菊川温泉). You even can find the school of Ki Kawa
school of Japanese traditional dance(日本舞踊). Ki Kawa seems to be
the time-honored family. ,
Kyoko-san, is the reading of “ki” for 菊 a special reading used for names? ( I recognized the kanji as “kiku”, but I noticed Kevin had said “ki”. So I looked up “き” in my kanji dictionary, but it did not bring up 菊 as a possible kanji. Then I looked up the kanji 菊, and it didn’t show “ki” as a reading… (Japanese is so hard! [g]))
Thanks for your good question, Linda san!
菊is usually pronounced as KIKU all right.In this case, KIKUKAWA is naturally transformed into KI KKAWA because of succession of K sound. I do not know of phonetic rules of Japanese language, but I might be able to say it is like I WOULD LIKE becomes( I’d like…) Or , I COULD HAVE. … becoming( I ‘d’ ve). It is all for skipping sounds when spoken.
Is’t it a destiny for any spoken language!?
In playing Shamisen, you will never be allowed to skip any delicate small sound, though!
And, being used in names does not influence on how to read 菊. As in Kikusui(菊水), it reads KIKU.
In the future, Kikusui might read KI SUI as time goes on!?(･_･;?