Can anyone read Japanese?

[Atlantia]

When I first tried to research these mirrors, I happened across this story from Japanese folklore on the net. It only takes a few minutes to read and is rather lovely in a sad way.



From Lafcadio Hearn's classic Kwaidan, 1904.

Eight centuries ago, the priests of Mugenyama, in the province of Totomi (1), wanted a big bell for their temple; and they asked the women of their parish to help them by contributing old bronze mirrors for bell-metal.

[Even to-day, in the courts of certain Japanese temples, you may see heaps of old bronze mirrors contributed for such a purpose. The largest collection of this kind that I ever saw was in the court of a temple of the Jodo sect, at Hakata, in Kyushu: the mirrors had been given for the making of a bronze statue of Amida, thirty-three feet high.]

There was at that time a young woman, a farmer's wife, living at Mugenyama, who presented her mirror to the temple, to be used for bell-metal. But afterwards she much regretted her mirror. She remembered things that her mother had told her about it; and she remembered that it had belonged, not only to her mother but to her mother's mother and grandmother; and she remembered some happy smiles which it had reflected. Of course, if she could have offered the priests a certain sum of money in place of the mirror, she could have asked them to give back her heirloom. But she had not the money necessary. Whenever she went to the temple, she saw her mirror lying in the court-yard, behind a railing, among hundreds of other mirrors heaped there together. She knew it by the Sho-Chiku-Bai in relief on the back of it,-- those three fortunate emblems of Pine, Bamboo, and Plumflower, which delighted her baby-eyes when her mother first showed her the mirror. She longed for some chance to steal the mirror, and hide it,-- that she might thereafter treasure it always. But the chance did not come; and she became very unhappy,-- felt as if she had foolishly given away a part of her life. She thought about the old saying that a mirror is the Soul of a Woman -- (a saying mystically expressed, by the Chinese character for Soul, upon the backs of many bronze mirrors),-- and she feared that it was true in weirder ways than she had before imagined. But she could not dare to speak of her pain to anybody.

Now, when all the mirrors contributed for the Mugenyama bell had been sent to the foundry, the bell-founders discovered that there was one mirror among them which would not melt. Again and again they tried to melt it; but it resisted all their efforts. Evidently the woman who had given that mirror to the temple must have regretted the giving. She had not presented her offering with all her heart; and therefore her selfish soul, remaining attached to the mirror, kept it hard and cold in the midst of the furnace.

Of course everybody heard of the matter, and everybody soon knew whose mirror it was that would not melt. And because of this public exposure of her secret fault, the poor woman became very much ashamed and very angry. And as she could not bear the shame, she drowned herself, after having written a farewell letter containing these words:--

"When I am dead, it will not be difficult to melt the mirror and to cast the bell. But, to the person who breaks that bell by ringing it, great wealth will be given by the ghost of me."

-- You must know that the last wish or promise of anybody who dies in anger, or performs suicide in anger, is generally supposed to possess a supernatural force. After the dead woman's mirror had been melted, and the bell had been successfully cast, people remembered the words of that letter. They felt sure that the spirit of the writer would give wealth to the breaker of the bell; and, as soon as the bell had been suspended in the court of the temple, they went in multitude to ring it. With all their might and main they swung the ringing-beam; but the bell proved to be a good bell, and it bravely withstood their assaults. Nevertheless, the people were not easily discouraged. Day after day, at all hours, they continued to ring the bell furiously,-- caring nothing whatever for the protests of the priests. So the ringing became an affliction; and the priests could not endure it; and they got rid of the bell by rolling it down the hill into a swamp. The swamp was deep, and swallowed it up,-- and that was the end of the bell. Only its legend remains; and in that legend it is called the Mugen-Kane, or Bell of Mugen.

[migueldiaz]

A most poignant story ... thanks for sharing it, Gene.

And I sure am glad I can help partially lift the veil of mystery surrounding the mirror!

Have you tried Googling for "Imbamura" by the way? Kindly please refer to the attached pics. The village happens to be northeast of Tokyo. And there's this body of water (marshland?) right next to Imbamura. Which probably explains why there's an image of a crane in the mirror ...

[migueldiaz]

I googled "all under heaven" and its calligraphy (below) certainly looks very similar to the first four characters in the mirror.

The entire article says:

All under heaven, or literally, "heaven under" (Chinese: 天下; pinyin: tiān xià), is a phrase in the Chinese language and a cultural concept in China.

The Chinese character 天 means "sky" or "heaven". 下 means "under" or "down". 天下 together, literally means "under the sky". The word 天下, besides the literal meaning, is also taken by Chinese as referring to the whole world. In this context then, it can perhaps be best understood and translated as "Everything Under the Heavens". Only in modern times has the term 世界 (shì jiè) come into use to directly refer to the world.

In classical Chinese political thought, the Emperor of China would nominally be the ruler of All under heaven, that is, the entire world. Although in practice there would be areas of the known world which were not under the control of the Emperor, in Chinese political theory the political rulers of those areas derived their power from the Emperor.

Usage

A common term meaning "the world", tiān xià has been used throughout history. It is ordinary to name various things, ranging from city gates, such as Shanhai Guan, to snacks, as "The first under heaven" or "The best under heaven" (tiān xià dì yī, 天下第一).

Another usage for "tiān xià" is "tiān xià wéi gōng" (天下為公), which literally means "all is equal under heaven". In other words, the world exists not for a ruler or one person, but for all.

"Tiān xià wú nán shì" (天下無難事) is another phrase concerning "Tiān xià", meaning "[There is] no difficulty under heaven".

Variants

The Chinese term "All under heaven" has been borrowed into Korean, where it is pronounced Cheon Ha. In the ssireum, Korea's traditional style of wrestling, Cheon Ha refers to the championship of all weights (perhaps best interpreted as world champion).

It has also been borrowed into Japanese, where it is pronounced tenka. For example, moves to unite the whole of Japan by lords such as Oda Nobunaga or Tokugawa Ieyasu were characterized as 'seizing tenka' (tenka wo toru 天下 を 取る).

The term is also borrowed into Vietnamese as thiên hạ. Its usage is similar as in Chinese, where it means "the world" or "everybody".

The term "all under heaven" is also the theme of one of my favorite movies, Hero (2002).

[stekemest]

The province is not IMBA, but INABA, now part of TOTTORI prefecture in south western Japan. First three are TENKA-ICHI, first under the heavens. The use of that title was prohibited in 1682, but was still inoficially used until the 19th century. The character below the province means KASE(GU) which is "to work".The smith's name must either be the last two characters (OMO?YOSHI) or the characters below TENKA-ICHI (which I can't make out except -MURA).
There doesn't seem to be a date.
My Japanese isn't the best though.

Peter

[stekemest]

By the way, the image itself has nothing to do with the place of manufacture. It is a standard theme showing a crane, pines and bamboo, all of which stand for "long life".
stm

[Atlantia]

Miguel and Peter, Thank you so much!

Gentlemen, I can only say:

Dômo arigatô gozaimasu

Which I believe is the correct form when expressing gratitude to ones teachers.



I remember seeing a couple of others translated somewhere which might give us more of an idea of what the remaining characters might say. I'm off to look now!

Back later, thank you again chaps!


Regards
Gene

[stekemest]

It must be a name: ??mura. Probably the one who made it ("??mura, the first under heavens, working in Inaba province").

Which I believe is the correct form when expressing gratitude to ones teachers.

Yes it is.

Peter