placeskorea

PLACE NAMES: Korea

One interesting aspect to collecting cups is finding out where the
soldier served. Oftentimes the place names will be labeled clearly on
the cups. Here is a general guide to help identify place-name kanji.

These two characters mean KOREA, and of
course this phrase refers to the entire
peninsula since the division didn't take
place until after the Pacific War. (Read right
to left)

The first kanji is NORTH, and the next is the second kanji
in KOREA; therefore NORTHERN KOREA (not North Korea,
referring to a country--just a general phrase noting the
northern part of Korea.) (Read right to left)

Two more Korean cups. The top has the
name of a city in Northern Korea. This is
pronounced RANAN in Japanese. Nanam in
English.

Here is a good example of why some cups are hard to decipher.
Look at the bottom row of characters. The dots in between them
will help break up the words. In Japanese text a dot often
indicates that a new word will begin.

This line could be read from the right or the left, but since the
upper line is read from the right, probably the lower one is, too.

The first character is RA (very rare, so probably the same as
RANAN on the cup above). The second is NO (field), often used
as an abbreviation for FIELD ARTILLERY. The next two are read
SUMIDA, a family name.

So this cup belonged to a soldier named SUMIDA who served in
the field artillery in Nanam. Easy, right?