Type 38 stock markings

[collector67]

Hi all
I recently bought this series 22 Koishikawa Type 38 at a gunshow, and I was wondering if anyone can tell me what the markings on the butt stock signify?

 

[smellie]

Take the marking down on a piece of paper and head for your local Chinese restaurant.

Chinese use the same characters for 7 different spoken languages. Then the Japanese stole them for their language.

Very often, a Chinese person can give you a pretty good translation of a Japanese inscription.

 

[fenceline]

That's very cool. Hope you are planning on "restoring" it. It looks beautiful.

 

[Nabs]

Aren't those markings related to a rack number ?

 

[collector67]

That's very cool. Hope you are planning on "restoring" it. It looks beautiful.

Hell no! I just gave it a good cleaning and am leaving it "as is"....if this rifle could only talk!

 

[collector67]

Aren't those markings related to a rack number ?

That's kind of what I'm thinking, I just wonder if the Kanji means anything significant. I posted these pics in ParallaxBill and Surplusrifleforum, and got no replies at all, which is wierd, because I have seen translation queries get answered there many times before.

 

[fenceline]

Hell no! I just gave it a good cleaning and am leaving it "as is"....if this rifle could only talk!

Good man.

 

[Nabs]

My close friend once had a Type 38 long rifle that had it's rack number in white paint on the stock. This was translated as part of a IJN ship's rifle store. I wonder if this is the same for the OP's type 38 ?