If you go to gunboards.com and scroll down to the Japanese weapons and post your picture, I'm pretty sure some of the experts there will know. I think it might be an effort to deface the mum, but I don't know. They will.
Concealed carry is for protection, open carry is for attention.
I was just reading that same thing. Though I don’t see those specific symbols, I think it was pulled from military service to be a training rifle. That article indicates the mum’s were over stamped in those instances.
Since the mum was the mark of ownership of the Emperor and thus held kinda sacred, I can't see any Japanese defacing it by overstamping it. Removing it, yes, as they did with the rifles surrendered at the end of the war to remove the mum and therefore the ties to the Emperor. It could have been captured and defaced by an enemy, like the Chinese or Koreans, and the characters may not be Japanese. But I'm sure the guys on gunboards.com will identify it.
Concealed carry is for protection, open carry is for attention.
Just a thought but do you know where the rifle came from? Arisaka rifles were captured (not just guns but even factories) and used extensively by the Korean and the Chinese. Most of these guns bear all sorts of interesting marks on them and I think those characters might be Korean.
"Very interesting. The mum seems to be cancelled with a 井 - SEI stamp, probably indicating Seinen, or Youth. The next character down is 文 - translated to MON, a common indicator in Japan of a school. In its application on Japanese rifles and carbines it is believed to be the first character in 文部省, which translates to MON-BU-SHO, the “Ministry of Education”. (Translation note: if the character 文 is separated from this string of Japanese characters, it is usually translated as BUN.) Use of this character indicates that the weapon was transferred to an education agency by the IJA, having been released from the IJA weapons inventory. The symbol is nearly always encountered together with a cancelled mum or a concentric circle in place of the mum.
These characters were applied with some unusual tool, giving them an unfamiliar appearance. I have not encountered this exact application previously. Thanks for posing the photo." "
Concealed carry is for protection, open carry is for attention.
"Very interesting. The mum seems to be cancelled with a 井 - SEI stamp, probably indicating Seinen, or Youth. The next character down is 文 - translated to MON, a common indicator in Japan of a school. In its application on Japanese rifles and carbines it is believed to be the first character in 文部省, which translates to MON-BU-SHO, the “Ministry of Education”. (Translation note: if the character 文 is separated from this string of Japanese characters, it is usually translated as BUN.) Use of this character indicates that the weapon was transferred to an education agency by the IJA, having been released from the IJA weapons inventory. The symbol is nearly always encountered together with a cancelled mum or a concentric circle in place of the mum.
These characters were applied with some unusual tool, giving them an unfamiliar appearance. I have not encountered this exact application previously. Thanks for posing the photo." "
"Very interesting. The mum seems to be cancelled with a 井 - SEI stamp, probably indicating Seinen, or Youth. The next character down is 文 - translated to MON, a common indicator in Japan of a school. In its application on Japanese rifles and carbines it is believed to be the first character in 文部省, which translates to MON-BU-SHO, the “Ministry of Education”. (Translation note: if the character 文 is separated from this string of Japanese characters, it is usually translated as BUN.) Use of this character indicates that the weapon was transferred to an education agency by the IJA, having been released from the IJA weapons inventory. The symbol is nearly always encountered together with a cancelled mum or a concentric circle in place of the mum.
These characters were applied with some unusual tool, giving them an unfamiliar appearance. I have not encountered this exact application previously. Thanks for posing the photo." "
Replies
Here ya go.
https://oldmilitarymarkings.com/japanese_markings.html
6.5 or 7.7 ?
My nephew has a 6.5 and a lot of ammo.
"Very interesting. The mum seems to be cancelled with a 井 - SEI stamp, probably indicating Seinen, or Youth. The next character down is 文 - translated to MON, a common indicator in Japan of a school. In its application on Japanese rifles and carbines it is believed to be the first character in 文部省, which translates to MON-BU-SHO, the “Ministry of Education”. (Translation note: if the character 文 is separated from this string of Japanese characters, it is usually translated as BUN.) Use of this character indicates that the weapon was transferred to an education agency by the IJA, having been released from the IJA weapons inventory. The symbol is nearly always encountered together with a cancelled mum or a concentric circle in place of the mum.
These characters were applied with some unusual tool, giving them an unfamiliar appearance. I have not encountered this exact application previously. Thanks for posing the photo."
"
Maybe better hang on to that one. If not for monetary value, for historical oddity.
http://oldmilitarymarkings.com/japanese_markings.html
anyone hazard a guess on value here?