Found a type 38 Arisaka in 7.7 with unusual kanji stamped on top of the action. My kanji is sub par but characters look like: "Well Test(?) Type". Has no mum (not struck out or ground off) has dust cover and early long tongue knob on back of bolt. Wondering if this could be a 1929 test rifle. Anyone seen one of these?
Welcome to the forum. Sounds like you know quite a lot about Arisakas. May I suggest posting a few more pictures showing the entire rifle? There are a number of our members that can help and will be by soon I'm sure.
Welcome and thanks for the photo. You know a heack of lot more than I do regarding your Arisaka. You probably already understand the meaning of the cyrsathamum--its presence and its absence. Your impression of the first character is probably correct in that it can be translated as "well", but that can mean water well, oil well or other types of well. I have also seen it translated as "ceiling," "roof," "community," and "town." The second symbol is completely unfamiliar. Put those together and I'm totally lost, but.... have you talked with the folks over at Castle-Thunder, -- http://www.castle-thunder.com -- i.e., the folks who put out the "Banzi" newsletter. They have a shoot coming up in a day or two, so they're probably pretty busy right now, but if you check out their website and mail them a copy of your photo, I'm sure they will be able to identify it. You just have to promise to get back to us and tell us what they say. Thanks again for sharing.
Thanks for the tip. The second character looks like an uncommon character for "test" but that doesn't have the radical to the left. This is the first forum I've ever joined, you all are amazing. Appreciate everyone's help.
Welcome and thanks for the photo. You know a heack of lot more than I do regarding your Arisaka. You probably already understand the meaning of the cyrsathamum--its presence and its absence. Your impression of the first character is probably correct in that it can be translated as "well", but that can mean water well, oil well or other types of well. I have also seen it translated as "ceiling," "roof," "community," and "town." The second symbol is completely unfamiliar. Put those together and I'm totally lost, but.... have you talked with the folks over at Castle-Thunder, -- http://www.castle-thunder.com -- i.e., the folks who put out the "Banzi" newsletter. They have a shoot coming up in a day or two, so they're probably pretty busy right now, but if you check out their website and mail them a copy of your photo, I'm sure they will be able to identify it. You just have to promise to get back to us and tell us what they say. Thanks again for sharing.
That is a rare rifle. If you watch the old "Twilight Zone" There is an episode were a guy goes back in time. He has a chance to shoot Hitler. The rifle was a Japanese Folding Paratrooper with a scope attached.
I asked my Japanese co-worker what that translation is. Here reply:
It says "Izawa-shiki" (or can be Isawa-shiki), and it means Izawa style. I assume Izawa is company's name.
Looking at Japanese Wikipedia, and it seems like this company was making this type of rifle. Unfortunately, English page doesn't mention about this company, but in Japanese page I see "井澤式".
My father-in-law's name is Lawrence Harvey...close.
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