I am doing some historical research on a group of approximately 74 Japanese students that were educated in America from 1871 to 1876. They are listed within a pdf document located at the url below.
List of Students in Japanese & English
Each of these students lived at various locations throughout New England, with a heavy concentration around the Boston area. In some cases they lived with various host families in a similar manner to modern day exchange students.
I have several 1870s photos of these students from a family that hosted several Japanese students from the above mentioned program and several students from a similar Chinese program described at the url below:
Chinese Students
On the back of one photo there are three columns of kanji shodo (calligraphy) that I am trying to identify. I've uploaded a enlarged image of the kanji to the following url:
Kanji Shodo Image
l believe the student added the shodo to commemorate living at or visiting a location. Part of the student's education included learning English thus I am not sure if at the time the photo was taken the student had the ability to correctly translate English into kanji so the kanji could be wrong. Also, the kanji used in the 1870s may not match more modern kanji.
The following suggestions have been by 3rd parties thus far:
1. The right column likely includes characters denoting "Amerika".
2. The center column might include characters similar to 於ボストン that may say "Bosuton ni oite"; "in Boston"; or "at the Boston...".
3. The lower character in the left column may be 返 which means "return" or "answer".
The above referenced pdf document does list several specific street addresses in Boston which perhaps pertains to the first column under the theory that the columns represent ever more specific address locations as one reads from right to left [house &/or street, city, (state - Massachusetts?), country].
SECOND PHOTO ABBREVIATION:
A second photo has a unknown abbreviation in English. I know the name of the student as the host family wrote his name on the front. The student wrote several lines of text on the back in English which match his known location.
L. of M.
Works. (Manchester Locomotive Works)
Manchester
N. H. (New Hampshire)
1874
Nippon (Japan)
S.H.I.
S.H.I. Abbreviation Image
I am not sure what "S.H.I." would mean. The phrase "shi" appears to have a lot of meanings depending upon its context; however, my best guess so far it that it may refer to the name of a visiting card / business card.
SHI; SEKI; Meishi
List of Students in Japanese & English
Each of these students lived at various locations throughout New England, with a heavy concentration around the Boston area. In some cases they lived with various host families in a similar manner to modern day exchange students.
I have several 1870s photos of these students from a family that hosted several Japanese students from the above mentioned program and several students from a similar Chinese program described at the url below:
Chinese Students
On the back of one photo there are three columns of kanji shodo (calligraphy) that I am trying to identify. I've uploaded a enlarged image of the kanji to the following url:
Kanji Shodo Image
l believe the student added the shodo to commemorate living at or visiting a location. Part of the student's education included learning English thus I am not sure if at the time the photo was taken the student had the ability to correctly translate English into kanji so the kanji could be wrong. Also, the kanji used in the 1870s may not match more modern kanji.
The following suggestions have been by 3rd parties thus far:
1. The right column likely includes characters denoting "Amerika".
2. The center column might include characters similar to 於ボストン that may say "Bosuton ni oite"; "in Boston"; or "at the Boston...".
3. The lower character in the left column may be 返 which means "return" or "answer".
The above referenced pdf document does list several specific street addresses in Boston which perhaps pertains to the first column under the theory that the columns represent ever more specific address locations as one reads from right to left [house &/or street, city, (state - Massachusetts?), country].
SECOND PHOTO ABBREVIATION:
A second photo has a unknown abbreviation in English. I know the name of the student as the host family wrote his name on the front. The student wrote several lines of text on the back in English which match his known location.
L. of M.
Works. (Manchester Locomotive Works)
Manchester
N. H. (New Hampshire)
1874
Nippon (Japan)
S.H.I.
S.H.I. Abbreviation Image
I am not sure what "S.H.I." would mean. The phrase "shi" appears to have a lot of meanings depending upon its context; however, my best guess so far it that it may refer to the name of a visiting card / business card.
SHI; SEKI; Meishi
Edited: 2016-01-25, 5:12 pm
