Need help with Asian characters on bat

[zfowl]

Hi there.

I recently bought a lot of bats from a source in the Mariners organization,
and on one of the bats are the characters pictured below. I'm pretty sure
the characters are not Korean, and the woman at the local teriyaki place
thought they looked more Chinese than Japanese, though she was not
sure.

The bat is made in Japan by Mizuno.

Can anyone out there decipher what the characters mean?

Thanks,

Zeb Fowler

[ChrisCavalier]

Hi there.

I recently bought a lot of bats from a source in the Mariners organization,
and on one of the bats are the characters pictured below. I'm pretty sure
the characters are not Korean, and the woman at the local teriyaki place
thought they looked more Chinese than Japanese, though she was not
sure.

The bat is made in Japan by Mizuno.

Can anyone out there decipher what the characters mean?

Thanks,

Zeb Fowler

Hello Zeb,

I studied Chinese while I was at Georgetown University and I will say the characters do resemble those in the Chinese language. However, these characters are actually Japanese (as might be expected since the bat was actually made in Japan).

I checked with my wife (who is Chinese) and the she said that, in Chinese, the second character translates to "select" while the third and fourth characters roughly translate to "raw materials" (the first character doesn't really have a Chinese equivalent). Though I can't give a Japanese translation, I would think the meaning in Japanese would probably be along those lines.

Do we have any Japanese speaking members who can help further?

Sincerely,
Christopher Cavalier

[gnishiyama]

Hello Zeb,

The characters you see on the Mizuno bat is Japanese and it says "gen-sen-so-zie." This roughly translates to "premium material" or " of the highest quality"
Hope this helps.

Goh Nishiyama

[Robert Sanders]

I checked with my wife (who is Chinese) and the she said that ...(the first character doesn't really have a Chinese equivalent).

Chris,

The first character is actually the Japanese form of yan2 'to be strict' (the same yan2 as in yan2zhong4 'serious'). As Goh-san notes in his complete translation of the four characters, it's 'Chinese' pronunciation in Japanese is 'gen'. In other words, only the finest materials were selected.

Robert

[zfowl]

Thanks to all who replied. I appreciate the help as I would have never figured it out on my own.

Zeb

[ChrisCavalier]

Chris,

The first character is actually the Japanese form of yan2 'to be strict' (the same yan2 as in yan2zhong4 'serious'). As Goh-san notes in his complete translation of the four characters, it's 'Chinese' pronunciation in Japanese is 'gen'. In other words, only the finest materials were selected.

Hello Robert,

Thanks for the information. I checked with my wife and she said that makes sense although the first character is a bit different in Chinese. In fact, the 'old style' Chinese character for 'yan' is very similar to the one here although the Chinese version uses a different radical than the Japanese (unless my wife is mistaken, the 'old style' Chinese character uses two mouths and the Japanese version appears to use three water drops. Is that correct?). In addition, the 'new style' Chinese character for yan is very different than the Japanese version. Given you said the first character is the "Japanese form" of yan that would appear to explain why someone of Chinese origin didn't recognize it without the explanation.

Thanks again to you, as well as Goh-san, for taking the time to explain the translation. It is great to know there are people on this forum who can help with all different kinds of questions.

Sincerely,
Christopher Cavalier

[Robert Sanders]

Hello Robert,

...In fact, the 'old style' Chinese character for 'yan' is very similar to the one here although the Chinese version uses a different radical than the Japanese (unless my wife is mistaken, the 'old style' Chinese character uses two mouths and the Japanese version appears to use three water drops. Is that correct?)...

Yes, that is correct on both counts--the traditional Chinese version with two mouths on the top and the Japanese version with three 'dots' on top.

It is great to know there are people on this forum who can help with all different kinds of questions.

To be able to discuss game used/worn baseball issues and East Asian languages, together in the same thread, is an absolute thrill.

Robert