About old Japanese writing system and new Japanese writing system

　当ミュージアムは海外からのアクセスがかなりあるということが分かったので（これには理由があってそもそも日本印紙の収集家は海外に多いのである。この不思議な現象には明治にまで遡る複雑な理由があるのだが、それについて論じると話が大きくずれてしまうのでここでは扱わない）、恐らく海外の日本印紙収集家の最も苦労するところであろう、戦前と戦後の日本語の表記方法と漢字の違いについて簡潔にまとめておく（もっとも私は英語が得意であるという訳ではないので妙な表現や文法的誤りが見られるかも知れない。ご指摘頂けると非常にありがたい）。

My museum seems to be accessed from overseas. Therefore, I would like to briefly summarize the differences between prewar and postwar Japanese writing systems and Kanji(Chinese characters), which may be the most difficult for overseas collectors of Japanese revenue stamps (Although my English is poor...).

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　The Japanese writing system is very complex, with kanji, hiragana, and katakana used together. Moreover, there are significant differences in the way kanji and Japanese are written before and after World War II.

Before going into the main subject, I would like to write about the difference between "収入印紙（收入印紙）" and "収入証紙（收入證紙）".     "収入印紙" are revenue stamps issued by the national government, while "収入証紙" are revenue stamps issued by prefectural and municipal governments. In addition, "収入証紙" are sometimes described as "証紙," "領収証紙," "領収証票," etc.

〈Reading Direction〉

In prewar Japanese official documents and other documents written horizontally (Japanese at that time was generally written vertically), the characters are basically read from right to left, just as in Arabic script.

Let's take a look at the revenue stamps issued by Fukushima Prefecture in 1917.

It is read from right to left as indicated by the red arrows.

Let us now look at the revenue stamps issued by Fukushima Prefecture in 1961.

It is read from left to right as indicated by the blue arrows.

To summarize briefly, before World War II (until the late 1950s in some areas), sentences were read from right to left, and after World War II from left to right（However, there are many examples of reading from left to right before World War II, just as there are today）.

〈Old Kanji and New Kanji〉

This is the most difficult part, but there are significant differences in the Kanji(Chinese characters) used before and after World War II. Moreover, there are examples where old Kanji continued to be used for a while after the war and were finally replaced by new ones in the 1960s, and there are even examples where the old ones are still in use today. Thus, the history of old Kanji and new Kanji is complicated.

Let's look again at Fukushima Prefecture revenue stamps issued in 1917.

The top of the stamp reads "福島縣收入證紙".These are the old characters, and the new characters are "福島県収入証紙".

Let us look at revenue stamps issued by Fukushima Prefecture around 1950.

The upper part of the stamp reads "福島縣" and the lower part reads "収入証紙". When these are corrected to the new characters, they become "福島県" and "収入証紙," respectively, and it is clear that both the old and new characters coexist. Also,the part where the amount of money is written is written with the character "圓," which is the old form of "円(yen)".

Now let's take a look at Fukushima Prefecture revenue stamps issued in 1961, which were issued even later.

At the top of the stamp is written "福島県収入証紙".

Thus, it is normal for old characters to be replaced by new ones as history progresses, but there are some revenue stamps that continue to use the old characters today.

For example, Gifu City and Fukuoka City still issue revenue stamps with old characters.

In addition, the characters on Fukuoka City revenue stamps are still read from right to left. They are truly living fossils.

The following is a summary of the correspondence between the old and new characters that are important in the collection of Japanese revenue stamps.

old         new     meaning

收入         収入　　income

證紙         証紙　　revenue stamps（Stamps issued by local governments. or stamps issued by the national government that have special characteristics, such as no face value.）

印紙          〃         revenue stamps（Stamps issued by the national government.）

收入印紙    収入印紙    revenue stamps(General-revenue stamps issued by the national government.)

收入證紙    収入証紙　revenue stamps（Revenue stamps issued by local governments.)

圓             円          yen

錢             銭          sen

厘             〃　　　rin

國             国　　　nation

縣             県　　　prefecture(Ken)

府            〃           prefecture(Fu)

道󠄁            道           prefecture(Dō)

都󠄀            都           prefecture(To)

市            〃          City(Shi)

町            〃　　Town(Machi/Chō)

村             〃      Village(Mura/Son)

稅             税           tax

納󠄁稅         納税　    tax paymant

檢査         検査　　examination

手數料     手数料　commission

使用料　　〃         usage Fee

農產物     農産物　agricultural products

海產物     海産物　marine products

水產物     水産物　marine products

林產物     林産物　forest products

米穀󠄀         米穀       rice

木材          〃         lumber  

木炭󠄁         木炭       charcoal 　

製材　　　〃         wood products

發行         発行       issue

移出        移出        export

輸󠄁出        輸出        export

●Chinese numerals

old           new      meaning

一　　　　　〃　　　one

二　　　　　〃           two

三　　　　　〃           three

四　　　　　〃　　　four

五　　　　　〃　　　five

六　　　　　〃　　　six

七　　　　　〃　　　seven

八　　　　　〃　　　eight

九　　　　　〃　　　nine

十　　　　　〃　　　ten

十五　　　　〃　　　fifteen

二十,廿　　　二十　　twenty

三十,卅　　　三十　　thirty

四十,(卌)　　四十　　forty

五十　　　　〃　　　fifty

七十　　　　〃　　　seventy

百　　　　　〃　　　one hundred

二百　　　　〃　　　two hundred

三百　　　　〃　　three hundred

五百　　　　〃　　five hundred

千　　　　　〃　　　one thousand

二千　　　　〃　　　two thousand

三千　　　　〃　　three thousand

五千　　　　〃　　　five thousand

一萬             一万　　ten thousand

●Special Chinese numerals to prevent tampering

old           new      meaning

壹                  壱　　　one

貳,貮,弍          弐         two

參,叄             参          three

拾                  〃          ten

●Prefectures of Japan

old           new       meaning

北海󠄀道󠄁       北海道　　Hokkaido

靑森縣　　青森県　　Aomori

岩手縣　　岩手県　　Iwate

宮城󠄀縣　　宮城県　　Miyagi

秋田縣　　秋田県       Akita

山形縣　　山形県       Yamagata

福島縣　　福島県       Fukushima

茨城󠄀縣　　茨城県       Ibaraki

栃木縣　　栃木県       Tochigi

群馬縣　　群馬県       Gunma

埼玉縣　　埼玉県       Saitama

千葉縣　　千葉県       Chiba

東京府　　　〃           Tokyo（〜1943）

東京都󠄀       東京都        Tokyo（1943〜）

神󠄀奈川縣　神奈川県     Kanagawa

山梨縣　　山梨県        Yamanashi

長野縣　　長野県        Nagano

新潟縣　　新潟県        Niigata

富山縣　　富山県        Toyama

石川縣　　石川県        Ishikawa

福井縣　　福井県        Fukui

岐阜縣　　岐阜県        Gifu

靜岡縣　　静岡県        Shizuoka

愛知縣　　愛知県        Aichi

三重縣　　三重県        Mie

滋󠄁賀縣　　滋賀県        Shiga

京都府　　京都府        Kyoto

大阪府　　　〃            Osaka    

兵庫縣　　兵庫県         Hyogo

奈良縣　　奈良県         Nara

和歌山縣　和歌山県      Wakayama

鳥取縣　　鳥取県          Tottori

島根縣　　島根県　　　Shimane

岡山縣　　岡山県          Okayama

廣島縣　　広島県          Hiroshima

山口縣　　山口県          Yamaguchi

德島縣　　徳島県         Tokushima

香川縣　　香川県          Kagawa

愛媛󠄁縣　　愛媛県          Ehime

高知縣　　高知県         Kōchi

福岡縣　　福岡県         Fukuoka

佐賀縣　　佐賀県         Saga

長崎縣　　長崎県          Nagasaki

熊本縣　　熊本県          Kumamoto

大分縣　　大分県         Ōita

宮崎縣　　宮崎県         Miyazaki

鹿兒島縣　鹿児島県      Kagoshima

沖繩縣　　沖縄県         Okinawa

※岩手縣 is also written as a 巖手縣

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Practice

This is a stamp issued before WWII for the inspection of wood products in Hyogo Prefecture. Note that although this is a pre-WW2 stamp, it reads from left to right, just as it does today.

Now let's try to decipher the letters!

First, the area indicated by the red oval has the character "縣", which can be judged to be the name of a prefecture.Since "兵庫" means "Hyogo", we can  understand that it was issued by Hyogo Prefecture.

Next, let's look at the area indicated by the yellow oval. Since "製材" in "製材檢査" means "wood products" and "檢査" means "examination," we can see that"製材檢査" means "inspection of wood products". And let's also look at the part circled by the brown oval. The word "收入証紙" means "revenue stamps". Let's connect this with the "製材檢査(inspection of wood products)" mentioned earlier. We can see that "製材檢査收入証紙" means "wood product inspection stamps".

Finally, let's look at the green oval in the center. As you can see, this shows the value. Complex Chinese numerals are not used here, so the only problem is "錢". Since "錢" is the monetary unit "Sen", we can understand that the value of this stamp is 1 sen.

Thus, the stamp was identified as a wood product inspection stamp （value  1 sen）issued by Hyogo Prefecture.

By the way, you may have noticed the symbol displayed at the top of the stamp. This is the old prefectural emblem of Hyogo Prefecture.