Translate some handwritten kanji i got as a gift please?

[kibishi]

I got this paiting as a gift, its very hard for me to read handwriting, could someone please give me a hand pleeeease?

img107.imageshack.us/img107/4050/imagem001vk0.jpg

Many Thanks

[undrentide]

First of all, it is not in the right direction... it should be rotated 90 degree (clockwise).　;)
It is written from top to down, and from right to left.

The text is the first part of 竹取物語（taketori monogatari/The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter) which is supposed to have been written in the 10th century. Like Canterbury Tales are very different from the present English, Japanese language at that time is very different from the modern Japanese.

今は昔、竹取の翁といふ者
ありけり

野山にまじりて、竹を
とりつゝよろずのことに
使ひけり
名をばさかきの造となむ
言ひける

その竹の中にもと光る竹
なむ一筋ありける
あやしがりて寄りて
見るに、筒の中光たり
それを見れば三寸ばかり
なる人いとうつくしうて
ゐたり

(rough translation)
Once upon the time, there was a person called the Old Bamboo Cutter.

He went into the fields and mountains, cutting bamboos to make them into various utensils.
His name was Sanuki no miyatsuko.

Among the bamboos he found the one which glowed at the base.
He wondered and went up to it, to see its inside was shining.
He looked into it and found a person of 3 sun (= approx. 9cm) who is very beautiful.

http://www2s.biglobe.ne.jp/~Taiju/taketori.htm (http://www2s.biglobe.ne.jp/%7ETaiju/taketori.htm)
Original text of The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter (Japanese)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tale_of_the_Bamboo_Cutter
About the story (Wikipedia)

[kibishi]

Thanks 1000000000x :D

[kibishi]

Just this one more please? very tiny.

[Mike Cash]

Just this one more please? very tiny.

あらたよ（？）の
としの
はじめのよろこびを
もうしあげます

[JimmySeal]

Just this one more please? very tiny.
Where did this come from? It looks like a January birth announcement or something.

[Mike Cash]

Where did this come from? It looks like a January birth announcement or something.

More like a New Year's card, judging by the content.

[undrentide]

あらたまの　aratamano
としの toshino
はじめのおよろこびを hajimeno oyorokobi wo
もうしあげます moushiagemasu

It's a very polite and a little old-fashioned greeting for the New Year, which is roughly translated as "I would like to express the joy for the New Year".

あらたまの（新玉の） ... this is called makura-kotoba, it's a kind of old rituals to add a certain word to a specific word, but does not always means any specific thing.
としのはじめの（年の初めの） of the start of the year
およろこびを（お喜びを） joy, pleasure, celebration
もうしあげます（申し上げます） to express

[Mike Cash]

I never would have guessed the あらたまの. Given the context, and knowing that あらた likely meant "new" (as in 改めて）, it was pretty easy to work out that it was a New Year's card.

This is actually one of the easiest to read of all the calligraphic things I've seen. It really helps once one knows that し usually gets dragged straight down with no curve at all.

[Nagato]

A little bit off topic maybe.
No kanji at all in that handwriting. Does it has any special meaning?

Add:
Why don't we have thread for 枕詞 list.

[undrentide]

Japanese Wikipedia about 枕詞 has a list, maybe not a complete but might be interesting.
http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%9E%95%E8%A9%9E

[Mike Cash]

A little bit off topic maybe.
No kanji at all in that handwriting. Does it has any special meaning?


I think this explains it well: http://tinyurl.com/26sctr

[JimmySeal]

More like a New Year's card, judging by the content.
I guess I kept reading 年の初めの喜びを申し上げます and kept hearing "Announcing the first joy of the new year" in my head, which did seem a bit of a strange thing to say, but it didn't make sense to me as a New Year's card either.


Incidentally, aside from being a 枕詞, the combination あらたまの年 has the specific meaning 新年.

[Nagato]

I think this explains it well:

Thanks, I've read it.
But my question is that some times I read hiragana-only text.
Is there any special meaning (polite, elegant, etc)?
When we use hiragana-only text, and when use kanji is better

P.S.
Error message:
"You do not have enough posts yet to add URLs to third-party websites."
So, I can't insert URLs yet, no?

[JimmySeal]

Thanks, I've read it.
But my question is that some times I read hiragana-only text.
Is there any special meaning (polite, elegant, etc)?
When we use hiragana-only text, and when use kanji is better

P.S.
Error message:
"You do not have enough posts yet to add URLs to third-party websites."
So, I can't insert URLs yet, no?
I believe in this case it's probably because hiragana is seen as intimate and simple, and therefore well suited for a New Year's card. Unless you're planning on designing greeting cards or writing children's books, you don't need to worry about writing things in all hiragana.

I think you need 20 posts to start posting URLs. But you can be sneaky and, for example, put a space between ht and tp, or something like that.

[epigene]

But my question is that some times I read hiragana-only text.
Is there any special meaning (polite, elegant, etc)?
When we use hiragana-only text, and when use kanji is better

If you see the image, you can see that is it not only written in hiragana but in calligraphic style. It is called "cursive kana calligraphy," sometimes called "onna-de (women's writing)" because women of Heian court wrote in hiragana.
It was written intentionally so as a form of art.

Calligraphy Styles

There are three basic style: kaisho, gyousho, and sousho. Kana might be added as a fouth style. Kaisho, a block style with little movement, is also called shinsho. Gyousho is an intermediate style neither as stiff as kaisho nor as flowing as sousho. Sousho is a highly cursive style written with swift strokes. Its freedom and aesthetic appeal has made sousho very popular with calligraphy masters.

Kana originated in the more extreme forms of sousho. Because it was the primary script for Heian women, kana was at one time referred to as onnade (women's writing). Kana developed with the growing popularity of waka poetry. Compared to the boldness of Chinese characters kana is elegant and refined. Japanese calligraphy is judged not only by its surface beauty and meaning but also by the calligrapher's character.

From: Calligraphy styles (http://www.wanogakkou.com/culture/010000/010600_e.html)

[Nagato]

I see.
皆ありがとう。:thankyou:
:note: :note: :note: