Big ask - part deux

[John C]

Hello again:

I have a better shot of the 4 characters on the front of the tobacco bon from an earlier post. I believe the bottom left is Ne (rat) but not sure of the others. Could be Chinese???

 

Thank you again,

John C.

[YourBabyBjornBorg]

Hi! Reading from top to bottom, right to left, this looks like 函冬君子...?  君子(Junzi, a core concept in Confucianism, roughly "gentleman", but really almost like "knight" in the western context,

 

in the sense that 君子 are known for their high moral principles and many virtues, say benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and trustworthiness,

 

what they call the five constant virtues, 仁义礼智信, which Japanese people also occasionally say, also the word 君子 sometimes gets swapped with 侍たるもの(he who is worthy to be a true samurai) in a Japanese context)

 

are for sure, corresponding to the orchid theme ( orchid being the gentleman in flowers, 君子花),

 

but I'm not sure what 函冬 is, perhaps 寒冬(harsh winter)? 函 and 寒 have the same pronunciation, and oftentimes homophones are interchangeable in old Chinese, although much, much more in Japanese.

 

And orchids are not really known for winter durability, that's for the three friends of winter, pine trees, bamboo trees and plum trees, so that's a little confusing.

 

I'm going to my weekly cursive one-on-one class in two days.....after avoiding it for a whole month, so maybe I can ask my teacher what this says, she graduated as a cursive major from one of the best art schools here.

 

(I'm still a little shy to ask her over WeChat orz)

[John C]

Thanks again, BJ. I really appreciate not only the translation but also the in depth meaning. It helps to figure out the overall theme intended by the artist.

 

John C.

[YourBabyBjornBorg]

Updates: Hi! My teacher and her husband (specialized in this exact style of cursive "行书", she does "草书" more) confirmed this does look like 函冬君子 and not much else.

 

We are still not sure about the meaning, though. Could be the author/owner's sign...?

 

Instead of 寒冬君子 (gentleman of cold winter), this could also mean a gentleman with the spirit of winter, for 函 could mean containing something,

 

my teacher says this sounds like a very good and meaningful pseudonym/art-name for an intellectual and she really like it.

 

( A "号", like Tanzan to Tanobe Sensei or Kanzan to Sato Sensei.)

 

 

 

We still have no clue what the second character could be in this (化 something 主人) orz

 

 

It's basically like this ↑ and there are way too many characters can be written like this, nothing came to mind that can be meaningful in this 化 something 主人. 

 

Hope this helps though! 

[John C]

Thank you, BJ. Very cool stuff. Your efforts are greatly appreciated. The meaning does make some sense as the "gentleman" could relate to the theme of the orchid. And the "cold winter" could refer to the strength of the orchid surviving and blooming in the spring. I'm not familiar with all of the meaning but it seems to relate somehow to Confucianism, according to some of the research on the Four Flowers / Four Gentlemen (orchid, bamboo, plum flower, chresanthemum).

Again, your efforts on this are stellar!

John C.