Short translation help needed

[johnwolf]

Would anyone be able to translate a phrase for me? I'm interested in learning the meaning of the two lines on the bucket that is most clear in the attached photo. This is near a cemetary in eastern Kyoto. Thank you.

John

[laurel]

Hi John,
So, you have been to Kyoto? I used to live there for 8 years. That is a lovely city, isn't it?

As for your question, I can recognize each character of "貴道昂". The first one means noble and precious ("貴族" means aristocrats, and "貴重品" means something valuable). "道" indicates way ("道路" means road, "道理" means the way of things). The final one, "昂", indicates a strong emotion ("激昂" means wrath).

I don't, however, know what this phrase exactly means; so that I checked it by Google. It seems that 貴道昂 is the name of an antique shop in the west part of Kyoto. I guess that the bucket is a donation from that shop to the temple. You see, on other buckets Japanese names are written. In the case of the 貴道昂 bucket, it was a gift from the shop, not an individual. Maybe the antique shop owe something to that temple.

"昭和六十一年三月新調" means that bucket was renewed on March of 1986. "昭和" means the reign of the former emperor, Hirohito. It starts from 1925 and ends with his death, 1989. "三月" is March.

Well, did I answer your question successfully?

[johnwolf]

Thanks, Laurel. My son and I just spent eight days in Kyoto. We loved it. Especially the bamboo forests of Arashiyama.

The bucket is in a shop that sells incense and other goods, including these buckets, presumably to be used to maintain a loved one's grave site. So I'm not so sure about the antique shop translation. But the rest give a clue. Thanks.

I should have asked the shop owner. Thank again.

John

[masaegu]

The three kanji in question is the name of the owner of that bucket, the first two representing his family name and the last his given name. I'd refrain from typing how it's pronounced because it is an existing person's name. In Japan, people don't donate buckets to temples...never. Temples have much more money than most 'people'!! It's only customary for families to keep their own buckets and utensils at the temples where they have family graves so that they can go and clean the graves at times. And since this has to do with death, people are not willing to lend /borrow these utensils. All the other buckets in the picture also have individual names painted on them. The rarity of this person's family name, however, may well have confused laurel. It would many other Japanese, too.