Funky character for "a"

[Jani Patokallio]

Stumbled into this old ad today:

http://2bangkok.com/09/Thailand-1968/19681108aoyama.jpg

What on earth is the first character in the name? A very cursive or
hentaigana version of 阿?

Cheers,
-j.

[Ben Finney]

Jani Patokallio <ja...@contentshare.sg> writes:

> http://2bangkok.com/09/Thailand-1968/19681108aoyama.jpg
>
> What on earth is the first character in the name?

The characters are 「阿おやま」 written in fairly standard “grass”
(so-called “cursive”) style.

> A very cursive or hentaigana version of 阿?

Nothing particularly unusual about them; perhaps you're unfamiliar with
the grass style? The writing of the one you asked about is quite close
to the grass-style shown at index number 346 in my Halpern's NJECD.

--
\ “The truth is the most valuable thing we have. Let us economize |
`\ it.” —Mark Twain, _Following the Equator_ |
_o__) |
Ben Finney

[Ben Bullock]

On Fri, 26 Jun 2009 15:05:40 +1000, Ben Finney wrote:

> Jani Patokallio <ja...@contentshare.sg> writes:
>
>> http://2bangkok.com/09/Thailand-1968/19681108aoyama.jpg
>>
>> What on earth is the first character in the name?
>
> The characters are 「阿おやま」 written in fairly standard “grass” (so-
called
> “cursive”) style.

There are some links to useful graphics on Wikipedia:

http://www.albany.edu/eas/205/hentaigana.pdf
http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/rose.jpg

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