An interesting postcard

Question

According to my information, this postcard was sent from Japan to Russia, and probably in 1945.
Needs a translation badly and nobody has seemed to care since then. I suppose that the historical kana usage can take place here. Front of the postcard Back of the postcard

P.S.: Yes, a translation request, but definitely not the usual case, somewhat intricate, otherwise I would be able to translate it myself. Yet feel free to close it if you think that it just does not fit.

OMG First time I have ever been moved by something on SE! This postcard belongs in a museum with two addresses on it --- both were parts of Japan back then but both are foreign countries now. Incredible! — , Feb 19 '14 at 14:07
They will close this thread shortly, I am sure. If they do, contact me by leaving a message in the chat room. I can read and understand every single character and word on this with no problems. — , Feb 19 '14 at 14:47
@TokyoNagoya The community decides what to close, so if people don't vote to close a question (even if it would normally be considered off-topic), it will stay open forever :-) — , Feb 20 '14 at 02:57
http://oshiete.goo.ne.jp/qa/8483045.html I made a question about this on 教えて！goo. Answer No.2 notes a lot of the same things which I found strange about this text but no definite answer... — Robin, Feb 20 '14 at 05:38

score 11 · Accepted Answer · edited Feb 19 '14 at 17:34

郵便はがき postcard. 大日本 Dai Nippon "big Japan" or "Japanese empire". 樺太 Kara Futo, Sakhalin. 大泊町 Oh Tomari Cho, literally means "big harbor town". 東 east. 三条 3rd street. 南 south. 一ノ十一 one hyphen eleven.

髙橋 Taka Hashi, family name. 久男 Hisa O, a male name. 様 polite addressing like "Sir".

北満 Hoku Man, northern Manchuria. 龍江省 a Chinese geometric name, literally means "dragon river state". 狐池(fox pond) or 狐地(fox land). ニテ means "at", he wrote this letter at the 狐池 in 龍江省 of 北満. 久友 Hisa Tomo, a male name, the writer of this letter. 満巽 Man Tatsumi, I don't know what Man Tatsumi means.

謹賀新年 A Happy New Year. 皆 everyone. すこやかに healthy. 元気 vigorous. です is (indicates present tense).

手紙 a letter. 一通 one, 通 tsu is a numerical unit (nominal measure word) for letters. を indicates object of a verb. 出しません don't write.

でした was (indicates past tense, I didn't drop a line). が but/although. 然して (shikou si te) although. 悪い bad. 心 heart.

から from. でわありません is not.

此の this. 写眞 or 写真 photo. は is/equals. 北満 northern Manchuria. - The following two characters I can't read; it is の町 "town of" - thanks Earthliŋ :-)

の of. 夕 evening. X(寒 cold) -> O(暮 sunset) - thanks Tokyo Nagoya :-)

支 China. 満 Manchuria. の of. 雪 snow.

I think [満]{みつる} and [巽]{たつみ？} are male names. — , Feb 19 '14 at 15:40
It seems to me that the recipient location is the 大泊町{おおどまりちょう} town and 東三条南 can be a whole street name toponym written in kana as ひがしさんじょうみなみ. — nikkou, Feb 20 '14 at 13:50

broccoli facemask · Answer 2 · 2016-02-15T15:58:19.207

Front upper:

郵便はがき Post Card (right-to-left)

大日本樺太大泊町
東三条南一ノ十一
1-11 Higashisanjō-Minami (South of East 3rd St.), Ōdomari-chō (town, now Korsakov), Karafuto (Sakhalin), (EMPIRE OF) JAPAN (recipient's address)

髙久男様 Mr. Hisao Takahashi (recipient)
^{(Not sure if 髙 is the legal name or merely handwriting variant of standard 高橋)}

北満龍江省ノ孤地ニテ
At (=from) a remotest place in Ryūkō (Longjiang) Province, Northern Manchuria

久友 Hisatomo(?)
巽 Tatsumi
満 Mitsuru(?) (senders)
^{(lack of family names suggests they are of the same family with the recipient)}

Front lower:

謹賀新年 Happy New Year

□す _{(□ seems to be an erroneously written 比 instead of 皆)}

皆すこやかに元気です
手紙一通を出しません _{(を may be an error of も)}
でしたが然して悪い心
からでわありません _{(わ should be は in correct spelling)}
Everybody is fine and healthy.
We did not send a single letter (or one of letters), but that was not out of ill will.

此の寫眞は北満の町
の夕暮
The photograph is dusk of a town in northern Manchuria.

^{(The text contains an apparent error and sounds somewhat stiff.)}

Back:

雪の滿支 Chinese continent in snow (right-to-left)
^{(This is the name of a picture postcard series)}

An interesting postcard

2 Answers2