Hogitaro Inada & Albert J. Koop 
Japanese Names and How to Read Them [PDF ebook] 
A Manual for Art-Collectors and Students, Being a Concise and Comprehensive Guide to the Reading and Interpretation of Japanese Proper Names Both Geographical and Personal, as Well as of Dates and Other Formal Expressions

Whilst the greatest effort has been made to ensure the quality of this text, due to the historical nature of this content, in some rare cases there may be minor issues with legibility. Japanese names may therefore justly claim to be a pioneer work. Its most prominent feature is inevitably a Dictionary of the Chinese Characters used in writing Proper Names, accompanied bv their various Readings and a sufficiency of actual Examples to illustrate their use in this connection, singly or in combination. For the especial benefit of the collector, this Section of the work – as well as much of the preliminary matter to which further reference will be made – has been extended to cover the interpretation of Dates and other items of conventional phrase ology, which occur with such frequency on Japanese works of art. Those who are inclined to fight shy of dictionaries may be reminded that the only conceivable alternative, to keep pace with even the collector’s more limited requirements, lies in a well-nigh illimitable series of facsimiles or transcripts of actual signatures, etc., a series which, apart from its unwieldy bulk and prohibitive cost, would be. Incapable of any intelligible arrangement.