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Can someone identify this stamp in a Bible that allowed my roommate's Grandpa to keep it in a POW camp in WW2?

Normally Bibles would have been forbidden but apparently this stamp that was inspected regularly allowed him to keep it throughout the war. He never knew what it said only that it let him keep it. I'd like to be able to tell him what it means before he passes on.

Stamp in WW2 Japanese POW Camp Bible

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    That has some neat history behind it!
    – ajsmart
    Jun 20, 2018 at 14:14

1 Answer 1

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It says 「檢閲濟{けんえつずみ}」"ken'etsuzumi", which means "inspected". The kanji are of the old style.

The presently-used kanji are 「検閲済」.

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    +1 Of course. I feel like this answer could benefit from a romaji rendering too, considering (no offence or anything!) the OP probably isn't a Japanese language learner or speaker and may not be familiar with Hiragana. (I certainly came here from the HNQ and there must be others with limited knowledge of Hiragana who are nevertheless interested in this item as a historical artefact)
    – Au101
    Jun 21, 2018 at 20:20
  • @Au101 The romaji for 「けんえつずみ」would be "kenetsuzumi." Here's a dictionary definition in English: m.romajidesu.com/dictionary/meaning-of-検閲済.html
    – cloveapple
    Mar 25, 2019 at 13:21

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