There are three stone monuments near the Usui Pass between Nagano and Gunma Prefecture in Japan. They are inscribed with succession of kanji numerals. I was intrigued by their cryptic look when I first read about them in newspaper (photos with captions) in 2019.
One of them reads:
八万三千八 三六九三三四七 一八二 四五十三二四六 百四億四六
("8 ten-thousand 3 thousand 8 3 6 9 3 3 4 7 1 8 2 4 5 ten 3 2 4 6 hundred 4 hundred-million 4 6")
The "8" at the beginning reads "ya", the following "ten-thousand" reads "ma", the following "3" reads "mi", the second instance of "3" reads "sa", etc. The numeral "3" may read "mi" or "sa" from the two forms of the Japanese numeral three: "mittsu" and "san."
In Japanese, such assignment of syllables to numerals is commonly used as a mnemonic to memorize a number. It works by converting a series of digits to some meaningful phrase, which is facilitated by multiple possible readings of each digit. (It's a bit like a polyphonic cipher.) I mentioned "codebooks" on the basis of such a scheme the other day.
In all, the inscription reads as a tanka poem:
山道は 寒く寂しな 一つ家に 夜ごと身にしむ 百（もも）夜置く霜
Ya-ma-mi-chi-wa sa-mu-ku sa-mi-shi-na hitotsu-ya-ni yo-go-to mi-ni-shi-mu momo-yo oku-shi-mo
(Roughly translated as "The mountain path is cold and lonely. In one house, it is penetrating to the body every night. For a hundred nights, frost falls.")
From a passage in this poem, this is called "hitotsu-ya no hi" (一つ家の碑). Photos are also found at Google Map (the text of the guide plate shown in a photo here is slightly different from the actual inscription), a page of the Karuizawa village.
Another is called "mi-ku-ni-fu-mi no hi" (みくにふみの碑). See also the Karuizawa village, Virtual Nakasendo.
四四八四四 七二八億十百 三九二二三 四九十四万万四 二三四万六一十
(4 4 8 4 4 7 2 8 hundred-million ten hundred 3 9 2 2 3 4 9 ten 4 ten-thousand ten-thousand 4 2 3 4 ten-thousand 6 1 ten)
よしやよし 何は置くとも み国書(ふみ) よくぞ読ままし 書(ふみ)読まむ人
(yo-shi-ya-yo-shi na-ni-wa o-ku-to-mo mi-ku-ni-fu-mi yo-ku-zo yo-ma-ma-shi fu-mi-yo-ma-mu hi-to)
(Roughly translated as "So be it. There is nothing like a precious national letter. It would have been good to read for people who are willing to read letters.")
The third is called a numeral poem of Watanabe Ikarimaro (1837-1915) (Wikipedia) (渡辺重石丸の数字の歌). See also a Usui Pass website.
四八八三十 一十八五二十百 万三三千二 五十四六一十八 三千百万四八四
4 8 8 3 ten 1 ten 8 5 2 ten hundred ten-thousand 3 3 thousand 2 5 ten 4 6 1 ten 8 3 thousand hundred ten-thousand 4 8 4
世は闇と 人は言ふとも 正道(まさみち)に 勤しむ人は 道も迷はじ
(yo-wa ya-mi-to hito-wa i-u-to-mo ma-sa-mi-chi-ni i-so-shi-mu hi-to-wa mi-chi-mo ma-yo-wa-ji)
(Roughly translated as "Although people say the world is a darkness, one striving for righteousness will not lose the way.")
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