Deciphering a kanji from a mug


Oh dear. I know much this site hates these sorts of things. Sigh. Here I go.

OK. I have a mug which a friend gave to me many long years ago. They weren't
Japanese; they just thought it was a nice mug and figured I could read it.
Which at the time, I couldn't. Here are four pictures showing the written
text.

[![かち](https://i.stack.imgur.com/cW4Ge.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/cW4Ge.jpg)
[![読めない漢字](https://i.stack.imgur.com/bexKu.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/bexKu.jpg)
[![ことは](https://i.stack.imgur.com/2Yn4T.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/2Yn4T.jpg)
[![仲よき](https://i.stack.imgur.com/4cWvU.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/4cWvU.jpg)

I can actually read most of this: 仲よきことは？しきかち。

I have some guesses for the kanji I can't read: 美しい or 楽しい. In fact, a web
search brings up the following

> 仲よきことは美しきかな

But I'm not sure that that character really looks anything like 美. I'm just
guessing at 楽.

What say you all?




Here, I may as well add this as an answer now.

「仲よきことは美しきかな」 is almost certainly what it is. This appears to be a well-known
phrase, and it matches this print I have (although it's preceded by 「いつの日も」) .

[![phrase](https://i.stack.imgur.com/D2FzU.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/D2FzU.jpg)

Sometimes the 「かな」is written with the kanji 哉. Also, as pointed out by
@chocolateさん, the [な on your cup is a
変体仮名](http://www.benricho.org/kana/na.html) which is why it's kind of looks
like ち.




Here, I may as well add this as an answer now.

「仲よきことは美しきかな」 is almost certainly what it is. This appears to be a well-known
phrase, and it matches this print I have (although it's preceded by 「いつの日も」) .

[![phrase](https://i.stack.imgur.com/D2FzU.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/D2FzU.jpg)

Sometimes the 「かな」is written with the kanji 哉. Also, as pointed out by
@chocolateさん, the [な on your cup is a
変体仮名](http://www.benricho.org/kana/na.html) which is why it's kind of looks
like ち.

