Could it be Japanese ? I know hiragana and the middle character of the bottom line is "no", which is a preposition like "of" or "to". The one before it is for "wood" when it's on its own, but characters seem to change when paired up. I'll ask my wife in the morning if you don't have an answer by then.
Yes, my friend says it's Japanese as well. But she says the first line says "Treasure Country".. (The rest she doesn't know, as she's Chinese.) HTH
It is Japanese, and reads 'National Treasure' at top and below 'Great Buddha of Kamakura' in old-style kanji. Here is the big guy himself, with a sign: http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/n...n-japan-tablet-with-kanji-picture-id450289135