Edokko,
Thanks for the comments and corrections to my posts.
I cannot explain the odd markings on those two rounds and you could be correct that they were enhanced somewhere along the way. I do know that I never paid any premium for them because of the special markings. Most of these rounds have been in my collection for 15-30 years and I haven't paid over $30 or $40 for a T89 shell, ever. Well, that's not exactly true.....in a weak moment I bought an original Japanese cutaway of the T89 at the SAR show a year ago for almost $200. I showed it briefly to Doss and a few of the other guys there who translated the small wood tag attached to it as "Type 89 heavy shell". If I can find where I put it, I'll take a few photos and add them to this thread.
Anyway, when I see something oddly marked and offered as some scarce variation, I'm always suspicious of someone trying to make a buck. But when such items are true sleepers and purchased for the same or less than a normal example, it just increases the mystery for me. Why the heck would someone have written incorrect mortar related information on that shell? They could just have easily written "strained beets...15 yen". It would have looked the same to me for the last 20 years. My primary interest in that round when I picked it up was the placement of the yellow band at the top instead of the center of gravity. I've seen a few others like that and have never figured out what that particular variation meant, but that feature does seem original. Now the markings have me scratching my head even harder but, nevertheless, thanks for the details!
Regarding the posssible Mukden round, I'll have to look later. It's down in my shop behind a lot of drifting snow tonight and I'm busy feeding the fire and trying to keep warm.