Please Id this Japanese plate

Having said left in view of the bottom character I have been through all 600 pages of my Kanji book and haven't found the top character.

 

Left still makes more sense to me, but if I am wrong, I am wrong.
Looking at the left image, I recognize part of the top character, and the first stroke (top line) is a natural start if you write it with a brush, from thick to thin, left to right.
The bottom character has a natural end stroke in the lower right hand corner, that doesn't look like a natural beginning of a character.

 

Your reasoning seems to me very linear and appreciable

 

Still could be wrong though.

 

left. i cant find the exact same mark but i think it says Kuni sei 国製.

 

Left won

 

I would expect the mark to be the right way up when the plate is the right way up?
Strangely, the bottom character in the left hand photo looks to be the right way up, but the bottom character in the right hand one does too!
And I would concur that it would be 20th Century, 30s-50s - can't say exactly why, just a gut feeling from the way it's painted.

 

thanks a lot for your help