Sakimori

What is the translation and kanji for sakimori? I'm looking for something that translates to Noble Defender.

It is written as 防人, someone who defends, and it means soldiers or guards placed at strategic positions (in ancient Japan). When a Japanese person reads that word, please note, it comes with a historical connotation already. It does not have the meaning of "noble" init.

Historically, warriors weren’t considered noble in Japan. Imperial family or nobles had never owned troops, and they just hired Samurai when they need arms. The 17th Century Portuguese-Japanese dictionary states that the difference between Samurai and Bushi is that a Samurai is who serves nobles and a Bushi is not. So you can said that samurai is closer to the term “defender”, but really, there was no particular class focused on defending someone or something with noble causes. Warriors throughout the history of Japan were considered un-noble, and lower ranked class that deals with death.More closer to bandits and warlords.

Sometimes the particular warriors were chosen to defend places, such as Sakimori, made up by commoners who were sent to Kyushu area to defend lands against Chinese invaders or Korean pirates (7~9th c), Kenbishi (12th c), which was the police force of Kyoto, Hokumen-no-Bushi (13th c), the army to defend the palace in the warring time, or Hatamoto (17~19t hc), who were the defenders of Edo castles made up by younger sons of lords. But as AK mentions, Japanese associate these occupations/ranks as particular connotation in the particular time of the history, and nothing equivalent to “noble defenders” that I can think of.

I see. I'm a police officer and I was hoping to have this engraved on a rifle. My first thought was Shimigami but I figured that would not be appropriate for a policeman's rifle. ありがとう

How about Niou（仁王）?

It's a guardian of the holy world popularized during the rise of Samurai (13th c), and their statues usually stand at the front gates of large Japanese temples. You may not like it due to the association to Buddhism, but when Japanese hear the name, we think of an ultimate Lawful Good.

http://bit.ly/Wsg39j (images of Niou)
http://bit.ly/11nEkBs (Cooler font)

I'd opt for Bishamonten(毘沙門天), aka. Vaiśravaṇa: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vai%C5%9Brava%E1%B9%87a
Excerpt:In Japan, Bishamonten (毘沙門天), or just Bishamon (毘沙門) is thought of as an armor-clad god of warfare or warriors and a punisher of evildoers. Bishamon is portrayed holding a spear in one hand and a small pagoda in the other hand, the latter symbolizing the divine treasure house, whose contents he both guards and gives away. In Japanese folklore, he is one of the Japanese Seven Gods of Fortune.
I bought a beautiful but expensive bronze statue in Japan.

防人(sakimori) for police rifle is very cool!
As you said, 死神(shiNigami) is... scary(lol

By the way,
there is a famous song 防人の詩(Sakimori no Uta) by Sada Masashi.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjtmzOeRAMY