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Meanings of character's names.

Sorry. I didn't use English.
What's hiragara translation?

hayakunero wrote:

日本語の知識をずいぶんお持ちですね。 abunaiさんなら分かってくれると思いますが、苺と一護は全く同じ発音？ではありません。強く言うところが違うんです。あと高低アクセントもあって、人の名前と物の名前ではアクセントが違うことが多いですね。私は関西弁ですが、共通語でも多分違うと思いますよ。まあ、外人さんにはどうでもいいことだと思うんですが。 こういう場合は発音が違うというのか、アクセントが違うというのか分かりません。どうなんでしょう？

For those of you who are interested in doing so, feel free to test your hiragana [& katakana & kanji] translation skills.

You really know quite a bit about Japanese, don't you? Abunai-san, I think you would understand; are the pronunciations of "ichigo" (strawberry) and Ichigo (name) completely identical? They are not. The stressed place in the words is different. There's also a significant high-low pitch accent difference between people's names and names of objects. Though I speak Kansai dialect, I think that these differences would probably be significant in standard speech as well. Well, to a foreigner, I suppose this issue doesn't really matter. In this kind of situation, I don't know if it's the pronunciation or the accent that differs. What do you think?

I know that this thread is about names but what is the difference between oni and yasha? Don't they both mean "demon"? Or do they refer to specific types of demons?

At any rate, I believe hayakunero on this; at my level of Japanese, I can't immediately tell the difference between those words, and for all I know, they're as homonymous as there and their. Time to go dig up an episode of Ichigo 100% that talks about "ichigo pantsu" and compare it to Ichigo's name in Bleach to see if I can hear a difference.

Zalis116 wrote:

At any rate, I believe hayakunero on this; at my level of Japanese, I can't immediately tell the difference between those words, and for all I know, they're as homonymous as there and their. Time to go dig up an episode of Ichigo 100% that talks about "ichigo pantsu" and compare it to Ichigo's name in Bleach to see if I can hear a difference.

Well now realizing that ichigo can be a composite form of protect and one I think many Japanese names are meant to convey meanings that add a little element to the story. I always thought the name Ichigo was in reference to his hair color, which is sort of a reddish blonde. But regardless of how a name is pronounced, wether its true meaning is obvious or not, I think names are meant to impart information to the viewer is some way. I like it better when a name seems arbitrary at first but when you start to break it up into all possible meanings it tells a story about the character.

Huh? please explain this...I don't get it

suna_suna wrote:

also, the four names Suzaku, Byakko, Genbu and Seiryu come up alot in anime (again Yu Yu Hakusho) and also video games (Tenchu 2). they are four deities i think

Yes, in lots of places. They are the names of the four gods or holy animals. Originally a Chinese mythological device, they were imported to Japanese mythology during the Heian period.

A complex symbolism has been built up around them, and they each have a number of corresponding symbolic values:

Suzaku - phoenix - South - Summer
Genbu - tortoise - North - Winter
Byakku - white tiger - West - Autumn
Seiryuu - dragon - East - Spring

Offhand, I can think of at least a dozen anime where the four animals play an important part, in one form or another. Fushigi Yuugi, Harukanaru Toki no Naka de ~Hachiyoushou~, Mahou Shoutengai Abenobashi, etc.

- abunai

The four gods were introduced into Japan earlier than the Heian period. In Japan there are ancient tombs which were built before the Heian period and have wall paintings of the four gods or burial furnishings with a design of the four gods. The Kitora Tomb is a famous example.

tenkado-shujin wrote:

The four gods were introduced into Japan earlier than the Heian period. In Japan there are ancient tombs which were built before the Heian period and have wall paintings of the four gods or burial furnishings with a design of the four gods. The Kitora Tomb is a famous example.

You are absolutely right -- my mistake. Obviously, the Kitora tomb indicates an earlier introduction, during the Yamato period. And equally obviously, the four gods might well have been introduced earlier, even though no evidence remains of such an hypothetical earlier import date.

Thank you for the correction -- I learned something new.

- abunai

I am very new to this, infact this is the first post I have posted so here it goes. I am trying to make a wall plack in the shape of a standing rectangle with our family's surname of Yokoi written in kanji symbols. I really have looked everywhere I could think of with no luck. My father did try to write it out for me but he said he wasn't sure, and you know that just a sim;le brush stroke could look the same but mean something different. So if anybody could translate our last name of Yokoi to Kanji symbols. Oh God that would be really great. Thank you all.

Another ubiquitous convention is to use "Hikaru," meaning "to shine" as a name for bright, cheerful girls, like in Kimagure Orange Road or Misaki's Angel in Angelic Layer. A variant on this is "Hikari," meaning "light" (as a noun), which was done (for plot purposes) in This Ugly yet Beautiful World. (Same with "Akari," meaning "brightness.") In that show, Hikari's last name also serves a purpose spoiler[it's Hoshino, so her name means "Light of the Stars."]