Once again Chris you impress me with your knowledge and ability to convey a message on how names are derived. This change in your work shows your true passion for this sport and has ignited a fire in me to learn as much as I can from you and other sources about Sumo. I look forward to more as always and once again Thank you very much for these informative videos.
AWESOME! Thanks Chris, more of this sort of thing would be great. Also, I'd love a walkthrough of all the yobidashi och gyoji with a bit of their background.
本当に面白かったです。ありがとー！I always wondered where the name Tochinoshin could come from, since "Heart of a chestnut" didn't have any sense for me (unless there are a lot of chestnuts in Georgia...). That was super interesting. Thanks !
That's quite a lot of pressure on many of the top rikishis shoulders based on the translation/interpretation of their names, as you said. A ripper of a video again, cheers! These do more than well to tide me over until the Basho starts.
Thanks Chris , Great stuff. Very interesting. I was wondering specifically about Tochinoshin. Obviously he had a long upbringing in the sumo way in Japan.
My god what a great video!!! Exactly the kind of information I was longing for since I started watching sumo!!! You mentioned many rikishis change names once they get to the higher divitions... and those names had to have some important meaning for them! Now... something I still dont understand quite well is Why do they have to change name again when they retire but remain in the sumo asosiation. They dont go back to their birthname nor they retain their rikishi name.... why is that?
To remain in sumo after retirement as active rikishi, they have to buy or borrow elder stock and assume the corresponding name that comes with it. Stock and names are limited and handed down by oyakata who retire at the age of 65 (or leave the kyokai altogether). Here’s more information: www.japantimes.co.jp/sports/2018/06/13/sumo/byzantine-rules-govern-sumos-name-shares/ oyakata.seisa.de/
Hi Chris. This was a very interesting video. I would love it if you could do a longer version sometime in the future and talk about other famous wrestlers (past and present) shikona. Perhaps a series of videos???. Thank you very much for publishing this one.
Thanks to this and the special prizes video I've had the most enlightening week yet of my sumo fandom. I've been to 2 Honbasho in the last year and a half so that's really saying something. Fascinating stuff Chris. I would personally pay you to do another video finishing off the names of the rest of the Makuuchi division! It's really hard to find accurate information on the subject. Epic stuff 👍🏻
This was one of my favorite of your videos, Chris. Please do more of the names it's fascinating! I don't know enough kanji to figure them out myself most of the time.
Great video. Always wondered the meaning of the names since a I saw a video mentioning that Osunaarashi's name means "Great Sandstorm" or something like that, for obvious reasons. Definitely would like to see about the other main rikishi active now. Kaisei, maybe? (fellow Brazilian).
IIRC, Osunaarashi's last two characters can also be pronounced "sharan", which is fairly close to his birth surname. The "sei" in Kaisei is a reference to the "Sao" in "Sao Paulo", where he is billed from. Indeed, it's actually fairly interesting to learn where the names of foreign wrestlers actually come from (eg. Furanshisu from his given name, Wakaichiro from his surname and given name, and for historical wrestlers, Sentoryu from his hometown). The stories of Japanese wrestlers are only interesting in the upper divisions if only for the fact that many wrestle under their own surnames (give or take a stable tradition) and only adopt a proper sumo name if they make it big.
Any chance that you would be able to find out the origin of Canadian rikishi Homarenishiki's shikona? I know he's retired but as a Canadian sumo fan I'm really curious.
Great video! I have actually been wondering this for a while now. I don't know much Japanese, but names like "Ichinojo" have parts in it I can understand, which lead me to think at least some of the names did mean something. What I was missing, though, was the historical context with stable founder's kanji being added, maybe a kanji from a school or place of birth, etc. When I plugged "Tochinoshin" into Google Translate, it seemed to come out to something like "Heart Land", but I was missing that the "Tochi" was used in honor of the stable founder and that came from a region.
Many thanks Chris! I do have one question though - 鵬 and 鳳 are both “hou” in Japanese. The latter definitely means phoenix, but the former, which is the kanji in Hakuho, can mean a different creature. Do we know for sure that the 鵬 in 白鵬 refers to a phoenix?
Our Man In Tokyo comes through again! Chris, these between basho videos are fantastic and I greedily devour them as soon as I can. I impatiently wait for a chance to view them like a heroin addict standing in line at the methadone clinic.
We are all addicted. Most everyone who is first exposed to sumo is an instant fan. Your comment is so well put. The Between Bashos Blues is a real condition.
i'd like to see more of these. the history is interesting. can you do more past yokozuna and ozeki? akebono, harumafuji, terunofuji, kotoshogiku and baruto come to mind.
At the end, its primary purpose is to be easy to be recognized(and to be unique) by the fans, much like racing horse names. There seems to be a trend over time. There were many names with geological features in the past such as Yama(mountain), Kawa(river) Tani(canyon) Umi(ocean) etc. We don't see many of those today.(at least not as many as it used to be)
In Takakeisho, the kei (景) can form the phrase keiki (景気), can't it? which means prospect or prosperity. Taking also that taka reads the same as 高, takakeisho can then mean a high prospect of winning (maybe?)
The same show Chris mentioned when talking about Takakeisho had Abi explain his name. Abi was his stablemaster's childhood nickname when his parents misheard "oh baby" as Abi.
1:51 The Sarus Crane is the _tallest_ flighted bird (2m !!) and it’s Gruiforme buddy the Bustard is the _heaviest_ bird (20kg+ !!) but neither are the _largest_ by wingspan or volume.
If Kei Sho can be written differently to mean "inherit" rather than "scenic or picturesque", why was it not written this way and the warlord reference left as a possible meaning? The only reason I can think is that the choice of names for rikishi generally seem to have an element of "let's obfuscate the name and make it as obscure and difficult to figure out as we possible can"!
This is a prime video! Wow! I would like to drop a question here: what it means the shikona HARUMAFUJI? And why the wrestler was named AMA before he had his shikona changed to Harumafuji? Finally, can a shikona be changed freely? Thanks, Chris for the amazing job here!
日馬富士（Harumafuji).日 means Sun.His master wants him to be the existence which warms a positive over sumo world.馬 means horse.A horse is the part of the home in Mongolia and the person himself would be glad, too.富士 means same 6:06.His master's previous heya name 安治川（Ajigawa).He gave him the part of the name 安.安 means steady.but another means cheap.So His master changed his shikona.When being approved by a sumo wrestling society, shokona is changed freely.
Are Japanese able to read these names just from the characters alone or do they need to be first told which pronunciation of each character to use in this case?
*WOW!* . . . the google translation app got it REEEEEALLY wrong then! Told me Hakuho meant *_"One Hundred Steps."_* Tamawashi meant *_"Onion."_* (WTF??) And that Goeido meant *_"Degree Of Escort."_* But at least Tochinoshin was correct. But still!... 😆
Chris, maybe the answer is something obvious, but I am a big noobie in sumo facts and one thing about Hakuho's name is making me curious. In certain moments his name is shown Hakuho Sho, so what means that 'sho'?
I wanna know what Enho means. When looking up his name I saw his full sumo name was Enho Akira. Akira means bright or shining I'm pretty sure, I don't know Enho though.
Enho I will get on to in a post later this week. The "ho" is the same as Hakuho - Phoenix. And the "En" is actually "flame up" or "blaze." Hakuho chose the name. His reasoning is: "I want his small body to blaze both on the inside and especially from within."
@@chrissumo69 Wow! Thank you so much, it really means a lot to me that you answered my question. Enho is my favorite wrestler. Got moved up to Juryo #2 for this next Basho.
The "maru" kanji 丸 in Chiyomaru means "circle" in Japanese, but I find Chiyomaru's kanji to be funny because in Chinese it's used in the word for "fish ball." I'm more familiar with Chinese so I always translate his name in my head as "thousand year fish ball." Gotta love Chiyomaru.
Yeah turns out he had a different name chosen which he wasn't allowed to use because it was too similar to another wrestler's name. So his stable master took a look at him and went "hmm round - ok your name is chiyomaru".
ah, the world's largest flying bird. well the crane certainly is the tallest. though largest to me denotes size and weight. i was always taught the mute swan or its american counterpart were the largest flying birds (up to 15kg/33lbs) though google says the male kori bustard of africa can reach 18kg/39.6lbs. the bird with the largest wingspan is generally accepted to be the wandering albatross though 👍
Ahhhh 100% translated information with zero % ego. 2022 here...too bad you changed Good reporting here. No mind reading or biased opinions. Too bad you changed.
I'm 28 seconds in, look Hakuho does not mean White Phoenix. The character "Ho" in this scenario is better translated as "eagle". I'm not sure exactly whether it is a real animal or mythical beast but for sure it is a predator bird similar to a hawk or eagle. Please, don't spread misinformation..
Okay what about the rest then? If you're gonna dissect the first name. Do the rest so you can show us the "proper" meanings. Are they all correct after the 1st one or are you cherry picking small differences in translation?
@@JMSONE look I stopped watching after the first one because there is no way anyone who understands Chinese characters can mistranslate that. The characters are not at all similar.
the first character for Pheonix (鳳凰) looks similar to the "Ho" in "Hakuho" and the pronunciation in Japanese is also similar, so this can lead to confusion...
By the way what is "phoenix"? I'm a sumo fan, Japanese, know 鵬 and phoenix are not equivalent, however White phoenix doesn't bother me at all. Both 鵬 (or鳳; Ho) and 鳳凰 (Ho-o) are mythical bird-like creatures in ancient Chinese mythology, you can't translate those kanji as real-world birds. As long as phoenix is mythical bird-like creature, White phoenix sounds right for me.
MORE OF THESE VIDEOS PLEASE!!! I knew some of the meanings but you explain them in much more detail than I could get on my own! Thank you!
As a japanophile and a newly obsessive sumo fan, this video was super enlightening. I never knew the names were honorific almost.
Proud of my fellow Georgian Tochinoshin Ozeki
You are delivering again m8.
Great video.
Absolutely fascinating. Thank you, Chris. I have always meant to ask you for an explanation of their names. Glad you read my mind :)
Once again Chris you impress me with your knowledge and ability to convey a message on how names are derived. This change in your work shows your true passion for this sport and has ignited a fire in me to learn as much as I can from you and other sources about Sumo. I look forward to more as always and once again Thank you very much for these informative videos.
Very nice. For us novice watchers of the sport. We appreciate the info. Thank you. Gratitude.
AWESOME! Thanks Chris, more of this sort of thing would be great. Also, I'd love a walkthrough of all the yobidashi och gyoji with a bit of their background.
maybe time for a refreshed 2021/2022 take!
本当に面白かったです。ありがとー！I always wondered where the name Tochinoshin could come from, since "Heart of a chestnut" didn't have any sense for me (unless there are a lot of chestnuts in Georgia...). That was super interesting. Thanks !
That's quite a lot of pressure on many of the top rikishis shoulders based on the translation/interpretation of their names, as you said. A ripper of a video again, cheers! These do more than well to tide me over until the Basho starts.
Thanks Chris
, Great stuff. Very interesting. I was wondering specifically about Tochinoshin. Obviously he had a long upbringing in the sumo way in Japan.
Chris, thanks for sharing, meaning and hearing them said, slowly helps a lot more learning about them ✌
My god what a great video!!! Exactly the kind of information I was longing for since I started watching sumo!!!
You mentioned many rikishis change names once they get to the higher divitions... and those names had to have some important meaning for them!
Now... something I still dont understand quite well is Why do they have to change name again when they retire but remain in the sumo asosiation. They dont go back to their birthname nor they retain their rikishi name.... why is that?
To remain in sumo after retirement as active rikishi, they have to buy or borrow elder stock and assume the corresponding name that comes with it. Stock and names are limited and handed down by oyakata who retire at the age of 65 (or leave the kyokai altogether). Here’s more information:
www.japantimes.co.jp/sports/2018/06/13/sumo/byzantine-rules-govern-sumos-name-shares/
oyakata.seisa.de/
Hi Chris. This was a very interesting video. I would love it if you could do a longer version sometime in the future and talk about other famous wrestlers (past and present) shikona. Perhaps a series of videos???. Thank you very much for publishing this one.
this is amazing i've learned a lot from your video!
it makes me love following the sport even more
Your videos are amazing!!! Perfect for us gaijins understand sumo
Thanks to this and the special prizes video I've had the most enlightening week yet of my sumo fandom. I've been to 2 Honbasho in the last year and a half so that's really saying something.
Fascinating stuff Chris. I would personally pay you to do another video finishing off the names of the rest of the Makuuchi division! It's really hard to find accurate information on the subject.
Epic stuff 👍🏻
Tochi no shin u really have heart of worrier, i wish u to win this basho ❤
This was one of my favorite of your videos, Chris. Please do more of the names it's fascinating! I don't know enough kanji to figure them out myself most of the time.
Can't fully imagine my sumo Addiction without you Chris. ❤️
Keep it up, love your dedication to sumo
This video was great! I'm learning kanji right now, so it was even more enjoyable.
Really interesting!! As others have commented; would love to see more of this!
Thank you so much for all the wonderful sumo content.
Great video. Always wondered the meaning of the names since a I saw a video mentioning that Osunaarashi's name means "Great Sandstorm" or something like that, for obvious reasons.
Definitely would like to see about the other main rikishi active now. Kaisei, maybe? (fellow Brazilian).
I started with sanyaku guys as they are most famous. Will of course go through the rest soon.
Most foreigner names are simpler to explain.
@@chrissumo69 yessss
IIRC, Osunaarashi's last two characters can also be pronounced "sharan", which is fairly close to his birth surname. The "sei" in Kaisei is a reference to the "Sao" in "Sao Paulo", where he is billed from. Indeed, it's actually fairly interesting to learn where the names of foreign wrestlers actually come from (eg. Furanshisu from his given name, Wakaichiro from his surname and given name, and for historical wrestlers, Sentoryu from his hometown). The stories of Japanese wrestlers are only interesting in the upper divisions if only for the fact that many wrestle under their own surnames (give or take a stable tradition) and only adopt a proper sumo name if they make it big.
*Desire to learn Japanese intensifies*
just do it! 一緒に頑張りましょう！
Ganbarre!
Chris, Have you given any thought to setting up a patreon?
Any chance that you would be able to find out the origin of Canadian rikishi Homarenishiki's shikona? I know he's retired but as a Canadian sumo fan I'm really curious.
Thank you. I enjoyed this video very much
Great video! I have actually been wondering this for a while now. I don't know much Japanese, but names like "Ichinojo" have parts in it I can understand, which lead me to think at least some of the names did mean something. What I was missing, though, was the historical context with stable founder's kanji being added, maybe a kanji from a school or place of birth, etc. When I plugged "Tochinoshin" into Google Translate, it seemed to come out to something like "Heart Land", but I was missing that the "Tochi" was used in honor of the stable founder and that came from a region.
Very interesting. There are quite some advantages with the logographic characters.
This site is underrated
What does ABI mean? In German it signifies graduating from highschool.
Many thanks Chris! I do have one question though - 鵬 and 鳳 are both “hou” in Japanese. The latter definitely means phoenix, but the former, which is the kanji in Hakuho, can mean a different creature. Do we know for sure that the 鵬 in 白鵬 refers to a phoenix?
Our Man In Tokyo comes through again! Chris, these between basho videos are fantastic and I greedily devour them as soon as I can. I impatiently wait for a chance to view them like a heroin addict standing in line at the methadone clinic.
We are all addicted. Most everyone who is first exposed to sumo is an instant fan.
Your comment is so well put.
The Between Bashos Blues is a real condition.
i'd like to see more of these. the history is interesting. can you do more past yokozuna and ozeki? akebono, harumafuji, terunofuji, kotoshogiku and baruto come to mind.
At the end, its primary purpose is to be easy to be recognized(and to be unique) by the fans, much like racing horse names.
There seems to be a trend over time.
There were many names with geological features in the past such as Yama(mountain), Kawa(river) Tani(canyon) Umi(ocean) etc.
We don't see many of those today.(at least not as many as it used to be)
Fantastic, I would like to hear the meaning of more names
In Takakeisho, the kei (景) can form the phrase keiki (景気), can't it? which means prospect or prosperity. Taking also that taka reads the same as 高, takakeisho can then mean a high prospect of winning (maybe?)
6:44 I think Chiyonofuji "Eternal Fuji/Fuji of 1000 generations" sounds pretty epic :) RIP Chiyonofuji
Fascinating! Thank you!
If i not mistaken Asashoryu ( 68th Yokozuna) means Morning Blue Dragon which is really cool .
You should put these sumo names defined videos in a playlist.
This is Awesome!!
The same show Chris mentioned when talking about Takakeisho had Abi explain his name. Abi was his stablemaster's childhood nickname when his parents misheard "oh baby" as Abi.
Im a simple man,
I see Big Tochi in thumbnail,
*I click*
And again good video nice!!!!!!
1:51 The Sarus Crane is the _tallest_ flighted bird (2m !!) and it’s Gruiforme buddy the Bustard is the _heaviest_ bird (20kg+ !!) but neither are the _largest_ by wingspan or volume.
Another great vid, bud
If Kei Sho can be written differently to mean "inherit" rather than "scenic or picturesque", why was it not written this way and the warlord reference left as a possible meaning? The only reason I can think is that the choice of names for rikishi generally seem to have an element of "let's obfuscate the name and make it as obscure and difficult to figure out as we possible can"!
Incredible !
Arigato Gozaimasu for the informative video :)
This is a prime video! Wow!
I would like to drop a question here: what it means the shikona HARUMAFUJI?
And why the wrestler was named AMA before he had his shikona changed to Harumafuji?
Finally, can a shikona be changed freely?
Thanks, Chris for the amazing job here!
日馬富士（Harumafuji).日 means Sun.His master wants him to be the existence which warms a positive over sumo world.馬 means horse.A horse is the part of the home in Mongolia and the person himself would be glad, too.富士 means same 6:06.His master's previous heya name 安治川（Ajigawa).He gave him the part of the name 安.安 means steady.but another means cheap.So His master changed his shikona.When being approved by a sumo wrestling society, shokona is changed freely.
@@lastmaru Thanks very much!
I hope Hakuho can fight in July. I just got into sumo and I’d love to see more of him.
I wrote it all down. Now I can brag about my education 😁🤣😉
Thought you might like it!
I dooooo, now I can fluently say “ryu” whenever I meet Japanese people 😀
Fantastic video.
Are Japanese able to read these names just from the characters alone or do they need to be first told which pronunciation of each character to use in this case?
in the broadcasts there is furigana above their names to assist in reading. it is the pronunciation of their names in hiragana
Need more of this videos
@1:50 the Crane is not the worlds largest flying bird. That title belongs to the Albatross.
Wonderful stuff. Cheers
*WOW!* . . . the google translation app got it REEEEEALLY wrong then! Told me Hakuho meant *_"One Hundred Steps."_* Tamawashi meant *_"Onion."_* (WTF??) And that Goeido meant *_"Degree Of Escort."_* But at least Tochinoshin was correct. But still!... 😆
what happen to Tochinoshin Tsuyosh?
Nice video👍🏽
Very interesting! Thanks! :)
Keep Goin'.
Chris, maybe the answer is something obvious, but I am a big noobie in sumo facts and one thing about Hakuho's name is making me curious. In certain moments his name is shown Hakuho Sho, so what means that 'sho'?
Since he chose the character "翔", Sho means flying, flight or to fly.
What about Harumafuji?
Many thanks.
thank you chris
Where is harumafuji?
Yes I wish I knew too
Now part 2!! ⭐⭐
Isnt the Albatross the worlds largest flying bird....or the Condor?
Do you know who is setting out this Basho?
I wanna know what Enho means. When looking up his name I saw his full sumo name was Enho Akira. Akira means bright or shining I'm pretty sure, I don't know Enho though.
Enho I will get on to in a post later this week. The "ho" is the same as Hakuho - Phoenix. And the "En" is actually "flame up" or "blaze." Hakuho chose the name. His reasoning is: "I want his small body to blaze both on the inside and especially from within."
@@chrissumo69 Wow! Thank you so much, it really means a lot to me that you answered my question. Enho is my favorite wrestler. Got moved up to Juryo #2 for this next Basho.
The "maru" kanji 丸 in Chiyomaru means "circle" in Japanese, but I find Chiyomaru's kanji to be funny because in Chinese it's used in the word for "fish ball." I'm more familiar with Chinese so I always translate his name in my head as "thousand year fish ball." Gotta love Chiyomaru.
Yeah turns out he had a different name chosen which he wasn't allowed to use because it was too similar to another wrestler's name.
So his stable master took a look at him and went "hmm round - ok your name is chiyomaru".
Somebody give me a Japanese name. I would love to have one
Awesome! You must have studied a lot about SUMO.
Very good, and knowning some japanese I can confirm that the meanings of the kanji given here are accurate
Thanks sir
Thank you !!!
crane is not the largest flying bird, it is the royal albatross, much bigger than any crane. nice vid tho chris san.
ah, the world's largest flying bird. well the crane certainly is the tallest. though largest to me denotes size and weight. i was always taught the mute swan or its american counterpart were the largest flying birds (up to 15kg/33lbs) though google says the male kori bustard of africa can reach 18kg/39.6lbs. the bird with the largest wingspan is generally accepted to be the wandering albatross though 👍
I'm goingto adapt the name Bokozuna when I'll make it to Sumo. Bokozuna doesen't mean anything but just imagine how cool yokozuna Bokozuna will sound!
Great video but the crane is not the world's largest flying bird
How about my homeboy enho???
Asanoyama MORNING MOUNTAIN a level higher than morning wood
White hawk not white Phoenix
How does a westerner possibly start to learn kanji with the thousands of available characters and their subtle differences as shown here?
takayasu is an ozeki
What does E. Honda mean? Haha just kidding. Though I wonder what his sumo name would be.
Hyakute, Hundred Hands.
Sylas I have seen that the "E" from E. Honda means Edmund
I don't know for the E....^^ But Honda written 本田 means "Origin(s) of the rice field(s)"...or..."Rice field(s) of the origin(s)"...
forgot about my boy enho
Largest flying bird is the Royal Albatross and not the crane.
Most likely they mean the biggest flying bird in Japan only.
crane is the tallest flying bird, even if it's not the bigger
There is no Royal Albatross in Japan.
Lets be honest, Hakuho should be Pink Phoenix
Japan has always taken their puns VERY seriously.
Ahhhh 100% translated information with zero % ego.
2022 here...too bad you changed
Good reporting here. No mind reading or biased opinions.
Too bad you changed.
I'm 28 seconds in, look Hakuho does not mean White Phoenix. The character "Ho" in this scenario is better translated as "eagle". I'm not sure exactly whether it is a real animal or mythical beast but for sure it is a predator bird similar to a hawk or eagle. Please, don't spread misinformation..
Okay what about the rest then? If you're gonna dissect the first name. Do the rest so you can show us the "proper" meanings. Are they all correct after the 1st one or are you cherry picking small differences in translation?
@@JMSONE look I stopped watching after the first one because there is no way anyone who understands Chinese characters can mistranslate that. The characters are not at all similar.
the first character for Pheonix (鳳凰) looks similar to the "Ho" in "Hakuho" and the pronunciation in Japanese is also similar, so this can lead to confusion...
By the way what is "phoenix"? I'm a sumo fan, Japanese, know 鵬 and phoenix are not equivalent, however White phoenix doesn't bother me at all. Both 鵬 (or鳳; Ho) and 鳳凰 (Ho-o) are mythical bird-like creatures in ancient Chinese mythology, you can't translate those kanji as real-world birds. As long as phoenix is mythical bird-like creature, White phoenix sounds right for me.
よく勉強してるわ