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Twelve Kingdoms
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mvrdrk)
Yes the vocab stuff is a little bats-driving until you see the kanji, or get to Rakushun's lecture explaining things, whichever comes first. Taika is womb (I see it's unborn child in chinese) 胎 + fruit 果. Kaikyaku is sea guest. Rakushun is a half-beast hanjuu 半獸
What drives me a little battier is that the kings and kirin are given names that sound like the name of their kingdom but use different kanji. Youko's future kingdom is 'prosperous' Kei 慶 but she's called the vista king: Kei'ou 景 王. The neighbouring (and truly prosperous) country of En is Wild Goose 雁 but the good-looking king thereof is called King of Delay En'ou 延王 teehee.
You don't call Keiki, whose name means Kirin of Prosperous, by that name. Politely he's Kei Taiho 景台輔: Vista Throne's Assistant, I think is what that comes to in Japanese. Male kirins' names end with the ki 麒 of kirin (which I find is the male of the species- learn something every day) and females' with rin 麟, which is the female. Thus, Keiki, but his hapless counterpart in Kou, Kourin.
(So what about those cross-dressers over in Han-was-it? I suppose... if they're always formally called Han'ou and Han Taiho, there's no telling.)
mvrdrk)Yes the vocab stuff is a little bats-driving until you see the kanji, or get to Rakushun's lecture explaining things, whichever comes first. Taika is womb (I see it's unborn child in chinese) 胎 + fruit 果. Kaikyaku is sea guest. Rakushun is a half-beast hanjuu 半獸
What drives me a little battier is that the kings and kirin are given names that sound like the name of their kingdom but use different kanji. Youko's future kingdom is 'prosperous' Kei 慶 but she's called the vista king: Kei'ou 景 王. The neighbouring (and truly prosperous) country of En is Wild Goose 雁 but the good-looking king thereof is called King of Delay En'ou 延王 teehee.
You don't call Keiki, whose name means Kirin of Prosperous, by that name. Politely he's Kei Taiho 景台輔: Vista Throne's Assistant, I think is what that comes to in Japanese. Male kirins' names end with the ki 麒 of kirin (which I find is the male of the species- learn something every day) and females' with rin 麟, which is the female. Thus, Keiki, but his hapless counterpart in Kou, Kourin.
(So what about those cross-dressers over in Han-was-it? I suppose... if they're always formally called Han'ou and Han Taiho, there's no telling.)
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I couldn't figure out why in the world Keiki and Taiho seemed to be the same person. I thought my Japanese had gone out the window completely.
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I got from the anime that Taiho was a polite form of address but if'n I don't see them kanjee I don't know what they mean.
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I have the Koushiki Anime Gaido. (Holds up copy (http://www.amazon.co.jp/exec/obidos/ASIN/4063349233/qid%3D1114355560/249-6443147-7246754) to show the class.)
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From the "liner notes" on the DVD (is that what those are called? My brain doesn't seem to be functioning yet this morning) I got that Taiho was another word for the kirin. Close but then not really. ;)
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So *natch* the kirin of a country isn't called by his name even though his name means only Kirin of This Country. (Parallels to daughters in Republican Roman families always welcome. FWIW- they didn't have personal names. Clodius' daughters, all ten of them, were called Clodia: daughter of Clodius. Presumably One, Two and Three for distinction purposes.) Your kirin is properly and indirectly referred to by his title, Advisor to the King of Kei, or whatever. I mean, he *matters*. You can't call him by *name.*
What tickles me more is this 'oh but we mustn't use the real kanji of the kingdom to write the king's name, let's use a hononym to be safe/ respectful.' Must read the novels some day to find out if that's the reason, but it seems likely. Even romaji-raised me can see the danger that comes from embodying a name in a kanji: a little picture that's a microcosm of the real thing. Romaji words can be taken apart and used elsewhere, but kanji/ hanzi...
Someone once told me, and either she or I may have got it totally wrong, that when a Chinese emperor took the throne a certain note was identified with his reign and never played thereafter. This means, I assume, that consequently you played the Ode to Joy without A major; which seems daft. Maybe everyone then composed new tunes for the current reign.
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The not-using-the-country's-kanji makes instinctive sense to me, but I didn't realise it until Rakushun's much-needed recap. XD
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...though y'know, what gave me pause about reading JK was the memory of how black-with-kanji Chinese-based things are (the names dear god the naaames). Maybe katakana is a good idea at that.
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In term of emperor's name it's not just the hanzi which are forbidden, but all homonyms are forbidden as well, for both reign name & birthname. So the substituation is actually with a sound that is similiar to, not but exactly like the name, for example substituting any 'huang' sounds with 'wang' instead. So the effective practise is that during any given reign all homonyms of the forbidden characters get new pronounciations. In fact this is how people date poetry based on the rhyme. In addition any character with similiar meanings is also forbidden, though I'm a bit hazy on the exact practice. This also actually applies within an extended family as well. For example, a truly stickler to Confucian principles would also not use any character in his father's name or say any character that sounds like his father's name, though obviously not all families has enough learning or enough patience to do that.
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Exacatakly!
I still don't understand westerners who keep telling me the Chinese should abandon hanzi and convert entirely to pinying because it would be so much easier for everyone. They really have no idea how clueless they are, even the ones who are more fluent than I.
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That's why the part of the Japanese ability exam I always fail is such a bitch- they give you words spelled out in kana and you have to guess which kan'you it is from context. This involves having a huge vocabulary, whereas you can guess the meaning of an unknown word from its kanji. Characters are /useful/.
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Thank you!!!! All that kanji makes things much clearer! The kids were laughing over the introduction of the king of En. 'Hi, I'm En, the king of En, En.' and now it all makes perfect sense. Still, I'm going to pick up the novels, probably for the summer, because ... well just because. And because there are a lot of volumes.
I've especially got to thank you for 雁, I've picked up a CD of classical palace music and my favorite piece is 'Goose Alights on Flat Sand' which the spouse claims makes no sense at all, especially when I titled it to him as 'something or other Lands on Flat Sand'.
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