Quote:
Inocencio Maramba wrote:
There are so many instances of "Same sound, different character (kanji)" that can trip up someone with little or no knowledge of Nihongo.
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Especially when homonyms are used consistently by Japanese to accomplish (mystical) union (sic). All the time. "AI" in aikido and love, as above, e.g. Also, as per
http://www.furyu.com/onlinearticles/Iizasa.html :
"Iizasa is noted for saying "heiho wa heiho nari." It is a play on words. The first heiho can also be read hyoho; it means the military methods. The second heiho is written with the characters for peaceful methods. Thus, Iizasa was saying that the warrior arts should be arts for peace. This refers to a long-held belief among many martial arts masters, or bugeisha, that the highest level of expertise was in being able to win without fighting (arawazu ni katsu). "
Given this propensity for straight-faced punning, I wonder if "JI" has any resonance with HIJI, elbow, for Japanese as JUJI NAGE leverages the elbow. I would bet that "JU", 10/cross has such resonance with JUDO's "JU"...
Fun stuff. Thanks for the question.