Japanese sound symbolism Puns

Most of you have probably heard doki-doki or maybe even pika-pika, but did you know that Japanese has literally thousands of onomatopoeic ideophones? You'll often see them in the background of manga alongside more traditional onomatopoeia like "bam" (ドン don!) and "crash" (バタン batan). In Japanese, these tangible sounds are presented in a similar way to the intangible.

Here's just a few examples of the intangible sounds these things make:

くよくよ (kuyokuyo) worrying about trivial things which have passed

もじもじ (mojimoji) paralyzed by embarassment

ぐるぐる (guruguru) rolling around, often in laziness or comfort

ごろごろ　(gorogoro) something heavy rolling around

もやもや (moyamoya) at a loss for what to do

いらいら (iraira) annoyed or ired

よぼよぼ (yoboyobo) wobbly-legged (spec. with old age)

ちゃきちゃき (chakichaki) working efficiently, moving along nicely

These are used in conversation when you basically want to say, "When I saw that, I was all ______!" It's really fascinating.

Japanese also has tons of crazy specific noise-based onomatopoeia, including different distinct words for the sound of walking on grass, snow, or leaves.

There's a great list of all the very many kinds of onomatopoeia in Japan here.

So anyway i'm readin part 6 right now and every sound (i guess?) is not translated, here's how it looks like

https://preview.redd.it/rxjfg8ulec051.png?width=295&format=png&auto=webp&s=92e1b85724fbad1d0144bde3a6a902242de5db9f

Is there any other translation that has those translated aswell? i feel like they add some depth, so i care about those.

To the best of my knowledge, Puyi was promised a restoration of his Chinese empire by the Japanese. When they put him in power as a puppet it happened to be in Manchuria. Seeing as the Japanese had this land because of previous conflicts, I can see how this would just be a coincidence. Even if it is, did the Japanese government have any symbolic purpose behind this decision?

i just had to post it once i saw it ゟ

Someone will probably make a video at some point but it would be fun to have a live discussion as people discover things along the way.

I came across this interesting video about how products are named based on sound symbolism. I’ve seen some of y’all mention how you don’t jive with certain letters or vowels (or have a strong preference for others!) and I think this video pretty accurately sums up why!

I'm referring to the Japanese under the wows logo on the website's promo page (here: https://na.wargaming.net/shop/wows/main/11290/), not the gibberish Japanese on the actual skin itself. That's Heart Sutra from Buddhist texts.

The line here actually is taken from the Chinese poet Li Bai's work "Bidding Farewell to Meng Haoran at the Yellow Crane Tower": "孤帆远影碧空尽，唯见长江天际流". Because Japan's heavily influenced by ancient China, especially Tang dynasty where Li came from, it is unsurprising to see a Chinese-inspired text here.

In short, the poem describes Li Bai bidding farewell to his poet friend Meng Haoran as he sees the latter sailing off to Guang Ling (modern day Yang Zhou, China) down the Long River (Chang Jiang). These 2 lines are the 3rd and 4th of the poem, which reads:

故人西辞黄鹤楼，(My friend bids me farewell as he ventures from the Yellow Crane tower)

烟花三月下扬州。(Upon a bright March in Spring, he sails for Yang Zhou)

孤帆远影碧空尽，(A lone sail slowly fades into the distant azure sky)

唯见长江天际流。 (What remains, at long last, is Long River flowing endlessly into the horizon)

How this relates to Yamato is that the 3rd and 4th lines aren't for describing the scenery, but rather how Li Bai's focus is on the small boat his friend is on as it slowly fades into the horizon. It encapsulates Li Bai's earnest wishes of good luck for Meng's sail, and desire to meet him again in the future. This resonates with Yamato's experience too, as she sails off from Tokuyama for Okinawa to engage in the final suicide mission. What results of that for the legendary battleship is common knowledge for everyone here. This poem, written 1200 years prior to Ten-Go, finds resonance in the eyes of the Japanese sailors who remained in port as they waved off their legendary battleship one last time.

While I'm not really a fan of Kobayashi's camo design, I find this particular usage of poem to be rather fitting, and truly amusing. Hope you all can appreciate it too!

I am currently reading R. Murray Schafer's 'The Tuning of The World' and found this bit on the soundscape of the European post horn. Especially interesting i found the ban on carrying the horn in present day Austria, what would the penalties have been for sounding the horn in a non-postal context back in the day? Also, the non-muted horn code system wasn't that easy to make sense of either, given the 6 month learning curve!

Another sound of similar character which was also ubiquitous on the European scene was the post horn. It too persisted for centuries, for it began in the sixteenth century when the administration of the post was taken over by the family of Thurn and Taxis, and as the postal routes extended from Norway to Spain so did the horn calls (Cervantes mentions them). In Germany the last post horns were heard in 1925. In England the post horn was still in use in 1914 when the London-to Oxford mail was conveyed by road on Sundays. In Austria, horns were also heard until after the First World War, and even today no one is permitted to carry or sound a post horn, thereby enhancing the sentimental symbolism of the instrument (Article 24 of the Austrian Postal Regulations, 1957). The post horn also employed a precise code of signals to indicate different types of mail (express, normal, local, packages) as well as calls for arrival, departure and distress, and indications for the number of carriages and horses-in order that the changing stations might receive advance warning. In Austria a recruit was given six months to learn the signals and if he failed, he was dismissed.

Through the narrow streets and across the country landscape the post horn was heard, in the villages and the alleys of cities, at the gates of castles above and by the monasteries below in the valleys-everywhere its echo was known, everywhere it was greeted joyfully. It touched all the strings of the human heart: hope, fear, longing and homesickness-it awakened all feelings with its magic.

Thus the symbolism of the post horn worked differently from that of the hunting horn. It did not draw the listener out into the landscape but, working in reverse, brought news from far away to home. It was centripetal rather than centrifugal in character and its tones were never more pleasant than when it approached the town and delivered its letters and parcels to the expectant.

(page 47)

I'm about to write a small study on which numbers commonly occur in idiomatic yojijukugo, and whether the choice of numbers seem to have a cultural connection or are simply chosen arbitrarily in order to fit the saying. For example, as is well known the number 'four' in Japanese is in many situations avoided because of it having a shared reading with the character for 'death'. My hope is to investigate if the numbers in yojijukugo are picked or avoided specifically because of these types of meaning.

What I'm looking for is basically any good books, articles or websites on yojijukugo, specifically their meanings and their origins.

Also any information about number symbolism in Japanese culture would be very helpful. For example the book 'The Japanese numbers game: the use and understanding of numbers in modern Japan' has a chapter touching on this topic, however I would want even more in depth information if possible.

I could make use of both material in Japanese and English and any tips are greatly appreciated! I should perhaps mention however that the information must be somewhat scientific, or at least be very trustworthy.

Thanks in advance!

i've just re-watched season 1 and you tend to catch some details missed when you see the entire show again. I remembered the shooting range being prominent in numerous episodes, but can't figure it out. Is to remind us how the FBI of the 70s was still focused on fighting 1930s era gangster crime while a new breed of criminal was in their midst?

as you can see, dennis is not feeding a goat - this represents the fact that, 17 years later, he would be the first member of the band to die

It's based on the ouroboros, symbol of the infinite cycle of self-consumption and self-creation. Important symbol in Carroll's Liber Kaos. Basically mine's a restatement as well as a negation of what it represents.

Other inspirations were Coatlicue, Aztec goddess (mother and devourer of the gods and all life, very much a Chaos symbol) depicted with two serpent heads; and the Erisian 'clashing arrows' symbol.

It's an ouroboros-like tail biting attempted by a two-headed snake (amphisbaena). The symbol is thus flipped: instead of an eternity of tedious and predictable circularity, it represents a sort of eternal tipping point: infinite and lawless uncertainty in which it is unpredictable which end of the snake will swallow the other. I've seen similar depictions but I dunno if it has an established name. I call it a cephaloboros meaning 'head eater', as ouroboros means 'tail eater'.

https://preview.redd.it/6jc82v1ygex11.png?width=540&format=png&auto=webp&s=3d8901ab4ec00e05f3bd2f343409f0cfb670fd1d

I'm gonna start off with a TLDR so you can get the gist: Why do Japenese people so strongly believe in superstitions and symbolisms, particularly in the food of Oshogatsu?

EDIT: I should rephrase my question: how do Japanese people today perceive the traditions, rituals, and symbols that are commonly present and observed in the culture, specifically in the food made for Oshogatsu? I am trying to understand this deeper than the "tradition" of the thing; please read below.

I'm writing a paper on the symbolisms, superstitions, traditions, etc. in Japanese culture -- specifically for this paper, I'm using the food of Oshogatsu (New Year's in Japan) as the vehicle for understanding it better. (The food itself is called "osechi ryori").

There's an endless number of articles on all the different dishes served for Oshogatsu and what each of them symbolize. What I can't find anywhere is an answer to my big question: why? Where are the ideas coming from? I've been reading a lot about the ancient religious mythology and roots behind some of the ideas. But I've also been reading that many of the religious rituals are being practiced without the religious context to them.

So, is it religion? As an example, I read somewhere that osechi ryori is eaten “by using chopsticks that are rounded on both ends; one side for humans to use, one side for the gods” (Dinh). So, do modern Japanese people follow the traditions specifically because they believe the gods are affecting their lives as a result of their osechi ryori preparations?

Is it conscious superstition? For example, Kuromame (slow-simmered sweet soybeans) symbolize fertility. So is it, “if I eat this, I will be more fertile”? And if so, why do they believe that superstition? What do they believe is the force behind the cause and effect?

Or is it just tradition? Like Hishimochi (color-layered rice cakes) where the pink represents plum blossoms, white represents the snow of waning winter, and green represents new, fresh growth of spring. So here they are just observing a traditional idea of what those colors represent, but what does that really mean to them?

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for your input!

EDIT: I'm seeing quite a few downvotes on this. Just a heads up -- I love Japan and its culture. My questions in this post are spoken with a positive & open mindset. My apologies if anyone has taken offense; that's not my intention at all.

For some countries have inflections(? Not sure if that's what they're termed) of their names that can be used to mean a particular person from that country. (Usually, but not always, the inflection(?) is also what the language used in that country is called.)

For example (in no particular order): a German, an American, an Australian, a Korean, an African, a Russian, a Mexican, an Italian, a Norwegian, a Greek, an Indian, a Mongol, a Bolivian, an Ecuadorian, a Malaysian, a Singaporean, a Filipino

But for other countries, there is no inflection that sounds normal when used this way.

For example (in no particular order): a French, a Spanish, a Japanese, a Polish, a Chinese, a Portugese, a Caribbean, a Danish, a Swiss. None of these sound natural to me.

Is there a reason that some countries' names can be used this way but some can't?

(P.S. is my title grammatically correct? I just realized it sounds awkward, for reasons unrelated to what I described in the post.)

symbolism (ex. surrounding yourself with archetypical symbols like in rennaisance paintings or watching movies with archetypes like disney)

conscious (ex. talking with your ego to your unconsciousness by simulating a perspective where you see it as a seperate person/entity)

An understanding of Japanese culture may shed light on other references and symbolism that, maybe us in the west will overlook. Here is a few basic ones.

1. The color white is the color of death worn at funerals throughout history. White Flowers are usually associated with death particularly the chrysanthemum.

2. The Japanese view butterflies as souls of the living and the dead. They are considered symbols of "joy" and longevity.

3. the number "4" is the number of death, as the word for number 4 "shi" is very similar to the word for death. apparently there are some hospitals built without 4th floors

4. Mirrors in ancient Japan represented truth because they merely reflected what was shown, and were a source of much mystique and reverence

"Meme, Gene, Scene"

Kojima's use of references is important to understand as it is parallel to the core themes in the series. (repetition and patterns throughout culture and history) i.e history repeats its self, computers work through algorithms and logic, thus doomed to repeat.Along with the nature of humans to copy adapt and evolve.

example; In TPP V has "108 foreign bodies in his X-ray" which is a reference to Buddhism about the 108 "sins of man" http://www.virtuescience.com/defilements.html

"Dr. Strangelove" is a Movie by Stanley Kubrick about nuclear proliferation. In "2001" (Kubrick) an A.I is destroyed by effectively removing its brain. (in the form of chips) PW pods?

With the lack of story and the abundance of symbolism I expect there is much more to the base game than most see. A picture is worth a thousand words! (maybe)

Morale boost!: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkfCJrljvKA

I also love Berserk, and I heard Kafka on the shore is good

###Vowels

Laetia associates its vowels with a hierarchy of respect. This is (primarily) applied in its honorific system, which looks like this:

They're always used when referring to anything regarding humanity, like names, titles, and professions. Not using any of these when referring to a person indicates distate or even hate toward them. An exception is the word for human itself, Hiba; honorifics may be used to indicate the speaker's relationship with the unspecified person being mentioned.

These vowel-respect hierarchy, however, isn't applied to any words' PoS (part of speech) other than the honorifics (I may make a version of Laetia with vowel harmony using this but I don't have the motivation to do that). Some words, though, do use it, signified in their first syllable. Examples include Hiba (whole humanity as a family), U Ufiśe (a term for lover), and A Balodrae (leader of a certain faith).

###Consonants

Laetia sorts its consonants into three categories: "physical" for nouns (and verbs in the instrumental case), "abstract" for verbs and adjectives, and "transparent" for sounds that don't determine a word's PoS. Here's what it looks like:

Because of this sorting, it's (kinda) easy for Laetia