On Kanda's Name

[symbolism-egg.livejournal.com]

I was reading the latest chapter when I noticed a sort of pun that overjoyed my inner language geek. The currently available scanlation doesn’t convey it, so I thought I’d share it here for potential discussion.

This has to do with the meaning of Kanda’s name.



On page 11 (page 12 on Mangastream), the top and central panels read something like:

The malignant weapons, the “Akuma”
The “Millennium Earl”
“Innocence”
“Exorcists”
The reason we were born,
And the reason we live—
It’s a world like a mitoshiro, where everything has been prepared.

I leave mitoshiro untranslated because there’s no direct English equivalent, and it’s the word I want to discuss. A mitoshiro is a rice paddy where rice is grown to be offered to the gods. It’s written 御戸代 here, although different Kanji can be used. 神田 (read shinden or kanda) is listed as a synonym. This meaning is also explained under the Japanese Wiki entry for 神田 (kanda).

So, essentially, Kanda and Alma are like the rice grown in order to be offered to the gods, and Kanda is directly comparing the research facility to the rice paddy. I was wondering why Kanda had a Japanese name, and I think this answers my question. For all that she has Americans named Jasdero and Skinn, and Chinese named Komui and Linalee, Hoshino gets some of her names very, very right.

Comments

[grey-damaskena.livejournal.com]

I . . . wow. Thank you so much for pointing that out. I never would have thought of that at all, but that's really perfect. ::in awe:: Now, I wonder-- did Kanda choose it himself, or was it given to him by the scientists?

[animegoil.livejournal.com]

You know, don't they just call him Yuu in that chapter? I don't remember them using 'Kanda' at any point-- and thinking about it, there would be no need for him to have a last name, either. So I'm thinking he may have picked it himself. (Which on another note, could maybe explain why he hates people using his first name so much-- it was the name given to him by the facility)

[symbolism-egg.livejournal.com]

Yes, it really fits his character.

It would have taken a twisted sense of humor for a scientist to name him that. And if Kanda gave it to himself, I wonder where he would have heard about mitoshiro/shinden. I still don't why Kanda as a character has a Japanese appearance (?) and name, though...

[lavilena.livejournal.com]

That’s some awesome point!
Thank for sharing! ^-^

[symbolism-egg.livejournal.com]

No problem, I thought it was pretty interesting.

[aorin107.livejournal.com]

Wow, that does make a lot of sense and it is very appropriate for the situation. It seems that Hoshino did put some thought in naming Kanda and it's nice to see how she hints it in the dialogue :) Thanks for sharing the info.

Komui and Lenalee, however, still confounds me though, that and Noise Marie and Howard Link are both listed as German 83

[symbolism-egg.livejournal.com]

Yes...the "god" Kanji is clear, but I had no idea 神田 was a religiously significant word as well.

Yes, the Chinese names are very much not Chinese. Noise Marie is odd, but I think we're just lucky Howard Link has an actual name.

[mittens-220.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the info and the clear explanation!

[symbolism-egg.livejournal.com]

Happy to share! :)

[tossino.livejournal.com]

That makes very much sense~ But it's somewhat sad too... :/ Kudos to you for finding that~

[symbolism-egg.livejournal.com]

Yes, it fits in further with the sacrifice theme, so it's something of a cruel name for Kanda.

[main-titles.livejournal.com]

Thank you for sharing this information. I love facts like these.

[symbolism-egg.livejournal.com]

Me too. It was an awesome new word to learn, and I found the connection rather exciting and had to share. <3

[sky]

It's extremely interesting, but I wish Hoshino would give some thought to what sorts of things would actually be possible or likely by in-universe rules when coming up with stuff like this :|a It doesn't seem very likely that an Asian boy being raised among mostly Chinese and white people, and presumably zero Japanese people due to the Earl's control over the islands, would be named after an obscure point of Japanese culture/religion.

[symbolism-egg.livejournal.com]

That's true. Symbolically it makes sense, but the question remains of why the heck anyone would name him that.

I could see making an homage to a fallen Japanese colleague or acquaintance named Kanda, but if anyone purposely named him after a 御戸代 then they have a twisted sense of humor. And considering how Kanda refers to it in the narrative, it makes even less sense...How would would he know about that tradition in the first place? If it were a commonly used comparison in Japanese, then it could be seen as a matter of different metaphors in different languages, but I've never seen that word before, and it appears to have been chosen very deliberately.

But now I'm reading too much into it. Considering it on a logical level still doesn't work. So yes, I agree.

[sakanagi.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the info! That's really interesting.

I'd really like to know who gave Kanda his 'family' name. If he picked it himself...I wonder if it's as a reminder of where he's from?

[symbolism-egg.livejournal.com]

It is, huh. :D

I wonder if Hoshino will go into it. If Kanda did name himself that in reference to the research facility, he's displaying way more self-awareness than I'd expect (but I suppose he already has, in this chapter). But where is Kanda from, really? Just a tank, or did they get children or embryos from somewhere? Why the Japanese connection?

If he isn't from the tank alone, there's a possibility it's the last name of his parents or a guardian, since "Kanda" is an actual Japanese surname, and a place name as well.

[morphinedementia]

Well, even if it's not what Hoshino has intended, it still makes a lot of sense! Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this.

(Poor Kanda. <3)

[symbolism-egg.livejournal.com]

I don't know if Hoshino intended from the beginning of the series for Kanda's name to be a reference to how he's an Exorcist grown in a tank, but her word choice here pretty much has to be a deliberate reference to "Kanda." Mitoshiro is not a common word.

No problem, discussions are fun. :)

Yes, poor Kanda...

[ylla19.livejournal.com]

Oh, interesting. It makes me proud as a DGM fan to know about these things. Makes me think that Hoshino has the manga thought out well, down to the characters' names.

It indeed fits his character very well. His very existence is indicated in what can be considered as his name.

AND YES. POOR KANDA. :((

[symbolism-egg.livejournal.com]

Well...a lot of the other character names kind of fail (see the above discussions), but Kanda's last name is perfect. Hoshino really put those symbolic references into "Kanda" and "Walker."

It kind of sucks for Kanda to have that last name, in a way...XD

[are-late.livejournal.com]

Hmm, that's interesting. But I still don't understand, I mean... We all know that Kanda actually does want to be referred as Kanda. In chapter 190, he's only referred as Yuu, though, and he doesn't have any problem with it. There is no mention of "Kanda" whatsoever. Does this mean that he picked that name, "Kanda" (神田) by himself, fully aware of its meaning?

[symbolism-egg.livejournal.com]

I've seen others mention how, because Alma and the others at the lab call him Yuu, he probably doesn't want to be reminded of that time in his life.

It's a mystery how or why Kanda has that last name. The reference in this chapter could just be a clever aside by Hoshino, and Kanda has never actually heard of a mitoshiro, which was just used as a figure of speech. From a logical perspective it's odd because I don't see how Kanda would have heard of something as obscure as a mitoshiro when Japan doesn't exist as a nation any more, but oh well.

[saphira112.livejournal.com]

Oh wow. Thanks so much for pointing that out! I feel so enlightened! :D

[symbolism-egg.livejournal.com]

No problem! I didn't want people to miss the interesting reference she made. :)

[dayadhvam-triad.livejournal.com]

Oh wow, that's very intriguing! Don't know Japanese, but the kanji you provide (神田）is called shen tian in Mandarin Chinese; or, literally, "divine/godly rice paddies." I wouldn't have known this if you hadn't pointed the kanji out, though. :D

As a side note on the origin of "Kanda," though, the Sikh flag carries the Khanda symbol (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khanda_(religious_symbol)), the components of which have curious meanings (http://sikhism.about.com/od/glossary/g/Khanda.htm): the 2 flanking swords symbolize spiritual & secular forces, the middle double-edged sword indicates the "ability of truth to cut through the duality of illusion" (y halo thar Mugen!), then a circle which represents infinity. Apparently there was a khanda blade (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asi_(Mahabharata)) called asi in Indian mythology of which Brahma said, "It shall effect the destruction of the enemies of the gods and restore the Dharma."

Of course this origin of Kanda is wholly unrelated to the mitoshiro meaning, but I wonder how much research Hoshino puts into some of her names. You have stuff like Lenalee Lee (I'll bet that patently non-Chinese name was given to her or something by the Order, who knows?), but then there's meaningful names like Kanda. :P Read the comments, and I think it makes sense that they called him Yuu initially, and that he later took on the name Kanda (even if he didn't know the meaning of "kanda," it must have amused Hoshino to slip it in ;)).

[symbolism-egg.livejournal.com]

Cool, so it's a Chinese-derived word too? That makes sense, because shinden uses the on-yomi (Chinese-derived readings), so it would have come from the Chinese. Kanda is the native Japanese reading...I suppose this indicates parallel traditions, as well?

Wow, that's really interesting too. Whether or not Hoshino actually knows the word khanda, that fits too. It could have more than one reference point. I recall past discussions about Kanda's tattoos, and they reached some interesting conclusions there as well.

I think Hoshino just makes a lot of her names up without much logic...but in other cases, she makes very fitting references, as she showed in this chapter. :D

Is that Sanskrit or Hindi in your username, btw?