Saturday, February 13, 2010

Nippon Maru 日本丸



Stranded and alone
Life enduring the froth
Falling from the bows


So what is it with this post?

Well, I just learned something new that I thought other people might be interested in knowing... Heck you've probably known about it for years and just didn't tell me!
Have you ever noticed that Japanese boat names ALL end in Maru 丸　?

So what is it with Zero?

Japanese has a fair number of homonyms, どうおんいぎご　同音異義語. Words that share the same sounds, but have different meanings. This is because of the relatively small number of phonetic combinations that the Japanese Alphabet allows. So if that's case no problem, just pull out your i-phone or denshi-jisho and put in the info and you have the correct word, no big deal.... This time the definition just says, "Zero... and the suffix for ship names..." (very helpful isn't it).

In this case Maru 丸 does in fact mean, '0' or more precisely, a circle. The meaning is right before you. Maru is symbolic of the circular nature of a ships voyage and the desire for the ship to make it safely back to port at the end of its journey.(1)

So what's the Picture?

This is a photo of one of several ships that take to you out to the Naruto Straits to look at the Naruto Whirlpools. It is named Nippon Maru. I'm fairly certain it is one of many many many ships of the same name. You can see another ship named Nippon Maru, here at Muza-Chan's site

More Maru? No thanks... I'm full.

For another post dealing with a favorite 'Maru' of mine. Look at Harakiri Maru (Suicide Place) in Himeji Castle.
1-Ghost Soldiers: Hampton Sides, First Anchor Books, 2001; p204
2-Enso drawing; as seen on Wikipedia's post here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ens%C5%8D


-Special thanks to the Oura family for the opportunity to take this photo.
-Did anyone else enjoy the word play in the Haiku?...no...?


Here's the enhanced photograph of the boat. Check it out!
All photo's, original works, and comments are my personal property. Please be respectful of the effort I've taken.


Your comments are welcome, be polite:
No throwing pebbles in my pool of zen.
Posted by Pool O'Zen at 8:30 AM
Labels: ,

12 comments:

  1. Well I for one have been wondering this. And actually, the circle thing is kinda straightforward. Couldn't see the forest for the trees.

    I'm reminded of two other famous "marus" the Ehime Maru & the Kaiyo Maru.

    I shall be JapanSoc'ing presently Cap'n.
    ReplyDelete
  2. A very poetic or - better - philosophic way to dub Japanese boats.

    But furthermore, there used to be specific launching ceremonies for Japanese boats, too.

    Japanese ship launchings incorporate silver axes which are thought to bring good luck and scare away evil. Japanese shipbuilders traditionally order the crafting of a special axe for each new vessel; and after the launching ceremony, they present the axe to the vessel's owner as a commemorative gift. The axe is used to cut the rope which tethers the ship to the place where she was built.
    ReplyDelete
  3. Sorry, but this is a common misconception and, according to all Japanese sources I have seen, wrong.

    I used to think the same thing a number of years back, but when I asked my captain friends about it, they said this wasn't the case. As far as I can tell, it dates back to the Heian era, but there is no agreed upon reason for why it started - some say it came from the practice of using maro (麿) to refer to one's self. Maro got changed to maru.

    I see other explanations about suffixing one's prized personal possessions with maru. Or that ships seem to have a similar structure as a castle's citadel, and this used be called 本丸 or 一の丸, which is where the maru comes from.

    I have never once seen anything in japanese about "circle," but since that is the first thing I thought, can't say I blame ya for thinking the same thing. ;-)

    http://www.jsanet.or.jp/seminar/text/seminar_029.html
    http://www.funenokagakukan.or.jp/sc_08/index.html#09
    http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/船名#.E5.95.86.E8.88.B9.E3.81.AE.E5.91.BD.E5.90.8D
    ReplyDelete
  4. Well, I can't say this is the first time I've been wrong...

    I think the interesting thing about the history of words and such is that we can't get a definitive reason why it is so. I appreciate your references the will be useful to any other readers. (Though I must say... Google Translate does not do them justice...)

    This is similar to why we (Westerners) refer to ships in the feminine. I doubt many Captains can give a good answer to that either!

    You're expertise is always welcome here and I appreciate you taking the time to leave a comment.
    ReplyDelete
  5. U-we,

    Thanks for the comment. I wasn't aware of the silver ax send-off either.

    Thanks for stopping by again. I enjoyed your sushi pictures.

    I'm still holding faith that somewhere at sometime some Japanese Captain named his ship using the Kanji 'Maru' for the superstition it will bring his ship home safely!

    :)
    hahahahaha
    ReplyDelete
  6. No problem :-)

    In English, I've heard that it has something to do with the notion that failure to treat a ship/woman properly results in bad things happening.

    Or maybe it comes from men going to sea for years at a time without women. More aptly, though, a ship is a hole in the water in which one throws money - think hole = circle, but that is my own creation, mixing sayings in English and Japanese.

    BTW, there was something mentioned somewhere on the intertubes about femininity and maro/maru, but I don't recall where I read it.

    Do you know the phrase "円がある"? 円 is a synonym for 丸, which is asfaik the reason Japanese people will sometimes make a circle with their thumb and finger to indicate money.

    About 10 or 15 years ago, I learned the meaning of both of these kanji, and being an occasional man of the sea, immediately thought the reason for the Japanese ship naming convention was related to the phrase 円がある (or perhaps vice versa).

    I was quite disappointed when I was told otherwise, but I too would like to hold out hope that at least one person, at one time, used 丸 in the context of a circle. But alas this seems not to be the case.

    And do be careful with those machine translations - they get quite messy, especially when the language is of a historical context. If you would like, I can post a rough translation of some of the contents of the links I posted, with my usual "no warranty" disclaimer.
    ReplyDelete
  7. My reference for the post was actually a book about WWII. In reference to a transport ship, Oryoku Maru, that was bombed and strafed by American pilots while transporting American and British POW's to Japan from Canabatuan Prison Camp.

    -If any of those Captains needed some luck... Throwing Maru on the end of their ships name was as good as it gets.

    Well, I can guarantee that the Machine translations are better than mine.. Historical Japanese is a little above my reading level... for now.

    You could e-mail me the translations, I'd definitely be interested. But you don't have to worry about it being a priority.

    thepoolofzen@gmail.com

    Matt
    ReplyDelete
  8. Wow, I never noticed that about boat names before... Interesting post! And beautiful photo :)
    ReplyDelete
  9. Me again,

    I liked the post but also wanted to say I really enjoyed the reading the comments too.

    You'd have to say that that is a successful post.
    ReplyDelete
  10. Yo, Kyushu D,

    Yeah. I had no idea the ole 'Maru' post would be so controversial!!! :) As my friends in the 'old country' say.... Honmakaina...

    It had a good run... Now its on to the next one... whatever that will be...

    I guess I'll know it when I write it.


    Matt
    ReplyDelete
  11. Hi, My name is Maru!! Can anyone explain? hehe.
    Actually, I've enjoyed reading the post.
    I was told once, by a Japanesse speaker 'maru' meant circle, round. But now, after all these comments I am confused. Maybe We should get the proper information with a Japanesse teacher or ab aware speaker...
    ReplyDelete
  12. Hi Maru,

    Boy this is an old Post you are revisiting! :)

    I'm sure that 'Softbank-sucks' Myself and Kyushu Dan all have the definition of Maru down.
    Maru can mean a few different things in Japanese. Circle is one of them. The question is.... Why the use of Maru to tag the end of ship names.

    A quick flip through the J/E dictionary will give you a few options... you pick :)

    Thanks for stopping by! -And you REALLY read all the comments? Holy Cow!

    Matt
    ReplyDelete

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