Mean Creek Full Movie Part 1' title='Mean Creek Full Movie Part 1' />Nintendo Probably Doesnt Mean What You Think It Does The common assumption is that Nintendo means leave luck to heaven or even to leave ones fortune in the hands of fate. Those assumptions, however, could be wrong. Watch Unfinished Sky Streaming. In Japan, Nintendos official logo still uses the kanji characters, so its important to understand what they could have originally meant to company founder Fusajiro Yamauchi. For all the companys logo changes, this is a constant for Nintendo Co., Ltd. The phrase Nintendo is said to refer to isun wo ten ni makaseru or, as its often translated, leave luck to heaven or as leave fate to heaven. As Kotaku also mentioned in this article, that doesnt take into account the association the individual kanji characters have in Japanese, nor does it take into account Nintendos history. The interpretation of ten in Nintendo is typically viewed from a literal point of view, with ten being defined as heaven. As mentioned in The History of Nintendo by Nintendo Dream writers Florent Gorges and Isao Yamazaki, ten contains the same kanji character as used in the word for the mythical being Tengu. Below is a statue of Tengu. Whats the connection The History of Nintendo 1. From Playing Cards to Game Watch explains that when Nintendo was originally founded in the late 1. Yamauchi was brainstorming ways to get his company out of a hanafuda sales slump. Watch The Office Season 3 Full Episodes. Mean Creek Full Movie Part 1' title='Mean Creek Full Movie Part 1' />The companys pricey cards were not doing well, so Yamauchi came up with the idea of selling lower quality cards under the name of Tengu. In 1. Fusajiro Yamauchi had founded the establishment or Nintendo Koppai, with koppai meaning cards. Note the characters can also be read as karuta, also meaning playing cards. The selection of Tengu was no accident. Tengu was already a symbol for playing cards and illegal gambling. The reason for this is that the Tengu character has a long nose, and the Japanese word for nose hana is pronounced the same as the word for flower hana. The playing cards Nintendo was making, hanafuda, uses the kanji for flower, because each card is covered in different flower. According to The History of Nintendo, those visiting the pleasure quarters of Osaka and Kyoto would rub their nose as a sign that they were looking for gambling games. For card players, ten meant Tengu, which meant gambling. The connection between hana and Tengu would not have been lost on Yamauchi. PqMKs' alt='Mean Creek Full Movie Part 1' title='Mean Creek Full Movie Part 1' />However, its not possible to discount the importance of luck or rather, good fortune for Nintendo. The old Kyoto headquarters is covered with the kanji character fuku. The problem of hip white people appropriating Native culture actually goes a lot deeper than wearing headdresses at Coachella. The Line Creek Loudmouth This blog features observations from Line Creek Valley resident Wes Minder. The comments on the blog do not represent the views of the City. Fuku, however, is different from un in the leave luck to heaven expression. In Japanese, fuku is good fortune, happiness, or referring to being lucky, while the word un refers to fortune and luck. Its undecided. Thats an importance difference. The company was later incorporated as Yamauchi Nintendo Unlimited in 1. Then in 1. 94. 9, it established Marufuku Co., Ltd after World War II once the sale of foreign playing cards, banned during the war, resumed. The headquarters for this building is the old Nintendo heardquarters fans visit in Kyoto. Marufuku Co., Ltd. The reason why the kanji fuku is all over this building in circles is because maru means circle in Japanese. In photos from blog Hodohodo, you can see the character fuku in a circle all over the building. You can also see the company name Yamauchi Nintendo. There are reasons for this. There are five decades between when the Nintendo was coined and when this company was dubbed Marufuku, so the use of good fortune doesnt necessarily explain any nuances in the meaning of Nintendo. In 1. 95. 1, the companys name was changed to Nintendo Playing Card Co., Ltd and then finally to its current moniker Nintendo Co., Ltd in 1. According to the book, do which means shrine or sanctuary is frequently used by Japanese companies to add prestige to their name. Its not uncommon to see Japanese supermarket chains or bookstores with do at the end of their names to add prestige to their name. Shop the Temple of Savings If one translates nin as let someone do, as Gorges and Yamazaki have, the word Nintendo could then mean the temple of free hanafuda or the company that is allowed to make or sell hanafuda. Nin can also refer to duty or obligation, with much weightier connotations. However, according to other experts, nin has an even more overt etymological connection it could be a nod to the actual gamblers that played hanafuda. Tokyo Vicewriter Jake Adelstein asked two current members of the yakuza how they interpreted the companys moniker. Their opinion was exactly the same. Its apparently commonly thought that the nin in Nintendo is the nin from ninkyo or chivalry. According to Adelstein, The yakuza dont think of themselves as criminals, because they argue that they are ninkyo dantai, aka humanitarian groups. The concept of chivalry, or ninkyo, is synonymous with the yakuza. Whether true or not, they claim that the nin character in Nintendo comes from the word ninkyodo or chivalrous way, which is how the yakuza think of themselves, says Adelstein. Like many things, only the founder really knows. As The History of Nintendo points out, Hiroshi Yamauchi, the great grandson of the companys founder, admitted that even he does not know the true meaning of the companys name, saying that to leave ones luck to heaven was a plausible explanation. Plausible, sure. Likely Probably not. Plausible and easier to explain than going through historical context. The book does acknowledge that there are no archives or historical records that can validate or invalidate interpretations of the companys name. This article was originally published on September 2. It has been updated and expanded. The History of Nintendo 1. Florent Gorges in collaboration with Isao Yamazaki. Gorges, who writes for Japanese magazine Nintendo Dream, was involved in the organization of the Nintendo Museum exhibition in Osaka in 2. He also heads up Pixn Love Editions, which published a French edition of my book on Japanese game centers, Arcade Mania.