Is Nishikifuji "Well Dressed Mt. Fuji"?

[Sumo Spiffy 564]

Nishikigi is "Well Dressed Tree", but it's a little more complicated than that (thanks Sumostew), so... is Nishikifuji's name actually supposed to mean "Well Dressed Mt. Fuji" or is the meaning a little different?

[Seiyashi 4,091]

Asojima and I went through this a while ago (the unfortunately abandoned results for want of time can still be seen in the Sumo Information Pond), but basically I would be very surprised if the kakkai thought about shikona in such directly translated terms. More likely than not shikona exist in their own half-world where the literal meaning of their components mean less than what they symbolise/evoke, making it a bit of a conlang created from an actual language, and as long as it sounds good and isn't a pain for the yobidashi to pronounce it flies. For that reason I pivoted to detailing why the shikona was given rather than what it meant, because as outsiders, translations into our language are inevitably going to lose meaning.

(EDIT: Of course, as outsiders, there's only so much we can be certain of, but as Tsuchinoninjin points out, the list off r/sumo that Sumostew used looks exceedingly mechanical and ludicrous to the point of being almost certainly wrong.)

As for the symbolism of Nishikigi and Nishikfuji, the kanji nishiki literally translates to brocade, but derives from a saying "nishiki o kazaru" - to return brocaded; i.e. to return in glory because historically, brocade was really expensive. Nishikifuji's shikona can be explained directly as a combination of the kanji nishiki (with the aforementioned symbolism) and the -fuji suffix common to Isegahama. While it literally means "brocaded Mt Fuji", that construction makes as much sense as translating "cooking with gas" into "用煤气煮饭" in Chinese; the semantic meaning has been wholly lost in the literal translation.

Nishikigi's shikona meanwhile is a direct homage to an ōzeki who fought out of Isenoumi (and later became the first Nishonoseki oyakata) - Nishikigi Gun'emon, who was, like Nishikigi, from Iwate prefecture. Why that Nishikigi had the name that he had is, for now, lost to history.

Edited November 13, 2022 by Seiyashi

[Tsuchinoninjin 1,269]

I would simply interpret nishiki as splendid or fanciful. 
 

Well dressed is some really narrow usage of it that sounds like was selected  by non native speakers to be as ridiculous as possible.

[Hidenotora 82]

I'd guess the origin of that translation is that someone looked up 錦, saw that it can mean "fine dress, fine clothes" on Jisho etc., turned it into an adjective to get "well-dressed" and then used that to describe whatever noun comes after it. It does have huge "novelty t-shirt from Japan with random English words on" vibes though, I'm a fan!

[Sumo Spiffy 564]

1 minute ago, Hidenotora said:

I'd guess the origin of that translation is that someone looked up 錦, saw that it can mean "fine dress, fine clothes" on Jisho etc., turned it into an adjective to get "well-dressed" and then used that to describe whatever noun comes after it. It does have huge "novelty t-shirt from Japan with random English words on" vibes though, I'm a fan!

I mean, if sumo started blowing up in America and Nishikigi was doing better, someone would make a bundle off "Well-Dressed Tree" shirts (hopefully him, but I don't know how it works).

[Seiyashi 4,091]

A further update in taking my own advice: usually, I go to rikishi's JP wiki pages rather than their EN wiki pages as the JP versions contain a lot more information about their background.

Nishikifuji, for instance, took the "nishiki" part of his shikona from Aminishiki, to whom he served as tsukebito and, like him, hails from Aomori. That said, Aminishiki's own shikona was indeed bestowed by Isegahama with the proverb "kōgyō ni nishiki o kazaru" in mind, so there's the connection to that proverbial/idiomatic meaning of nishiki in Nishikifuji's shikona via Aminishiki.

One more thing which needs to be borne in mind when interpreting Japanese assumed names - the whole idea/concept of lineage is pretty big in Japan. The older a name and the bigger shots its previous bearers were, the more prestigious it is. For a case study in how big it gets, look at the history of stage names in kabuki - e.g. Ichikawa Danjūrō and Ichikawa Ebizō. There is the prestige name - Ichikawa Danjūrō - which is inherited by the iemoto, the "guild head", but there are also lesser names that are assumed by heritors-in-waiting, like Ichikawa Ebizō, and the names are switched in shūmei (name assumption) ceremonies (which is the same word you see on danpatsu ceremonies where the retiring rikishi is set to take up a kabu). This also exists to a certain extent in sumo: one equivalent is the current Kotonowaka being Kotozakura-in-waiting if he ever gets promoted to ōzeki, but starting his career as Kotokamatani, a name with no lineage value as it was "cheaply" constructed, as it were.

And it's also worth mentioning that with the kanji-based naming system of East Asia, the privilege/taboo of using a character from an overlord/superior's name in your own is a pretty big deal. In China, violating the name taboo of the current emperor could lead to pretty dire consequences, whereas in Japan, a samurai underling being allowed to assume a name which contained an element of a superior's own name was a sign of favour, or of having "made it". That aspect is obvious in heya-based naming, but it's also present, albeit less obvious, when you trace through individual relationships in the kakkai, like Aminishiki and Nishikifuji, or of the various -hō shikona bestowed on Miyagino rikishi because of Hakuhō's disciple connection with Taihō, and on Ōtake rikishi because of the familial relationship via the Naya brothers.

Edited November 13, 2022 by Seiyashi

[Yamanashi 3,847]

Consider how much "drinking" has been mentioned on the Forum, it's a shame no one's taken a shikona in honor of the high-quality sake rice Nishiki from Hyogo. Hmm ... Takakeisho's from Hyogo, but he doesn't strike me as much of a drinker.

[junsan 191]

The historical sartorial aspect of 錦 aside, it can also simply be seen as to mean "gorgeous".

[Benihana 1,929]

I'll stick with the franco-japanese version of Aminishiki: Friend well dressed.

[Seiyashi 4,091]

3 hours ago, Hidenotora said:

I'd guess the origin of that translation is that someone looked up 錦, saw that it can mean "fine dress, fine clothes" on Jisho etc., turned it into an adjective to get "well-dressed" and then used that to describe whatever noun comes after it. It does have huge "novelty t-shirt from Japan with random English words on" vibes though, I'm a fan!

This might have been written in partial jest but it was pretty much the process I used when first generating the shikona translations. But it became obvious very quickly that could not be how shikona were actually thought of.