Kaminariyuki 500 Posted March 30 So, is the O the honorific o used in Japanese? And can anyone tell me what the kanji for sato, 里, means? G-translate is giving me village or sugar, depending on whether I add a u, but the kanji don't match. I like Onosato's name, because it is easy for a beginner to write and read. :) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Morning 85 Posted March 30 In this case the o isn't the honorific. It's actually oo - long o. His complete given name is 大の里 - Oo no sato. 大 big, extraordinary. の (grammar function possesive particle). 里 village but also home town, home country (English doesn't have a nice translation for that meaning). Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ryoshishokunin 323 Posted March 30 In other words, literally something like "the big (guy) of (his) hometown". You'll see a lot of X no Y shikona-- 'no sato' is "of (their) village", 'no umi' is "of the sea", and "no fuji" is "of (Mount) fuji", which are all reasonably popular. However, in a lot of cases they're also references to another rikishi (especially one's coach) or the stable. Kisenosato is Onosato's coach, and so the 'no sato' here is (at least in part) a reference to him. Kisenosato in turn is named for Takanosato, his coach. (Takanosato got the taka in his name from his stable's tradition, so this is where the 'no sato' comes from. Not sure what the story is behind that: that's already into the 1960s.) 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
