Re: [sumo] Shikona kanji meaning

[Patrick Coffman <ryled@yahoo.com>]

When the word "shiko" is looked up in my kogojiten
(dictionary of old language), they do show this kanji
(醜), which today usually means "brutish" or
"ugly."  

The first definition offered is
"頑強なこと。頑固なこと。"
 This means something like "obstinate; tenacious."  It
then lists various examples from Shintou writings and
such, but the kanji seem to be different in every one,
so quite possibly, this was part of the vernacular
Japanese speech rather than something derived from a
Chinese, kanji meaning.

My thought is that this word "shiko" truly does mean
"tenacious" or "obstinate."  The "minikui" kanji
(醜) is used simply because it implies a great,
brutish, ogrish fiend.  This is like how warriors are
often likened to "oni" (鬼)--which is part of
the "minikui" kanji.  "Oni" is often mistakenly
translated as "devil."  For anyone out there who
doesn't know yet, an oni is an belligerent, strong,
mythical being.  They are also quite brutish and
ugly--even though the kanji for it also means "an evil
ghost," so the idea of "evil" is still there.

The dictionary gives as the third meaning: 
"自身を卑下していう語。,"
which means "a word used to be self-deprecating," but
then, it continues: 
"頑固の意から愚かさ・あざけりの意もなる。",
which means that while the word means "obstinate," it
also, then, means "ridiculous" or "foolish."  In other
words, the English word "obstinance" or "stubbornness"
works well, because our idea of being tenacious and
obstinate is the same as it is in Japanese; you may be
clinging to a bad idea and be foolish.

I hear them refer to wrestlers as "tenacious" a lot,
and I think that it is one of the key root ideals of
Sumo.  On the dohyou, the idea of being an unmoving
mountain sure seems what the wrestlers aspire to
become.  So, therefore, I think that although it has
this secondary meaning of "foolishly stubborn," which
certainly does apply to some wrestlers' techiques,
btw, I'm fairly certain the main idea is that they are
this strong, unmoving, relentless force.



		
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[EndPost by Patrick Coffman <ryled@yahoo.com>]