” Nintendo” Would possibly not Mean What You watched [Nintendo]

The average assumption is that ” Nintendo” (任天堂) means ” leave luck to heaven” or maybe ” to go away one’s fortune within the hands of fate” . Those assumptions, however, may very well be wrong.

A new book titled The History of Nintendo 1889-1980: From Playing-Cards to Game & Watch points out that the company’s name can have an additional meaning.

According to the book, ” do” (堂) – meaning ” shrine” or ” sanctuary” – is often used by Japanese companies to add prestige to their name. ” Nin” means ” let someone do” .

The interpretation of ” ten” (天) is often viewed from a literal, modern point-of-view and not in a historical prospective. ” Ten” is identical kanji character as in ” Tengu ” (天狗). What’s the connection?

The History of Nintendo explains that once Nintendo was originally founded inside the late 19th century as a playing card company, then company president Fujisaro Yamauchi was brainstorming the way to get his company out of a hanafuda sales slump. The company’s pricey cards were not doing well, so Yamauchi came up with the thought of promoting lower quality cards under the name of ” Tengu” .

The selection of Tengu was no accident. Tengu were a logo for taking part in cards and illegal gambling. The rationale for it is that the Tengu character has a protracted nose. Moreover, the word for ” nose” (hana) is pronounced similar to the word for ” flower” (hana). (The word ” hanafuda” (花札) uses the kanji for flower.) In step with The History of Nintendo, those visiting the pleasure quarters of Osaka and Kyoto would rub their nose as a sign that they were attempting to find gambling games.

As Yamauchi made hanafuda playing cards, the connection of hana and Tengu shouldn’t have been lost on the businessman. Other hanafuda makers also used Tengu inspired names.

The History of Nintendo argues that ” Nintendo” (任天堂) could then mean ” the temple of free hanafuda” or ” the company it’s allowed to make (or sell) hanafuda” . As the book points out, even Hiroshi Yamauchi, the nice-grandson of the company’s founder, has admitted that he doesn’t know the genuine meaning of the company’s name, saying that ” to go away one’s fortune inside the hands of fate” was a ” plausible explanation” .

” Plausible” and easier to give an explanation for than facing historical context. The book does acknowledge that there aren’t any archives or historical records that may validate or invalidate interpretations of the company’s name.

The History of Nintendo 1889-1980 was written by Florent Gorges in collaboration with Isao Yamazaki. Gorges, who writes for Japanese magazine Nintendo Dream, was excited by the organization of the Nintendo Museum exhibition in Osaka in 2007. He also heads up Pix’n Love Editions , which published a French edition of my book on Japanese game centers, Arcade Mania .

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This post is tagged: company president, history of nintendo, japanese companies, playing card company, pleasure quarters