Japanese Carriers: Mythology Meaning?

[EdZiomek]

As many forum people know, I am a history fan tracing the origins of Japanese names and languages and mythologies...

For example, the Japanese Carriers of World War 2, can anyone tell me where to find the meaning of their names?

For example, the Hiryu from mythology means... "A winged Dragon that is extremely tough, but can be tamed and ridden"

Carrier Names...
Akagi
Amagi
Kaga
Soryu
Hiryu

Shokaku
Zuikaku

Junyo
Hiyo
Taiho
Unryu
Amagi
Katsuragi
Kasagi
Aso
Ikoma

Shinano
Hosho
Ryujo

Chitose
Chiyoda

Zuiho
Shoho

Ryuho
Ibuki
Taiyo
Unyo
Chuyo

Kaiyo

Shinyo
Kamakure Maru
Akitsu Maru
Nigitsu Maru

Kumano Maru

Yamashire Maru
Chigusa Maru

Shimane Maru
Otakisan Maru

What is the best English written book which explains Japanese ancient mythology?

Thanks for any help.

Ed Z

 

[Hiroyuki Nagashima]

A site of history of carrier of the Japanese Navy
http://www.sumomo.sakura.ne.jp/~asahi/IJN/CA-HED.html

A site of history of carrier of Japan Army
http://www.h3.dion.ne.jp/~okumoto/page026.html

Japanese Navy war vessel naming method
旧日本海軍（空母・戦艦）

A name of a Japanese carrier
A Chinese word about an animal to fly
But "Akagi" "Kaga" is a name of a battleship for remodeling from a battleship
A name of a battleship
The name of a country of an old Japanese district

 

[shiroma]

空母

As many forum people know, I am a history fan tracing the origins of Japanese names and languages and mythologies...

Not necessarily mythologies. It is just that IJN carrier names were related to the avians, including imaginary ones.
Fﾃｨnghuﾃ｡ng is perhaps the only bird that people are unfamiliar with; quick Web search should provide enough information though.

Exceptions are:

- The Unryu class carriers, named after mountains (just like battlecruisers)
- Warships that were converted to carriers or had originally been planned as non-carriers, for instance

Kaga, Shinano: originally battleships
Akagi, Amagi, Ibuki: originally battlecruisers
Chitose, Chiyoda: originally seaplane carriers

Note that anti-submarine net layer ships had bird (hawk) names too. Some of old 19th-century warships were given random bird names as well.

For example, the Japanese Carriers of World War 2, can anyone tell me where to find the meaning of their names?

Here.

赤城 Akagi Mt. Akagi (Gumma pref.)
天城 Amagi Mt. Amagi (Shizuoka pref.)
加賀 Kaga current Ishikawa prefecture
蒼龍 Soryu "deep-blue dragon"
飛龍 Hiryu "flying dragon"

翔鶴 Shokaku "flap crane"
瑞鶴 Zuikaku "auspicious crane"

隼鷹 Junyo "falcon hawk"
飛鷹 Hiyo "flying hawk"
大鳳 Taiho "big male fenghuang"
雲龍 Unryu "cloud dragon"
天城 Amagi Mt. Amagi (Shizuoka pref.)
葛城 Katsuragi Mt. Katsuragi (Nara/Osaka pref.)
笠置 Kasagi Mt. Kasagi (Kyoto pref.)
阿蘇 Aso Mt. Aso (Kumamoto/Oita pref.)
生駒 Ikoma Mt. Ikoma (Nara/Osaka pref.)

信濃 Shinano current Niigata prefecture
鳳翔 Hosho "male fenghuang flap"
龍驤 Ryujo "dragon prance"

千歳 Chitose Chitose city
千代田 Chiyoda Chiyoda ward

瑞鳳 Zuiho "auspicious male fenghuang"
祥鳳 Shoho "propitious male fenghuang"

龍鳳 Ryuho "dragon male fenghuang"
伊吹 Ibuki Mt. Ibuki (Shiga/Gifu pref.)
大鷹 Taiyo "big hawk"
雲鷹 Unyo "cloud hawk"
冲鷹 Chuyo "offshore/washout hawk"

海鷹 Kaiyo "sea hawk"

神鷹 Shinyo "god hawk"
鎌倉丸 Kamakure Maru (typo, it's Kamakura-maru) [escort carrier] Kamakura city
秋津丸 Akitsu Maru [Army ship]
饒津丸 Nigitsu Maru [Army ship]

熊野丸 Kumano Maru [Army ship]

山汐丸 Yamashire Maru [Army ship]
千種丸 Chigusa Maru [merchant carrier] "thousand seeds"

しまね丸 Shimane Maru [merchant carrier] Shimane pref.
大滝山丸 Otakisan Maru [merchant carrier] Mt. Otaki "big waterfall"

 

[Dekamaster]

Wikipedia ofers some insights on how it came out to be.

Japanese ship-naming conventions - Wikipedia

 

[Hiroyuki Nagashima]

窶ｰ_窶板ｴ Unryuﾂ "cloud dragon"
The second warship of Unryu type, the third warship
"Amagi Industries" "KATSURAGI" is named by a name of a mountain
Naming of a carrier after 1944 is a name of a mountain
An aviation battleship
ﾋ?可青ｨ ISE
Ise-class battleship - Wikipedia
窶愿ｺﾅ津ｼﾂ HYUGA
Japanese battleship Hyūga - Wikipedia

 

[Sensuikan San]

Interesting thread! Right up my alley!

... but my best advice would be ... Stick to Submarines! ... they just had numbers!

However ... the lads above have already answered the question well, and given good links ... so here's another one, for anyone interested ...

Nihon Kaigun

... a man can find out all sortsa stuff from that one ....!

ﾆ淡ﾆ停?｡ﾆ停?

 

[Hiroyuki Nagashima]

The Japanese Navy constructed a submarine equipped with a spy plane.
ﾂ鞘?樞?芭ﾂ静ｶﾂ絶?ｦﾅ?ﾃ ﾂ甲ﾅ耽/窶ｰﾂｳﾅ耽

September, 1942
The water spy plane of a submarine bombed in the forest of State of Oregon of the American West Coast.
アメリカ大陸爆撃物語

 

[Sensuikan San]

Technically off-topic ... but a man's gotta do .... what a man's gotta do ...!

The Japanese Navy constructed a submarine equipped with a spy plane.
ﾂ鞘?樞?芭ﾂ静ｶﾂ絶?ｦﾅ?ﾃ ﾂ甲ﾅ耽/窶ｰﾂｳﾅ耽

September, 1942
The water spy plane of a submarine bombed in the forest of State of Oregon of the American West Coast.
アメリカ大陸爆撃物語

Thanks for the opportunity to plug my website again!

Actually, there were several classes of Japanese submarines that carried aircraft, the most numerous being the "B1" an "B2" class boats. The ultimate submarine aircraft carriers were the I-400 class boats which came into service (but never saw action) in 1945.

Just by chance :hat: I have just uploaded two new paintings to my website of ... a "B1" class boat (I-30) and ... the "I-400" !

Quickly nip over to http:www.skybirdart.com and see what they (sorta) looked like ... (go to "Gallery 2").

Banzai!

ﾆ淡ﾆ停?｡ﾆ停?

 

[EdZiomek]

窶督ｼ窶督ｳ窶堋ｵ

Excellent replies from all, and thank you and Nangi and Bossell from the other threads on this subject...

My intention in studying the names of the huge aircraft carriers of the Japanese fleet was to try and compare the mythology names, carrier names, with names I was recognizing from Amerindian legends and names, along with Egyptian legends, names, and hieroglyphics.

I had wonderful but mixed results. In a few days, I will be adding the plausible Egyptian explanations for the names... Akagi, Amagi, Hiryu, and Soryu. The Egyptians did not have a "dragon" per se, they had "flying serpents", and/or "griffons", and/or, flying snakes, and an assortment of "sky Gods" of good and bad intentions.

While many phonetic names sounded similar between Egyptian and Japanese, and some Amerindian (Kai Yu, Coyote), almost none of the Egyptian hieroglyphics associated with these phonetically sounding similarities seemed to match up.

Today, I want to concentrate on an exception, and that was the name "Taiyo"

窶佚･窶撤 Taiho "big male fenghuang"

I believe the Taiyo name, and the "Big" Japanese character, shows very similar "look and feel" with the meaning of Tehotu of Egyptian, and the staircase image on Tehoti-huacan.

My theory is, that to the left of the staircase, there is a large bird image, almost identical to the Tehotu-Ibis bird image of ancient Egypt. I am not an academic or scientist, so its ok to be skeptical.

"Big Male Fenghuang", or "Phoenix", or "Bird of Paradise", or "Yin/Yang".

There is even mention, somewhere, that the "Fenghuang" or westernized "Phoenix" is often depicted eating a snake, and of course, that is the exact depiction in the national flag of Mexico, which is where the temple of Teotuhuacan stands.

窶督ｼ窶督ｳ窶堋ｵ, and to all others, this is a wonderful subject, and thanks for your input. In two days, I will start showing Egyptian hieroglyphic explanations for
Akagi, Amagi, Hiryu, and Soryu.

Note: for detailed explanations of Tehotu, and Tehoti on the Temple of Teotuhuacan, try World-Mysteries.com,
or http://www.world-mysteries.com/gw_edziom3.htm