#the kyoshi novels opened up my third eye

[kyshiwarrior]

i would love for jet and kyoshi to sit and discuss how theyre two sides of the same coin and in this essay, i will —

[fullmoonbayferry]

The Rise of Kyoshi - Names

This little article is my own collection of the translation of names in The Rise of Kyoshi. Unlike the comics or the cartoon, the book about Avatar Kyoshi never officially give any name written in Chinese character(kanji/hanzi), and as the Chinese avatar-wiki being established and the novel being translated, we privately choose certain translations.

I am Chinese and only familiar with English and Japanese, and the worry of getting these names wrong bothers me. This article is also for you guys to give suggestions.

 Jianzhu 坚竹

Mandarin. To match the Gravedigger’s nickname, Jianzhu (建筑)means ‘the architecture’ /’the building’. However, that is not an appropriate name in east Asian culture. The Chinese characters we chose literally means ‘the tenacious bamboo’, and further gave him the characteristic of nobleness and ambitiousness.

 Hei-Ran 喜然

Cantonese/Mandarin. The romanization of this name led me into thinking this is from Mandarin. But the sound ‘Hei’ means nothing positive and can only be used in a name as ‘darkness/ black’(黑). So we chose Cantonese and write it as ‘happiness/joy/jubilation’. The whole name means ‘the look of happiness’. Also the form ‘…-Ran’ (~然) is common in Chinese girls’ names. Her husband Junsik’s name(君思) is also translated according to both Cantonese and Mandarin.

Later I was informed by @kkachi95 that her name could be Korean, but when I translated her name I didn’t know that.

 Kelsang 凯申

Tibetan. Once I realized Air Nomads’ names are basically all Tibetan (Tenzin, etc), Kelsang is the easiest to go. There have been fixed translation to Tibetan names for ages. I looked the name up on the Internet and I was told that Kelsang means ‘the past/ yesterday’, but I’m not sure. The other fixed translation (格桑) also represents a unique flower in Tibet aka ‘the flower of happiness’.

 Kyoshi 虚子

Japanese. The written form was given in the cartoon.

I would especially mumble something about Kyoshi. The hanzi ‘虚’ has several meanings in Chinese. Emptiness, illusions, unconfident, timid shy, and ‘in vain’, and the suffix ‘~子’is used in Chinese to great philosopher(e.g. Confucius), which is very interesting. Anyway that is all over-interpretation cause it is Japanese, lol.

 Rangi 燃姬

Mandarin. The lady in flames. The princess on fire.

The book author F. C. Yee explained that this name is from Korean word of tigress ‘horangi’ that could not be written to hanzi in this meaning. According to some dictionary, the name Rangi could be written as ‘like the sunshine’(朗伊), but we decided not to use that meaning.

 Yun 筠

Mandarin. At first we decided to write it as ‘cloud’(云) or ‘harmony’(韵) but eventually we chose ‘the green skin of bamboo’. Considered that Yun’s virtues and characteristics, this name implying ‘such a gentlemen’(有匪君子) is the smallest preference I could give him. There is also this old saying that ‘without its skin, the bamboo dies’.

 Lu Beifong 北方禄

Mandarin. Fortune.

 Xu Ping An 许平安

Mandarin. Promise you with your well-being and without mishap.

 Jesa 芥刹

Mandarin. The small being in the world and one instant of time.

 Hark 鹤

Southeast China dialects. Crane.

 Yuan Zhen 元稹

Mandarin. There was actually a famous poet named Yuan Zhen in history. In the novel, Hei-Ran was praised that she was like from Yuan Zhen’s love poem, but in real life, Yuan Zhen’s most wide spreading love poem are his tribute to his late wife.

Here are some translated poem from Yuan Zhen.

 Thinking of my dear departed

No water’s wide enough when you have crossed the sea;

No cloud is beautiful but tat which crowns the peak.

I pass by flowers which fail to attract por me

Half for your sake and half for Taoism I speak.

 To my deceased wife (the third)

Sitting idle, I grieve for myself as for you.

How many days are left of my declining years?

Another childless man fared better than I do;

Another widower lavished vain verse and tears.

Could I await a better fate than our same tomb.

Could you be born again and again be my wife?

With eyes unclosed all night long I’ll be in the gloom

To repay you fir your unknit brow in your life.

 The other names (Kirima, Lek, Wang, etc) will be added later.

 I’m open to any suggestions and discussion and willing to help if you have any question about how to write a Hanzi name. 

Chiu-mi!