Zekken

[Nico]

Hello,
just new in this forum so hi everybody !
I am a french student in Scotland and i would liek to know what is the best way to order a zekken ! from website etc.. which one is the best with good translation (with a french name...arg.) tiem to be delivered etc...

thanks you

Nico

[Sinta]

Hrm, I have to get my own Zekken soon, but here's a site I'm contemplating on getting it from.

http://www.ninecircles.co.uk/

I haven't bought anything there before, but they provide translation for your Zekken. :) Hope that helps.

[sminki]

hey guys,

just curious. why do people with western (or non-kanji) based names keen on having to get a "translated" zekken? why not simply write your name phonetically in katakana? is it an image thing?

[Neil Gendzwill]

Originally posted by sminki
hey guys,

just curious. why do people with western (or non-kanji) based names keen on having to get a "translated" zekken? why not simply write your name phonetically in katakana? is it an image thing?
I thought that's what they meant, translated into katakana.

[gill]

Nico,

Sinta's suggestion is probably the best for ordering in the UK. nine circles are very good

Gill

[Paburo]

most names have a meaning. some westerners choose to translate their names meaning-wise and not sound-wise.
ex: rose - åKåN (bara)

we call 'beards' one guy at the dojo. so since his name was taken by another dojo mate, he chose to print the kanji for 'beard(hige)' on his zekken instead.

that often causes misunderstandings, but who are we to tell ppl what to do with their zekken?
i think that the more readable a zekken is, the better. but i'm also aware it's something personal and everyone should do with it as they please.

[sminki]

true that paburo. personal preference i guess... except i always get confused with those 'translated to kanji' names and end up not knowing what the person's name really is (as you already point out). there's a person at my dojo whose name is amy who chose to show on her zekken äñÚ¸ (love beauty) and only upon hearing that her name is amy i was able to put the two sounds together.

it's quite funny for me to imagine kanji-based (chinese, korean and japanese) last names being translated to english in such fashion.

lin ×ù forest
shin ãé monkey
ishida à´ï£ stone field

imagine hearing... 'the winner of the 47th all japan kendo championship, kyoshi 7 dan... masahiro palacebeachfront (miyazaki)!!!"

by the way, to the guys who originally started this thread, sorry for the sidetracking... :D

[Neil Gendzwill]

I dunno, I live in Canada, so I just read the english characters on the bottom. The kanji usually looks nicer than the katakana so I guess if that's your bag...

[Tato]

Well, Sminky

There are plenty of occidental family names that can be translated in that fasion.

Some exemples:

Dupont (France) -> "of the bridge"
Herrero (Spain) -> "Smith"
del Bosque (Spain) -> "of the forest"

or more peculiar, some friends of myne are the "de la Lastra", who is a very old way of saying "from the stone".

And even my mothers Familiy name, "de Castellane" more or less "from the stronghold".

I guess that you can do those translation to kanji.

Anyway I won't for my own zekken.

Rei

[Nico]

Thank you for all the reply have order a lot of stuff in Ninecirles but i can deliver me only in 1 month... long but i ve to see.
Sinta ? I ve to go in Switzerland for two weeks in Zurich, is there a club ?
See yu

[S. Takamori]

Hey Guy!

Don't complain about the delay between ordering something and the moment you receive it! You're never the only one who's ordering these items and nothing similar can be done in 5 seconds... Please allow also people time to make something good. It doesn't matter at which company or item.

[Sinta]

Originally posted by Nico
Sinta ? I ve to go in Switzerland for two weeks in Zurich, is there a club ?


Yep there's the Zürich Kendo Club (I'm in the St.Gallen Kendo Club). Here's the Budokan Zürich homepage, though I don't know if you can speak German:

http://www.kendo.ch/bkz/

Here's some contact info:
Budokan Zürich
Zweierstrasse 106
CH-8003 Zürich

Telefon: +41 (1) 461 66 67
Telefax: +41 (1) 710 46 89
Email: budokan.zh@bluewin.ch

Here's a mail for special questions like visits:
Spezielle Anfragen: gerry@budokan.ch

Hope that helps! ^-^ Sorry if you had to wait long for a reply.

[nollaig]

Hi all
being Irish I was thinking about having my Zekken with both Japnese and old Celtic writing called "Ogham"
its about 4-5000 years old

[Sinta]

Originally posted by nollaig
Hi all
being Irish I was thinking about having my Zekken with both Japnese and old Celtic writing called "Ogham"
its about 4-5000 years old

It's an original idea :) I say if you want to, go for it. Only problem might be is where are you going to have it made ^-^

[ben]

O'Hara, now there's an Irish name that fits pretty well into kanji ;)

[kendomushi]

Well he is Irish Sinta, he can get it made there with only a bit of effort.
But nollaig, who in bloody hell will be able to read it outside the Emerald Isle? A couple of modern Welsh drui? lol

[titus]

Originally posted by nollaig
Hi all
being Irish I was thinking about having my Zekken with both Japnese and old Celtic writing called "Ogham"
its about 4-5000 years old

Hi there, I've been trying to find a club in Dublin. I'm thinking of doing a Masters at University College D. Where do you practice and when?

[nollaig]

I mean hve the Ogham written along one side with the japnese symbols along the other!!

[Antonin]

And how are we supposed to know how to call you ?...

[KhawMengLee]

Heh, I just got my zekken. Its got my surname in the centre with the rest on the bottom right and malaysia written on the top.:D

My second one is arriving in a weeks time, its got the kanji for "mountain" written in the centre with my name in kanji at the bottom. heh

[Nishi]

Hey KhawMengLee, i was curious, why the mountian kanji, does it have some significants to you, or does your given name somehow translate accordingly??

My zekken is an odd one, it reads, SAI AI (beloved= David in Hebrew) and Nishi Atama (literally, Westhead).

But i also had Westhead written accross the bottom in english, i had to comprimise. Im on the borad as Nishi (obviously), and my fiancee is KWF as Atama....Nishi atama (cute hu....lol)!!

We get married on the 30th of august!!

[KhawMengLee]

Haha...So many ppl come up and say, "Is your name really Yama?"

Well...its more a nickname but coming to UK I think it should be "Little" Yama...too many tall buggers(especially Gibbo).

[Nishi]

How many zekken do you people own? One freind of mine who is well travelled has several as keep-sakes from his training around the world.

I have two.

[Neil Gendzwill]

How many zekken do you people own?

I have two - my original one said "Neil" as the kana for that are simpler and look nicer. But as I started travelling more I had one made to say "Gendzwill" as I kept getting called "Mr. Neil".

[Nishi]

I have a doshinkenyukai zekken with my mothers maiden name "MacVurrich" in katakana and english, ive always used this zekken in the dojo and more recently now i have started competing.

I also have a second zekken as mentioned above. I get some unusual looks for this zekken at times, it dosnt translate very smoothly. Because it was a literal translation "westhead" which went to "nishiatama" was fine, apparently its even a name in japan, but David had no counter part so it came out "sai ai" somthing like beloved or "dearly loved west head"...lol
Beautiful kanji though, and the awkwardness helps to throw my japanese/korean and chinese opponents in shiai...its my secret weapon :wink:

It does say "WESTHEAD" in massive english capitols at the bottom. I wonder if manitoba will let me sport a club zekken at shiai? Then i'll have three :cross_eye

[dorkusxmaximus]

Speaking of translations of names, my full name means Graceful Grandchild (yuuga mago?). Haha good thing i don't have my little sister's name, Sandy. Because that means Defender or Protector of men =P. I'm thinking about getting a 2nd zekken once my bro is in bogu, and maybe someday a 3rd one with dorkus maximus on it.