High and Low: What's in a name
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30 November 2013
2 December 2013
I hadn’t thought of that connection, its a great one! I have come across the name Kingo before – in a novel I think, but I can’t remember which one. Its a good name though for a Kurosawa/Mifune character.
5 July 2016
If it weren’t for kinjin from tekken revolution (a PS3 game) and multiple cries of “gold!” in the hidden fortress, I wouldn’t have picked up on at least one of the meanings of kingo’s name.
interestingly, the linguistic cognate for “gold” in korean is kim. similar enough.
5 July 2016
SSJ wrote:
interestingly, the linguistic cognate for “gold” in korean is kim.
It wouldn’t surprise me if that’s part of the reason why Kim is the most common Korean surname.
6 July 2016
It’s an amusingly profit-oriented choice of name.
But, who knows, could be more metaphorical than that!
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Ugetsu’s recent posts have reignited my enthusiasm for High and Low, and got me thinking about it again. Although I saw it only a month ago, watching it again yesterday once again left me exhausted by its brilliance.
Anyway, I had always thought Kingo to be a curious name, and assumed it to be a funnily Japanised version of “King” from King’s Ransom, the story on which Kurosawa based the film. And that it probably is.
What I hadn’t realised until now is that Kingo actually is a real Japanese name. Not a very common one, apparently, but a proper name nevertheless.
Not only that, but the characters with which it is written, 金吾, actually seem quite relevant to the story. 金 stands for “gold” or “money”, while 吾 has the meaning of “oneself” or “one’s own”.
I can imagine Kurosawa’s satisfaction when he came to realise this.