Hi there, it’s Junko from Japan! What does the name TSUYURI KANAO mean in Japanese? The last name TSUYURI stands for “the beginning of the rainy season” in the old Japanese.
On the face of it, the first name KANAO doesn’t include any special meanings. But an interesting theory that connects Kanao and the Kocho sisters is supported by some Japanese Demon Slayer fans. In this post, I’ll share these secrets in detail. Don’t miss out on them if you love Kanao!
Kanao’s Name Meaning
The name KANAO is all written in Japanese Katakana letters, not in Kanji. Here’s the spelling.
Katakana is mainly used to indicate the pronunciation of foreign words while each Kanji symbol has several meanings behind it.
Since Kanao’s name doesn’t include any Kanji symbols, it’s hard to read some meanings from her name. But the name Kanao has an interesting match with KANAE, an older sister of Kocho Shinobu.
KANAE
↓
KANAO
When you compare these two, E became O, right? And if you say this “E became O” sentence in Japanese, it goes like this:
E GA O NI NARU
The word EGAO means “smile” in Japanese, and this sentence can be interpreted as “become smile” or “make me smile.” As a result, we can think Kanao’s name was named by the Kocho sisters wishing that Kanao could retrieve her emotion and smile someday.
The Meaning of TSUYURI in Japanese
The Kanji combination for the word TSUYURI is irregular. No Kanji symbol in the word has the reading of TSUYURI, but they make it only when these three Kanji characters are spelled together.
Here’s the Kanji writing for Kanao’s last name TSUYURI, and what each Kanji symbol represents.
The first one = maron, chestnut
The second one = flower
The third one = fall
It’s said the word TSUYURI originally came from TSUYU-IRI, meaning “the beginning of the rainy season” in Japanese. TSUYU is “the Japanese rainy season,” and IRI is for “enter.”
Since the flower of chestnut trees fall in the beginning of the rainy season, old Japanese people got to use the Kanji combination of chestnut, flower, and fall for it.
Why Did Kanao Choose This Name?
When Kanao was adopted to the Kocho sisters, they parepared the candidates of her name, and she chose one by herself. As a result, she became Tsuyuri Kanao.
Why Kanao chose the name Tsuyuri among other names? I think there’re two posibilities. One is that the day when she met Kanae and Shinobu was exactly at the beginning of the rainy season.
The other is that the name had the “flower” symbol in it. As you know, she’s the use of the Flower Breathing. She had 5 candidates for her last name, and only the TSUYURI included the “flower” Kanji. I think it’s natural for Kanao to select the most flower-ish one since the Flower Breathing is almost the only feature that could symbolize herself.
For your information, these are the 5 names given to her.
- 胡蝶 KOCHO
- 神埼 KANZAKI (Aoi’s last name)
- 栗花落 TSUYURI
- 久世 KUZE
- 本宮 MOTOMIYA
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