O significado do nome das marcas japonesas

[Kaizen]

Este texto foi enviado pelo nosso associado MRS, no entanto desconhecemos o autor. A seu tempo seria interessante traduzir para português ou dar continuidade com o significado do nome dos modelos.

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Subject: Some Notes on How Japanese Name their Car Companies

Hi Gang,
This post is in response to one I posted in the thread we had on "Anyone Speak Japanese" and the use of the number "23" on Nissan racing cars.

There was interest in a statement I made that Toyota, originally Toyoda, made that change because of a lucky number of brush strokes required.

Below is a more developed explanation, with references to books IZCC members may find interesting if they follow industry history and literature.

Regarding the naming of Toyota Motor Company, I find a number of references and it is from the first two that the brush stroke issue emerges. The name change itself took place in September 1936, after a contest the company ran to identify a new corporate logo.

Author David Gelsanliter (apparently with Nissan's blessing because he had a lot of their support) wrote "JUMP START: Japan Comes to the Heartland" 1990 Harper and Collins. I recommend this book. It clearly chronicles the Japanese transplant story, especially the first few years of Nissan in Smyrna, Tennessee. On page 72 and 73 we find the following paragraph:

       "Founded in 1937 as a spin-off of the Toyoda Automatic Loom Works, Toyota is still a family-owned company. Although it has grown to become the world's number three auto maker (after GM and Ford), it is still, as Michael Cusumano notes in The Japanese Automobile Industry, regarded as a "rural" company. Its factories and corporate headquarters are in Aiichi Prefecture, two hundred miles southwest of Tokyo. It originally hired and trained malleable farm boys. Its assembly plants and suppliers are, for the most part, within bicycling distance of one another. The parent company changed its name from Toyoda to Toyota because in written Japanese "Toyota" looked aesthetically superior and because now the number of brush strokes needed was eight, a lucky number."


We find a second reference to lucky numbers and brush strokes that expands upon Gelsanliter's account. It appears in a book written by Yukiyasu Togo and William Wartman entitled: "Against All Odds: The Story of the Toyota Motor Corporation and the Family that Created It," copyright 1993, Saint Martins Press.
The authors write about developments in 1936 such as Toyoda Automatic Loom Works gaining one of only two Japanese Government auto-manufacturing licenses, an advertising campaign including trucks, cars, and a silent movie. These paragraphs appear on pages 72 and 73:

   "A final fortuitous event occurred later in September. Shotaro Kamiya [Kamiya was the highest ranking Japanese at GM Japan before coming to work for Kiichiro Toyoda, son of Toyota founder Sakichi Toyoda] and the marketing staff had suggested staging a contest to select a logo for the new car. Kamiya thought the contest would be a great way to attract publicity, and he was right. Twenty-seven thousand entries were received, and the winner was a logo that incorporated the name Toyota written horizontally in Japanese script, surrounded by a circle.

       "Risaburo Toyoda [Originally Risaburo Kodama, became the adopted son and son-in-law of the founder, Sakichi Toyoda, and took on the Toyoda last name when he married Sakichi's daughter], finally recognizing his brother-in-law's vision, became an enthusiastic supporter of the automotive department when it was licensed, and he seldom interfered in its workings. But when Risaburo saw the winning logo, he insisted on one change. He wanted the department name changed to Toyota, rather than Toyoda.

       "It took only eight brush strokes to write Toyota, and eight was a lucky number, since the Japanese character for eight suggested growth.
Toyota required ten strokes, and the character for ten was not fortuitous. After the company's miraculous escape from what Risaburo thought was certain bankruptcy, he saw no reason to tempt fate again."

Shotaro Kamiya went on to write his own book, entitled: "My Life With Toyota," copyright 1976 by Toyota Motor Sales Company, Ltd. On page 109 he depicts the Toyota trademark from July 1935 to April 1937, and then again after the change from April 1937 to the time of the book's publication. He wrote a paragraph appearing on this page entitled:

  "Toyoda" Becomes "Toyota" where we find the following:

       "In July 1936 Toyoda Automatic Loom Works announced a national contest for a corporate logo design, aiming at the same time to stimulate interest in its Toyoda AA sedan. The design had to have a "speedy" feeling, had to suggest the fact of being a domestic corporation, and had to contain the Japanese syllables [current Japanese Toyota logo appears here] (TOYODA). While judging the 27,000 entries it was decided that "Toyota" not only sounded clearer than "Toyoda" but also seemed better in terms of advertising psychology. "Toyoda" thus became "Toyota," and "Toyota" was made the product's name beginning in October 1936. The Toyota trademark was registered in April 1937."

Of course, by 1936 the Datsun was affectionately being called a "Datto,"  which implies the swiftness of a hare in flight. Indeed, many 1930s Datsun automobiles had little leaping hare hood ornaments. So Toyota would indeed have wanted their logo to similarly provide a "speedy feeling," as Kamiya wrote above. Kind of like Boeing naming their first big jet the 707, where "7" implies speed. Advertising psychology. We all do it.

Moving on to the work by Cusumano referenced by Gelsanliter, "The Japanese Automobile Industry: Technology and Management at Nissan and Toyota," Michael A. Cusumano, Harvard East Asian Monograph 122, published by the Council on East Asian Studies, Harvard University, 1985. My copy is the 1991 paperback, its fourth printing. Cusumano did this book as his PhD thesis and interviewed many Japanese auto executives, including Yutaka Katayama, in its preparation. It is relatively dry and filled with charts and graphs. I have read it through, refer to it from time to time, and have taken a few useful notes. On page 59 of the 1991 paperback edition of this book we find this about the origin of the name Toyota:

      "... The new company's name came from a contest held in 1936 to find a suitable logo to replace "Toyoda," which means "abundant rice field." From 27,000 suggestions, Kiichiro and other members of the automobile department chose "Toyota," an alternate reading of the two ideographs that make up the family name, for its clarity in sound and potential advertising appeal."

I did not find any reference in Cusumano to the number of brush strokes, or the distinction between odd and even numbers. Perhaps depending upon what is being counted, odd numbers can also be lucky in Japanese. For Toyota we have 8 being lucky, but 10 not being viewed that way.

Regarding Mazda, the reference to the silent "T" in the founder's name is on web sites about Mazda. I was led to those sites in an effort to answer a local auto enthusiast's group question about which Japanese company was named after a Persian god. There seems a preponderance of evidence in favor of the Persian god's attraction to Matsuda, the founder of Mazda, and his use of "Mazda" to identify his car. I was fully expecting it to have a far more Japanese derivation, really.

[FilipeAE86nr1]

Subaru: constelação de Taurus

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[whizzzkid]

Mitsubishi
Permitam-me acrescentar em relação à Mitsubishi, algo que julgo será interessante, e que qd me lembrar onde foi que a vi disponibilizarei para todos. Esta marca começou como uma empresa de transportes marítimos e a sua frota inicial era composta precisamente por 3 pequenas embarcações, donde o símbolo ser inicialmente a representação dessas mesmas embarcações.(3 juncos, seria?). A prosperidade do negócio deu-se rapidamente e num desenvolvimento natural de imagem passou para os actuais 3 diamantes. Pelo meio houve mais qq coisa em termos de simbologia, mas qd descobrir onde foi que vi isto tentarei fazer novo post mais completo. Mas que o negócio floresceu e se diversificou, disso não restam dúvidas

[Nipontec]

Vejam a parte desportiva (historico):

http://www.mitsubishi-motors.com/corporate/museum/motorsports/e/">www.mitsubishi-motors.com...rsports/e/


"Cars that inspire", esta é a mensagem central da Mitsubishi Motors (MM). Os seus valores são, PAIXÃO,
PERFORMANCE e PERFEIÇÃO. Estes valores resumem muito a filosofia de vida dos japoneses. PAIXÃO
porque a MM actua com entusiamo e nunca deixa de alcançar os seus objectivos. PERFORMANCE porque
garantem continuamente resultados do mais alto nível, aperfeiçoando constantemente as suas capacidades
de acordo com os seus objectivos. Finalmente PERFEIÇÃO porque a satisfação do cliente é tida como
elemento fundamental das avaliações da MM, em paralelo com a sua constante orientação para
os resultados.
Os quatro pilares da marca são a Herança Japonesa, a Performance Dinâmica, a Engenheiria Criativa e o
Design Inovador.
A Herança Japonesa, traduz todo o historial que esta marca comporta, desde a sua fundação como
empresa de navegação em 1870. Esta foi uma era de grandes transformações no Japão. No séc. XIX, o jovem
Yatora Iwasaki, trocou a sua aldeia natal pela cidade de Osaka, onde se tornou um perspicaz negociante
de arroz. Este foi responsável pela fundação da companhia de navegação, que mais tarde se vem a tornar
na Mitsubishi.
A criação do logotipo da marca surge através do brasão da família Hyasaki, que era composto por três
diamantes sobrepostos e três folhas de carvalho. A unificação destes dois elementos vem dar origem ao
actual logotipo da marca. Mitsu significa o número 3 em japonês. Bishi significa "forma de diamante".
O resultado é Mitsubshi, a marca dos três diamantes.
Poucos anos decorriam desde a sua fundação, e a MM operava já em àreas tão distintas como a marinha
mercante, a indústria automóvel, o sector financeiro, a aviação, o sector energético e ainda a indústria
pesada. Mas a àrea que mais interessa é o sector automóvel. A produção inicia-se em 1917 com o modelo A.
Em 1932 a MM lança o seu primeiro autocarro e em 1934 lança o primeiro carro japonês com tracção
às quatro rodas.
A Mitsubishi atravessa uma fase de grande expansão a partir da década de 60. Actualmente está representada
em mais de 160 países, e possui capacidade produtiva em 30 países.



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[CelicaGTI]

Eu descobri este quadro que representa os nomes das marcas em Japonês:

http://aja3.com.sapo.pt/nomes.jpg" style="border:0;"/>

 

http://p086.ezboard.com/famigosdosjaponesesantigosfrm10.showMessage?topicID=584.topic">9º Encontro Informal AJA Norte - 11 Novembro, Cais de Gaia

Sócio AJA Nº18