I thought "no" の was the possessive marker here. And "gō" (号) at the end of the name is more like what Jeff described above. A suffix-marker to designate that as a sobriquet or a special class of name. For example, 鯉の秀錦号 = Kou[buchi] no Hidenishiki go is Hidenishiki of the Koubuchi kennel.
'no' means 'of/from/belonging to'. 'go' (gou) is used in numbering i.e. the first carriage on a train 'ichi-gou-sha' 1号車, but in the case of proper nouns it is more of a title/marker that shows that the preceding word is a name. To use trains as an example again, the bullet train 'kodama' is referred to as 'kodama-gou', which in English would probably translate to 'The Kodama'. It is usually used for ships/trains/planes, but is also used at the end of animal names.
Anyone with a better way of explaining this, or a better translation, feel free to correct me.
Exactly what Shigeru said but to take it a bit further. The word go is used to signify a name or number. When used with dog names, it signifies the importance of the name.
So for Japanese import names, is it basically an Anglicization to put the kennel name at the end? Like how KUROSAWA Akira becomes Akira Kurosawa, because we conventionally go first name-family name last in English. So Kobun no Kaede Go therefore becomes Kaeda Go [of] Kobun?
@curlytails yes, the order in that case would be reversed.
Just an FYI, the kennel isn't necessarily part of the dog's name. You can register the name, however you like it. A pup born at Yamabushi Kennel for instance, could be registered as 'Kuma', Yamabushi no Kuma, or New Mexico no Kuma. Some kennels always name their dogs a certain way, others will let new owners name the pups.
In my country you have to give all puppies in a litter names starting with a specific letter - A for the first litter, B for the second and so on. When you register your kennel's name with FCI you have to say whether it will go at the beginning of the dog's name or at the end.
You as a breeder can also receive the right to breed a bitch under your kennel name even if the bitch is not your own - and the puppies (or some of the puppies, depending on the arrangement) will bear your kennel's name.
In Europe the particle -go is starting to be more and more used, especially in kennels with strong ties to Japan.
haha... so this may be a stupid question, but based on what Gen wrote, if you wanted to signify the importance of the kennel in a registered name would it make sense to do this (where the kennel name is "Yamabushi"): Yamabushi-Go no Kuma?
@TheWalrus & @shishiinu (and anyone else)... What about "-so" at the end of a name? What does that mean? I've seen that in a few pedigrees over the years.
ETA - An example: Ryoyuryu [go] Hokkaido Matagi-so ... That's written in the book as "Ryoyuryu of Hokkaido Matagi-so", but I'm assuming the "of" was translated to make it more English readable (could be wrong tho).
It might be sou. It's very common to find the U switched with H on Akiho pedigrees. In fact almost every english akiho pedigree we have on the database swaps H for U.
荘 (so,sou,soh) is the kanji character, and the direct translation is 'manor or domain', but perhaps has a meaning now closer to 'lodge'. It's used in many different ways, one of which is in place of 'kensha' (犬舎 kennel). In NIPPO kennel registrations you are not allowed to use 'kensha', so 'sou' is frequently used. I think the most widely used system of romaji would have 荘 as 'so', but it actually has a 'u' at the end, so I often translate it as 'sou'. Another system of romaji writes it as a long 'o' or 'soh', so 'so', 'sou', and 'soh' are all different ways of writing it. I've even seen it translated 'sow'.
I was just reviewing this, trying to find the correct kanji for "sou" because I found out AKIHO may no longer allow kennels to be registered as "kensha".
Comments
(Kennel name) no (registered name) gō.
[edited to try to give more specific terms.]
Anyone with a better way of explaining this, or a better translation, feel free to correct me.
So for Japanese import names, is it basically an Anglicization to put the kennel name at the end? Like how KUROSAWA Akira becomes Akira Kurosawa, because we conventionally go first name-family name last in English. So Kobun no Kaede Go therefore becomes Kaeda Go [of] Kobun?
All I know is my dog's name has Kuma no Musuko, Son of Kuma in it. I really hope that's right. Ha ha.
Just an FYI, the kennel isn't necessarily part of the dog's name. You can register the name, however you like it. A pup born at Yamabushi Kennel for instance, could be registered as 'Kuma', Yamabushi no Kuma, or New Mexico no Kuma. Some kennels always name their dogs a certain way, others will let new owners name the pups.
You as a breeder can also receive the right to breed a bitch under your kennel name even if the bitch is not your own - and the puppies (or some of the puppies, depending on the arrangement) will bear your kennel's name.
In Europe the particle -go is starting to be more and more used, especially in kennels with strong ties to Japan.
Or does that become redundant?
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Technically his name is Kuma no Musuko Koda, Son of Bear, Rice Patty Field. Cracks me up everytime! My niece named him Koda after Brother Bear.
ETA - An example: Ryoyuryu [go] Hokkaido Matagi-so ... That's written in the book as "Ryoyuryu of Hokkaido Matagi-so", but I'm assuming the "of" was translated to make it more English readable (could be wrong tho).
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