Tuesday, April 9, 2024

Super Mario 64 1-6

Star #6 - ワンワンの犬小屋で > ワンワンのいぬごやで > Wanwan no inugoya de > At Wan Wan's Dog House


This stage is known in the US as "Behind Chain Chomp's Gate". The Chain Chomp is actually called "Wan Wan" in Japan, which is Japanese onomatopoeia of a dog barking. This phrase introduces another very important particle, で.  Broken into four parts:


1. ワンワン > WanWan > "Bark! Bark!"

Here the katakana ワ(wa) ン(n) is repeated to make a "Bark Bark!" sound. According to biographies of Shigeru Miyamoto, the WanWan/Chain Chomp was birthed by his childhood experience with a chained, hostile bulldog in the neighborhood.


2. の > No > Indicates possession

The same particle is used once again. Here, it means "Dog House Belonging to Wan Wan"


3. 犬小屋 > いぬごや > Inugoya > Dog house

Here are several important kanji grouped together. The first is 犬 (いぬ/Inu/Dog), meant to depict a dog standing up barking. 小 (ご/Go/Small) is most likely meant to depict "three small points," but is more easily interpreted as a person standing with timid body language. 屋 (や/Ya/Room) is a little harder to explain. It's believed to depict a corpse (尸) arriving (至) somewhere where it can be undisturbed; more broadly meaning a room. (I thought Mario was a kid-friendly game?) All together, those three kanji make “Dog Small Room,” or dog house.


4. で > De  > Indicates Place

Here's a basic grammar particle you'll be seeing all the time. In this case, で is meant to indicate where something takes place. "At Wan Wan's Dog House". It was mind blowing seeing Wan Wan so huge compared to on Mario 3 on the NES, and with a fierce bark!


Hope you enjoyed all this and are ready to advance to the next painting! All those parts add up to: ワンワンの犬小屋で > ワンワンのいぬごやで > Wanwan no inugoya de > At Wan Wan's Dog House

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