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2 Early Conventions 3 World War II 4 Post-World War II Names 5 Translated Names of Some Major Warships |
Another explanation is that the suffix maru is often applied to words representing something that is beloved and that sailors applied this suffix to their ships.
A third explanation is that the term "maru" is used in divination and represents perfection or completeness, or the ship as a small world of its own.
The final explanation is a legend of the "Hakudo Maru"" which was the name of a celestial being that came to earth and taught humans how to build ships. It is said that the name "maru" is attached to a ship to secure celestial protection for it as it travels.
Still today commercial and private ships are named with this convention.
In 1891 the procedure was changed due to changes in the government structure. Two ship names were submitted by the Minister of the Navy to the Lord Chamberlain who then presented the choices to the Emperor. The Emperor could either pick one of the suggested names or one of his own devising.
Ships captured during the Sino-Japanese War kept their original names but with Japanese pronunciation.
In 1867 the Minister of the Navy was given the authority to choose the names of torpedo boats without imperial approval. In 1902 the authority to name destroyers was delegated to the Minister of the Navy as well.
In 1895 a proposal was made by the Minister of the Navy in an attempt to establish some standard. He proposed that battleships and cruisers be named for provinces or shrines dedicated to protecting Japan, that names of other warships be selected from the names for Japan or provinces.
Ships captured during the Russo-Japanese War could not retain their old names since Russia and Japan did not share a common alphabet. Some of these vessels were given names related to where they were captured or some other aspect of the war, such as the month of capture. Some Russian ships were given Japanese names that were phonetically similar to their original Russian names. (example: Angara became Anegawa).
In 1921 the Minister of the Navy was given authority to name all ships except battleships, battlecruisers, and cruisers. In any event the Navy had to report the new name to the Emperor immediately.
Since the war, the self-defense forces have reused the names of many of the World War II ships but have not assigned them in any systematic way.
Maru
Westerners are familiar with the word Maru being attached to Japanese ship names. There are several theories associated with this word being attached to ship names. The most common is that ships were thought of as floating castles and the word maru referred to the defensive "circles" or maru that protected the castle.Early Conventions
When the Imperial Japanese Navy was formed the Minister of the Navy submitted potential ship names to the Emperor for approval. During the early years ships were often donated by the Shogunate or Japanese clans and the original clan names were kept.World War II
During World War II a fairly complete system was put in place for the naming of ships. The broad categories of names given are:
Post-World War II Names
Prior to the end of World War II Japanese ship names were rendered in Chinese ideographs, after the end of the war this tradition was abandoned to separate the perception of the self-defense forces from the old navy.Translated Names of Some Major Warships
The English translations of the Japanese warships provide some very beautiful and unique names. However the literal translation of the characters does not necessarily represent how the name is perceived to the Japanese. Just as English speakers do not think of a woman and a garden when they think of Ann Arbor.