Japanese names of characters from “Reborn!”

Image by: Reborn! Anime Official website ©Akira Amano/ Shueisha Inc/ TVTokyo/ Reborn production committee

What is the story?

Reborn! Is a comic series written and illustrated by Akira Amano. Happy or not, Tsunayoshi, an ordinary school boy was chosen to be the next boss of the powerful mafia group ‘Vongola’. He was living a normal life until one day he met his new tutor, who appeared to be a baby hitman named Reborn. Reborn was no ordinary tutor and came to train Tsunayoshi to be the perfect mafia boss. Tsunayoshi immediately rejects Reborn but despite Tsunayoshi’s wish to live in peace, he gets involved in conflicts and slowly starts to embrace his destiny.

Image by: Reborn! Comic 1 ©Akira Amano/ Shueisha Inc

What is the Japanese title of ‘Reborn!’?

The Japanese title of ‘Reborn!’ is called ‘Katekyō Hitman Reborn! (家庭教師ヒットマンReborn)’. ‘家庭教師’ (read Katei Kyoshi) means tutor, however, the author decided to read it as ‘Katekyō’ which is slang for tutor.

Image by: Reborn! Anime Ending ©Akira Amano/ Shueisha Inc/ TVTokyo/ Reborn production committee

Why is it called ‘Reborn!’?

The English title, ‘Reborn’ is the simplified version of the Japanese title, ‘Katekyo Hitman Reborn’. The title of this series is written with kanji, katakana, and English. ‘Katekyo’(家庭教師) is written with kanji because it gives the word meaning, ‘Hitman’(ヒットマン) is an English word so you can either write in in English or Katakana which is mainly used for foreign words‘. ‘Reborn’ is written in English.

Image by: Reborn! Anime Official website ©Akira Amano/ Shueisha Inc/ TVTokyo/ Reborn production committee

What are the meanings behind the characters’ names?

In Japanese culture, names have significant meanings that are supposed to represent you as a person. Names can be expressed in hiragana, katakana, and kanji. Let’s find out the meanings of some names of characters in ‘Reborn!’

Tsunayoshi Sawada (沢田 綱吉, Sawada Tsunayoshi)

Image by: Reborn! Novel Book 1 cover ©Akira Amano/ Shueisha Inc

Tsunayoshi, the main character of the series is sadly called ‘ダメ Dame ツナTsuna’(Failure Tsunayoshi) at school due to his lack of talent. ‘Tsuna’ (綱) means Rope and ‘Yoshi’ (吉) means lucky. ‘Sawa’ (沢) means swamp, ‘Da’ (or Ta) (田) means paddy field.

Hayato Gokudera (獄寺 隼人, Gokudera Hayato)

Image by: Reborn! novel Book 2 ©Akira Amano/ Shueisha Inc

Tsunayoshi’s classmate Hayato wishes to be his right hand. He is a bomb expert and has countless bombs hidden in his clothes. ‘Haya’ (隼) means falcon and ‘To’ (人) means human. ‘Goku’ (獄) means prison and ‘Dera’ (or Tera) (寺) means temple.

Kyoya Hibari (雲雀 恭弥, Hibari Kyōya)

Image by: Reborn! Novel Book 4 ©Akira Amano/ Shueisha Inc

Kyoya likes to be alone and hates to see people in groups. He is extremely violent and often uses his tonfa to attack misbehaved students. ‘Hibari’ (雲雀) means lark which is a type of bird, ‘Kyo’ (恭) means respectful, and ‘Ya’ (弥) means expanding.

Mukuro Rokudo (六道 骸, Rokudō Mukuro)

Image by: Reborn! Novel Book 19 ©Akira Amano/ Shueisha Inc

Mukuro is a mafia criminal and has broken out of jail many times. After the battle with Tsunayoshi, he became a member of the Vongola Family. ‘Mukuro’ (骸) means corpse, ‘Roku’ (六) means six, and ‘Dou’ (道) means way or road.

Interesting lines and phrases – Learning Japanese!

Here are some useful phrases from Reborn! which will help you along with your Japanese studies!

Image by: Reborn! Comic 30 Chapter 279 ©Akira Amano/ Shueisha Inc

EN/ ‘This is my fate’
JP/ 「これはKorewa  私のWatashi No  運命Sadame 」

A very interesting example of Kanji reading! Sometimes you can decide to read the kanji differently from the original sound. ‘運命’ is read as ‘Sadame’ here however the actual sound is ‘Unmei’. Both mean fate or destiny. ‘Korewa’ is ‘This is’ and ‘Watashi’ is a formal way to call yourself.

Image by: Reborn! Comic 25 Chapter 227 ©Akira Amano/ Shueisha Inc

EN/ ‘It’s just a break’
JP/ 「ただのTadano  小休止Shōkyūshi  だよDayo」

‘Tadano’ means Just and ‘Shoukyuushi’ means ‘Break’. It is written with three different kanjis which are:

‘Shou’ (小) = Small
‘Kyuu’ (休) = Rest
‘Shi’ (止) = Stop

There are other ways to say ‘Break’ but when you use ‘小休止’ (Shōkyūshi) you will sound more intelligent!

Image by: Reborn! Comic 5 Chapter 34 ©Akira Amano/ Shueisha Inc

EN/ ‘Welcome back Tsuna nii’
JP/「おかえりOkaeri ツナTsuna  兄Nī 」

‘Okaeri’ is a common Japanese phrase used when welcoming someone back home. The kanji ‘兄’ (read Ani or Nii) means older brother. You can add this word to the name of an older boy to make it sound friendly and respectful!