[trans] Shige's essay #23: Myojo 2008-05 - Name
Shige's new essay - if anyone had a big scan of it and would be willing to share, please contact me! ^o^


#23: Myojo 2008-05 - Name

[In English]
What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other word would smell as sweet:
This is from Shakespeare's work "Romeo and Juliet", a famous saying by Juliet.
"A name, what's that? Even if we call the rose with a different name, the beautiful smell stays the same." (Translation by Katô Shigeaki)

My name is Katô Shigeaki. The members, the staff and the fans all call me "Shige", my classmates from middle school call me "Katô". But among my friends, there are just a couple of them who call me "Shige-chan". There's is actually a reason for this.

It was around the time when I was in the fourth year of primary school, when we moved from Ôsaka to Yokohama. I was introduced to my new classmates as transfer student. The teacher said, "This is your new friend, Katô Shigeaki-kun. Everyone, please welcome him warmly ne.", and the usual proceedings followed. And then of course I was told, "So, Katô-kun, introduce yourself ne." Even though I usually didn't get out more than, "I am Katô Shigeaki. Yoroshiku onegai shimasu." for some reason I said, "I'm Katô Shigeaki from Ôsaka. Please call me 'Shige-chan'." Iya, thinking of that now makes me feel embarrassed. I mean, honestly, Shige-chan. But there was a reason why I said that.

Until then, I had only been called by my surname "Katô", but I really admired being called by one's given name. But the only one who called me "Shige" back then were my parents, and since it would feel as if my parents called me when my friends would call me that, I somehow disliked being called "Shige" by my friends. That's why I ended up saying this in front of the class. Afterwards, having forced the people who would become my friends to call me "Shige-chan", if they had called me "Shige", I'd probably have fought them, "What are you saying, I'm Shige-chan!"

Thinking back on it now, it was a stupid thing to care about, but if nothing else that was my resistance. It wasn't as if I hated my own name, I rather like it, but I felt a kind of unfairness about the name given to me at the time I was born. Why am I Katô Shigeaki? Surely, there's a deeper meaning to the name "Shigeaki". But why can't I decide about my name myself? Thinking like this, I thought that I wanted at least to decide my nickname by myself. Well, it wasn't that great a nickname, it just proves I had no sense.

But, meeting a lot of people lately, I sometimes meet people who decide their nicknames themselves and introduce themselves as such. Just recently, when I asked someone after her name, the answer that came back was "Joanna". Of course, this person was Japanese inside out. I thought to myself, how impossible, but then I realized something important.

Names don't matter. It's not important whether you're given a name or a nickname. Like Juliet said before, the wonderful fragrance or beauty does not change. Whether I'm "Shige" or "Katô" or "Shige-chan" or "Joanna", I am who I am. That's why everyone can call me whatever they like. Just by calling me something, I'm happy.

To the saying quoted above, there's a continuation. I wonder if Juliet felt the same way I do.

[In English]
So Romeo would, were he not Romeo called.
"That's why Romeo-sama would be Romeo-sama, even if he weren't called Romeo."

[Note: The scan I have isn't so big, unfortunately, so I can't read the small text under the picture. But I would like to translate it, since it looks interesting. So if anyone has a big copy...? *makes puppy eyes*]

[ETA: Here's the additional text under the small picture! Thank you, aya_takarai, for the scans, from which I cut the small picture, and thanks also to anjinet and fireflychen for pointing them out to me! ♥]



"I'm happy just when someone calls me by my name", is what Katô-sensei said, so this month the other members wrote Sensei's name with a brush! Though Koyama, when he was finished with the "Shige" part, left evidence that he lost interest a bit. By the way, the origin of the name "Shigeaki" apparently is the wish that this person may grow [Note: "shige" as a kanji is also "sei" or "naru", which means "to become, grow"] into a lighthearted kid [Note: "aki", the same kanji which Ryô uses for his name, has (among others) the meaning "light"].