Quote:
Originally Posted by risingstar3110
Another question if you don't mind.
If 虎 pronounce as Tora (as in 上下山虎子 (Kageyama Torako) )
How come 白虎 pronounce as Hyakko?
Oh wait, let me put it this way: how do you call a (let's see.....) a "black tiger" in Japanese? Actually any colour is fine i just want to see the different. Or does it means "white tiger" and "tiger" were identified as two different kind of animals, so have different name?
Thank in advance
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No. The answer is simple:
on-yomi of 虎 is 「こ ko」, and
kun-yomi is 「とら tora」. You can say a white tiger is 「しろい とら shiroi tora」 in a normal conversation, but the divine 白虎 as a proper noun in Chinese myth should be called 「ひゃっこ hyakko or びゃっこ byakko」.
It is ironical modern Chinese people call it bai-hu today; Japanese preserves better ancient Chinese sounds.
blacktiger is えび
.