Forum:Land of Thunder/Lightning

I thought about this question and so I am going to take this chance.

The country of Kumogakure has two names. Land of Thunder and Land of Lightning. I always get confused. Which one is propper. The jutsu element is Lightning Release so I think it depends on whether "Rai" means "Lightning" or "Thunder". Even when Lightning Blade is translated it is Raikiri. But Flying Thunder God Technique is translated to Hiraishin No Jutsu. What do you think? Kakashi Namikaze 12:36, 5 April 2008 (UTC)

Lightning Probably
Though I don't know for sure, I can only assume that it would be called the land of lightning, because most of the primary lands (with the exception of a few) are named for elements, and lightning is obviously an element. Furthermore, you are right about the "Flying Thunder God Technique" having "rai" in it, but most translations of "thunder" have "rai" in them ("raimei" and "tenrai" both mean "thunder"). "Hiraishin" has two parts: "Hirai" meaning "flying" or "come flying", and "shin", the part where "thunder" comes from, which has many meanings, one of which is "zhen" (one of the trigrams of the I Ching: thunder, east). This is probably (I may be wrong) why "Hiraishin" is translated as "Flying Thunder God" ("hiraishin" can also be translated as "lightning rod", I found). "Raikou" is one of the words in japanese that literally means "lightning" (therefore, "rai" ___ may = "lightning" ___) and I found "kiri" to mean "drill" (weird, huh, but "kiri" could be a romantization of sorts from the word "kire", which is "cut"). "Rai" in itself likely means "Lightning", and therefore the land is probably the "Land of Lightning." I hope my reasoning helps. Peace! --Ikijime Koorimusha 16:37, 6 April 2008 (UTC)
 * I stand by Lightning, because the Five Great Shinobi Nations (which the country is a part of) are named after the five major elements: Fire, Wind, Rock, Lightning, and Water. --Dubtiger 21:18, 6 April 2008 (UTC)


 * You mean Earth.


 * The answer is actually rather simple: both are correct. The word used is, which becomes rai in compound words (e.g. ). This word actually refers to the entire concept of thunder and lightning and can be used to refer to both individually. So both Land of Lightning and Land of Thunder would be technically correct, just like how both Lightning Release and Thunder Release would be technically correct.
 * However, translating it as lightning in these cases would be better, as they refer to the element, the actual bolt of lightning, and not the sound it makes. --ShounenSuki (talk 17:42, February 28, 2010 (UTC)