Expert: Tai Yamanaka - 9/20/2009

Question
I have been having trouble getting definitive answers to the following questions and do not want to pass on misinformation.
In the Japanese language, what is the difference between "mizu" and "gogyou" which are both translated into English as "water"? Which is used for drinking, bodies of water, hot vs. cold water?
Also, I read online that Mitsubishi (the company) is translated as "three diamonds", hence the company logo. But I cannot verify this via online dictionaries.  Thank you.

Answer
Hello Jane,
Thank you for your question.

What you’re referring to is called the gogyo-setsu theory in Japanese, which comes from the ancient Chinese thought of Wu Xing, which in turn is variously translated as the Five Movements, Phases or Stages, which says that worldly phenomena are caused by an progression from one to the other of the five elements, which are wood, fire, earth, metal and water. This theory later tied in with the idea of Ying and Yang, which explains the world in terms of the interplay of the forces of darkness and light. For example, that night and day, heat and cold, male and female all form a dichotomy that dynamically causes things to be the way they are.

In other words, gogyo is an idea, and does not point to a particular form or body of water.
Mizu is the same. It is the general term for water.

Mitsubishi does mean three diamonds, as you say. This word is a combination of two words (mittsu and hishi), and due to the way pronunciation works in Japanese, produces a voiced consonant. To find this word in the dictionary, look under its components – Mittsu or San = three, and Hishi or Hishigata = diamond. Diamond, in this case refers to the cross-section of a water chestnut shape or rhombus, rather than to the gem.

I hope this helps.
Best regards,