2020 Seibu Lions name translations

One of our most common gags here at Graveyard Baseball is to do a literal translation of Lions players and their family names. On Twitter, it often looks like this:

#seibulions lineup
8 Kaneko
6 Genda
4 Tonosaki
DH Kuriyama
7 Spangenberg
5 Nakamura
3 Mejia
9 Kimura
2 Okada
P Matsumoto#NPBeng

— Graveyard Baseball (@GraveyardBall) November 1, 2020

It's followed up with this as a reply.  

#埼玉西武ライオンズ 翻訳スタメン
8 Golden Child
6 Root Paddy
4 Outside Cape
DH Chestnut Mountain
7 留金
5 Center Village
3 救世主
9 Tree Village
2 Hill Paddy
P Pine Tree Book#npbeng #seibulions@Cape_Lions @64Uni_Lions @EthanRKassel

— Graveyard Baseball (@GraveyardBall) November 1, 2020

Here is the 2020 edition of every Seibu Lions player.  

To prevent redundancy, we have assigned 田 to paddy and 野 to field. If some guys have the same family name, we've translated their first name as a bonus. When seeing that kanji, the last name is first, first name is last.

For players with the same surname, we also translated their first name.

Italicized names are players who are not returning for 2021.

All draft picks from 2020 are not included since they won't play until 2021. 

===

Pitchers:

Tatsushi Masuda 増田: More paddies

Kona Takahashi 髙橋 光成: Tall bridge, Light growing

Shinsaburo Tawata 多和田: Many harmonious paddies (Note: 和 is the same harmony character that all businesses, teams and work places uses in needing to have Wa)

Tawata will be an ikusei in 2021

Ken Togame 十亀: Ten turtles

Shota Hamaya 浜屋: Beach Roof

Shunta Nakatsuka 中塚: Center mound

Shogo Noda 野田 昇吾: Field paddy, Rising Self

Katsunori Hirai 平井: Flat well

Yasuo Sano 佐野: Assistant field

Ichiro Tamura 田村: Paddy village

Makoto Aiuchi 相内: Inside aspect

Keisuke Honda 本田: Book Paddy

Shota Takekuma 武隈: Warrior shadow

Tsubasa Kokuba 國場: Country place

Koki Fujita 藤田: Wisteria paddy

Tatsuya Imai 今井: Now well (Well as in the noun, not the adverb/adjective)

Hiromasa Saito 齊藤　大将: Adjusted Wisteria, General

Daiki Enokida 榎田: Mushroom Paddy

Sho Ito: 伊藤: Italian Wisteria

Ryuya Ogawa 小川: Small River

Kaima Taira 平良: Flat Good

Yutaro Watanabe 渡邉: Ford Edge (ford as in ferry crossing or transit, not the car).

Kaito Awatsu 粟津: Millet Harbor

Tetsuya Utsumi 内海: Inside Sea (Inlet)

Ryosuke Moriwaki 森脇: Forest Armpit (or side / flank)

Kaito Yoza 與座: Participation Seat

Tetsu Miyagawa 宮川: Shrine River

Daisuke Matsuzaka 松坂: Pine Tree Slope

Hiroki Inoue 井上: Well Top

Koki Matsuoka 松岡: Pine Tree Hill

Towa Uema 上間: Above Space

===

Catchers:

Tomoya Mori 森: Forest

Masatoshi Okada 岡田: Hill paddy

Hitoto Komazuki 駒月: Horse moon (Interesting note that 駒 [koma] also refers to the knight piece when playing chess or another board game involving a horse)

Shoya Makino 牧野: Shepard Field

Masato Saito 齊藤 誠人: Adjusted Wisteria, Sincere Person

Sena Tsuge 柘植: Mulberry Plant

===

Infielders:

Sosuke Genda 源田: Root paddy (源 [gen] can refer to the origin or root of something)

Hotaka Yamakawa 山川: Mountain river

Takeya Nakamura 中村: Center village

Daichi Mizuguchi 水口: Water mouth

Kyohei Nagae 永江: Long bay

Haruka Yamada 山田: Mountain paddy

Ryusei Tsunashima 綱島: Rope Island

Shuta Tonosaki 外崎: Outside cape (cape as in headland, not the cloak)

Kakeru Yamanobe 山野辺: Mountain Field Area

Ryusei Sato 佐藤: Assistant Wisteria

Ryota Kawano 川野: River Field

Yuto Morikoshi 森越: Forest Surpass

===

Outfielders:

Yuji Kaneko 金子 侑司: Gold child, Assistant director

Takumi Kuriyama 栗山: Chestnut mountain

Fumikazu Kimura 木村: Tree village

Manaya Nishikawa 西川: West River

Seiji Kawagoe 川越: River surpass

Masato Kumashiro 熊代: Bear substitute (Fun fact: Shiro is a homophone for the color white (白). Unfortunately the kanji shows he's not a polar bear.)

Shohei Suzuki 鈴木: Bell tree

Daisuke Togawa 戸川: Door river

[Aito] Takeda 武田 愛斗: Military paddy, Love Big Dipper / Ladle (Takeda has his first name registered)

Wataru Takagi 高木 渉: Tall Tree, Ford (as in fording or crossing a river)

Junichiro Kishi 岸: Beach

===

Ikusei:

Tomomi Takahashi 髙橋 朋己: Tall bridge, Companion self

Aoi Tono 東野: East Field

Toshihiro Idei 出井: Exit Well

Jiyu Okubo 大窪: Large Cavity (or cave in / depression).

Beware, 窪 has multiple meanings

Daichi Nakaguma 中熊: Center Bear


===

Manager and Coaches:

Hatsuhiko Tsuji 辻: Intersection

Toshifumi Baba 馬場: Horse Place

Kiyoshi Toyoda 豊田: Rich Paddy

Shigenobu Shima 嶋: Island

Masahiro Abe 阿部: Corner head of Yamato Group (saw Africa for Abe's name, but too confusing)

Kosaku Akimoto 秋元: Autumn Beginning

Fumiya Nishiguchi 西口: West Mouth

Tomoaki Sato 佐藤: Assistant Wisteria

Kazuo Matsui 松井: Pine Tree Well

Hiroyuki Takagi 高木 浩之: Tall Tree, This Abundance

Kento Sugiyama 杉山: Cedar Mountain

Ming-Chieh Hsu 许: Permit

Kosuke Noda 野田: Field Paddy, Abundance of help

Satoshi Kuroda 黒田: Black Paddy

Shogo Akada 赤田: Red Paddy

Hiroshi Hirao 平尾: Flat Tail

Eiji Kiyokawa 清川: Pure River

Tatsuyuki Uemoto 上本: Top Book

Tatsuya Ozeki 小関: Small Connection

Norio Tanabe 田辺: Paddy Border

Hayato Aoki 青木: Green Tree

===

Bonus: Foreigners

As a continuous gag, we reverse translate the foreigners to see what their name in Japanese would literally look like, not just katakana sounds. Here is what their names would look like in kanji. Chinese names also included, though Hsu is listed with the coaches.

Zach Neal ニール: Senshuken [選手権]. Neal's name has Gaelic origins meaning "Champion." Senshuken could also mean a title besides a championship.

Ernesto Mejia メヒア: Kyuseishu [救世主] . Mejia's name means "Messiah" or "Savior" in latin/greek origin.

Reed Garrett ギャレット: Tsuyoyari [強槍]. Garrett is a "Strong Spear" with German and French origins . 

Cory Spangenberg  スパンジェンバーグ: Tomegane [留金]. Spangenberg derives from Spange, which is a clasp or buckles in German. 

Sean Nolin ノリン: Sake [叫]. Nolin's has Irish descent which can be similar to Neal's "Champion" title, but it can also mean a shout, which is Sake. 

Nien Ting Wu 呉: Giver


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