Shikoku Question, second try

[Eija Margit Niskanen]

No, they use the pronunciation "shikoku". it is sort of a word play for
Shikoku, four islands, and shikoku, land of the dead. "Shi" means death.
The kanjis of the movie title are "death" and "country". 
eija


At 11:54 AM 1/31/00 +0100, you wrote:
>Sorry; I fumbled my keyboard and my last email got despatched midway through
>the first sentence. Here it goes properly....
>
>Hi everyone,
>
>Just a quick question regarding the title of the film 'Shikoku' from a
>viewer who has very recently started learning Japanese. 
>I know that the title is from the 'Shikoku' region of Japan, which literally
>translates as 'Four Islands', but the film itself mentions that it also
>means 'Kingdom of the Dead'. I was wondering, is this latin alphabet
>spelling the same as or in anyway related to 'Jikogu', which I gathered was
>the Japanese for 'Hell', or are the phonetical similarities merely
>coincidental.
>
>I've had a VCD copy of this film for sometime now, and was surprised to note
>that it was the second highest grossing Japanese film in Japan last year, as
>I wasn't so impressed. I shall have to give it a second look. 
>It is also getting an airing at the Rotterdam Film Festival this week, along
>with a host of recent Japanese releases. Dutch fans of Japanese cinema are
>going to be pretty much overwhelmed this month, with the 'No Cherry
>Blossoms' season running simultaneously at the Festival and in the
>Nederlands Film Museum in Amsterdam. Still, it would seem churlish to
>complain...
>
>Thanks
>
>Jasper
>
>
>
>