1 .一瞬千撃 – Original – SF4 - “One-Instant-Thousand-Strike”
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抜山蓋世 – Classical Chinese text, Shiki (史記) – “Pull-Mountain-Overturn-Worlds”
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鬼哭啾啾 – Classical Chinese text, Heishagyou (兵車行) - “Oni-Wail-Cry-Cry”
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故豪鬼成 – Original – SF6 – “Hence-Gouki-become/is”
http://chugokugo-script.net/kanshi/heishakou.html
Isshun sengeki
Batsuzan gaisei
Kikoku shuushuu
Yue ni Gouki nari
“Delivering a thousand strikes in an instant,
I uproot mountains and overturn worlds,
Making the spirits of the dead wail,
Therefore I am Gouki”
Die a thousand deaths
Usurp the heavens
Embrace the sorrow
Become the demon
It looks great, because it goes 4-4-4-4, but upon reading this out it looks inelegant.
Four of the lines are read like Classical Chinese poetry ala on-doku (“sound reading”, i.e. reading as a Middle Chinese text), and the last line “yue ni Gouki nari” is kun-doku (“semantic reading”, i.e. in Japanese)
ANALYSIS:
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“A thousand strikes in one instant” stems from the SF4 iteration of his Shungokusatsu, where said kanji appear as he strikes a nioupose signifying the literal nature of the attack hitting numerous times in a flash. This could in turn stem all the way back to the SF3 manga.
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This line derives from 史記・項羽本紀 (Shi Jie: Book of Xian Yu):
自為詩曰：「力拔山兮氣蓋世，時不利兮騅不逝。騅不逝兮可柰何，虞兮虞兮柰若何！」
Xian Yu, a king of Western Chu, is trapped by Liu Bei’s forces and composes this song.
In BurtonWatson’s translation:
My strength plucked up the hills,/My might shadowed the world;/But the times were against me,/And Dapple runs no more;/When Dapple runs no more,/What then can I do?/Ah, Yu, my Yu,/
What will your fate be? (Watson, v. 1, p. 45)
The pertinent passage being:
力拔山兮氣蓋世
(Lit. strength-pluck-mountain-EMPH, spirit-cover-world)
Whence the Japanese idiom 抜山蓋世 derives, in itsmodern meaning of “having herculean strength.”
- Refers to a line from the Tang-era poem “The Ballad of War Carts” by Du Fu, which refers to a peasant-conscript joining the imperial army and experiencing the battlefield first hand. The last two lines of the poem islast two lines are:
新鬼煩冤舊鬼哭
天陰雨濕聲啾啾
“Where new ghosts are troubled by the cries of the old
The sky is gray, it rains, it’s wet, and all about, the sound of constant wailing”
(translation by Traditionshome, ll. 33 – 34)
Hence abbreviating the entire last phrase into “the constant wailing of crying ghosts.”
- The line, when spoken by Gouki himself, is: Yue ni Gouki nari, “therefore I am Gouki”, whilst this scans as archaic Japanese, this is in truth somewhat clumsy. It looks great, because it goes 4-4-4-4, but upon reading this out it looks inelegant. Four of the lines are read like Classical Chinese poetry ala on-doku (“sound reading”, i.e. reading as a Middle Chinese text), and the last line “yue ni Gouki nari” is kun-doku (“semantic reading”, i.e. in Japanese), hence, 故豪鬼成 ought to have been rendered as 故に豪鬼なり with okurigana (grammatical kana) – but is rendered in the former manner to fit in with the previously established pattern. Furthermore, nari (to be) is usually rendered in kanji as 也 rather than 成, which is typically reserved for the meaning “to become”, thus the meaning becomes akin to “therefore, I have becomeGouki”, rather than “therefore, I am Gouki.”
THE MANGA:
Street Fighter Three: Ryuu Final– Masahiko Nakahira.
Select quotes from Gôki during his final match with Ryû:
こんな拳なぞ要らぬ！
この脚も用を成さぬ！
我が名はゴウキ…拳を極めし者なり！ 望むはうぬの真なる一撃のみ！ 立て小童！！
（…）
ならば見事断ってみせよ…
「殺意の波動」極めし者の奥技！！
瞬獄殺！
うぬがこの万物必殺の技を破るるならば 未だ最強たる「殺意の波動」も取るに足りぬ技法のひとつとなり下がろう…
（…）
一瞬千撃 抜山蓋世 鬼哭啾啾 故豪鬼成
This very fist is useless!
This leg too serves no use!
My name is Gôki… He who hath mastered the fist! As thou wish’st I shall deliver thee a strike most true! Stand up, whelp!
If that is so, then I shall show thee the very best… The secret technique of he who hath mastered the “surge of the killer instinct”!! Shungokusatsu!
If thou wilt destroy this the technique the destroys all creation… Then even the strongest of all technique of the “surge of the killer instinct” shallbe reduced to naught!
Sources (raw format):
LINE 2:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xiang_Yu
https://ctext.org/shiji/xiang-yu-ben-ji/zh
https://japanese.cri.cn/941/2012/07/23/181s195960.htm
https://www.google.com/search?channel=fs&client=ubuntu&q=%E3%80%8C%E5%8F
%B2%E8%A8%98%E3%80%8D%E9%A0%85%E7%BE%BD%E6%9C%AC%E7%B4%80
Line 3:
http://chugokugo-script.net/kanshi/heishakou.html