Japanese ship names follow different conventions from those typical in the West. Merchant ship names often contain the word maru at the end (meaning circle), while warships are never named after people, but rather after objects such as mountains, islands, weather phenomena, or animals. Merchant ships The word is often attached to Japanese ship names. The first ship known to follow this practice was the Nippon Maru, flagship of daimyō Toyotomi Hideyoshi's 16th century fleet. Several theories purport to explain this practice: The most common is that ships were thought of as floating castles, and the word referred to the defensive "circles" or maru that protected the castle. The suffix -maru is often applied to words representing something beloved, and sailors applied this suffix to their ships. The term maru is used in divination and represents perfection or completeness, or the ship as "a small world of its own". The myth of Hakudo Maru, a celestial being that came to earth and taught humans how to build ships. It is said that the name maru is attached to a ship to secure celestial protection for itself as it travels. For the past few centuries, only non-warships bore the -maru ending. Its use was intended as a good hope naming convention that would allow a ship to leave port, travel the world, and return safely to home port: hence the complete circle or "round trip" arriving back at its origin unhurt. "Hinomaru", or "sun-disc", is a name often applied to the national flag of Japan. Today many commercial and private ships are still named using this convention. Warships Early conventions When the Imperial Japanese Navy was formed, the Ministry of the Navy submitted potential ship names to the Emperor for approval. During the early years ships were often donated by the Shogunate or Japanese clans and the original clan names were kept. In 1891 the procedure was changed due to changes in the government structure. Two ship names were submitted by the Minister of the Navy to the Lord Chamberlain who then presented the choices to the Emperor. The Emperor could either pick one of the suggested names or one of his own devising. Ships captured during the First Sino-Japanese War kept their original names but with Japanese pronunciation. For example, the Chinese battleship Chen Yuan became Chin'en in Japanese service. In 1876 the Minister of the Navy was given the