Why does Yomi relate 3661 with "Samurai"?


In the last episode of Azumanga Daioh, Yomi relates `3661` with `samurai`
word. ![enter image description here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/psgAM.png)

I know is a mnemonic technique to remember things, so things should be
something like:

[code]

    3 ~> sa ~> san
    6 ~> mu ~> ??? (maybe shape of hiragana? む )
    6 ~> ra ~> ...roku??
    1 ~> i  ~> ichi
    
[/code]

But I couldn't guess at all why relates 6 with both `mu` and `ra`. Any idea?




Japanese speakers may remember numbers by taking the prominent syllable from
how they read numbers (語呂合わせ goroawase). There are more than one way on how to
count: one that descended from Old Japanese (大和言葉 Yamato kotoba) and one
borrowed from Chinese (漢語 kango). In the order of Yamato / Kango:

  1. ひとつ hitotsu / いち ichi
  2. ふたつ futatsu / に ni
  3. みっつ mittsu / さん san
  4. よっつ yottsu / し shi
  5. いつつ itsutsu / ご go
  6. むっつ muttsu / ろく roku
  7. ななつ nanatsu / しち shichi
  8. やっつ yattsu / はち hachi
  9. ここのつ kokonotsu / きゅう kyū or く ku
  10. とお tō / じゅう jyū

and so forth. Therefore, a syllable that corresponds to 3 can be either み mi,
さ sa, or ざ za (the last being the voiced variation of sa).

For 3661,

  * 3 = sa from san
  * 6 = mu from muttsu
  * 1 = i from ichi

The second 6 requires explanation. Notice that in the list above, "ra" does
not appear. In fact, most of the syllables do not have a direct corresponding
number, given that there are 48 basic syllables (plus 25 voiced variants and
21 digraphs). To force any given syllable into a number, people use various
techniques.

  * Use English. つ tsu = 2, せ se = 7, え e = 8
  * Use modern Chinese. す su = 4 (written sì in pinyin but sounds like su), り ri = liù = 6
  * Swap vowels. This is what happened to the second 6 in 3661. Of all the syllables in the ra-line (ra, ri, ru, re, ro), only re (0 from rei) and ro (6 from roku) are defined. The Chinese technique also suggests 6 for ri. Therefore, 6 may be extended to ra and ru also. (The same thing happens in the ko/go-line where 5 fills in for ka/ga and ke/ge; and in the ma-line where 6 fills in for me and mo.)

An example of this extended list can be found at
<http://www2u.biglobe.ne.jp/~b-jack/kouza/s-3.html>

With these techniques in play, people might remember the first 30 digits of pi
as follows:

[code]

    San ishi ikoku ni mukau. Sango yaku naku, 
    3 . 1 4  15 9  2  6 5    3  5  8 9  7 9
    Obstetrician goes to a foreign country. No misfortune after birth,
    
    sanpu miyashiro ni. Mushi sanzan yami ni naku.
    3  6  3 8 4  6  2   6 4   3  3   8 3  2  7 9
    the new mother heads to a shrine. Insects chirp in the darkness severely.
    
[/code]




Japanese speakers may remember numbers by taking the prominent syllable from
how they read numbers (語呂合わせ goroawase). There are more than one way on how to
count: one that descended from Old Japanese (大和言葉 Yamato kotoba) and one
borrowed from Chinese (漢語 kango). In the order of Yamato / Kango:

  1. ひとつ hitotsu / いち ichi
  2. ふたつ futatsu / に ni
  3. みっつ mittsu / さん san
  4. よっつ yottsu / し shi
  5. いつつ itsutsu / ご go
  6. むっつ muttsu / ろく roku
  7. ななつ nanatsu / しち shichi
  8. やっつ yattsu / はち hachi
  9. ここのつ kokonotsu / きゅう kyū or く ku
  10. とお tō / じゅう jyū

and so forth. Therefore, a syllable that corresponds to 3 can be either み mi,
さ sa, or ざ za (the last being the voiced variation of sa).

For 3661,

  * 3 = sa from san
  * 6 = mu from muttsu
  * 1 = i from ichi

The second 6 requires explanation. Notice that in the list above, "ra" does
not appear. In fact, most of the syllables do not have a direct corresponding
number, given that there are 48 basic syllables (plus 25 voiced variants and
21 digraphs). To force any given syllable into a number, people use various
techniques.

  * Use English. つ tsu = 2, せ se = 7, え e = 8
  * Use modern Chinese. す su = 4 (written sì in pinyin but sounds like su), り ri = liù = 6
  * Swap vowels. This is what happened to the second 6 in 3661. Of all the syllables in the ra-line (ra, ri, ru, re, ro), only re (0 from rei) and ro (6 from roku) are defined. The Chinese technique also suggests 6 for ri. Therefore, 6 may be extended to ra and ru also. (The same thing happens in the ko/go-line where 5 fills in for ka/ga and ke/ge; and in the ma-line where 6 fills in for me and mo.)

An example of this extended list can be found at
<http://www2u.biglobe.ne.jp/~b-jack/kouza/s-3.html>

With these techniques in play, people might remember the first 30 digits of pi
as follows:

[code]

    San ishi ikoku ni mukau. Sango yaku naku, 
    3 . 1 4  15 9  2  6 5    3  5  8 9  7 9
    Obstetrician goes to a foreign country. No misfortune after birth,
    
    sanpu miyashiro ni. Mushi sanzan yami ni naku.
    3  6  3 8 4  6  2   6 4   3  3   8 3  2  7 9
    the new mother heads to a shrine. Insects chirp in the darkness severely.
    
[/code]

