Why is the name of the whisky "TOKI" written as 季?


Suntory has a whisky named TOKI in their portfolio. It took me a bit to find
that the kanji used for this is actually 季 and has the On-Yomi き, but can be
pronounced in names as すえ or とし.

Another fact I found out is that the whisky is intended for outside countries
such as Europe or US, so that it needs to be reimported to Japan. (I don't
whether this is important or not.)

My question is what might be the reasoning for naming the whisky "season(s)"
and then "translating" it to the Kanji "time(s)" 時{とき}? I have also looked
into the 旧字体 list given by Earthliŋ in his answer to this question here:
[Variations in the "same" kanji, how do you know which one to
use?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/42953/variations-in-the-
same-kanji-how-do-you-know-which-one-to-use) But there is no correlation
between those two kanji.

Is that because "KI" would be just a 1-syllable name and thus thought
inappropriate as a product name? E.g. the whiskys 響{ひびき}, 白州{はくしゅう}, 山崎{やまざき}
have kept their pronunciation, but are multi-syllable words.




> ... what might be the reasoning for naming the whisky "season(s)" and then
> "translating" it to the Kanji "time(s)" 時{とき}?

The word "time" can refer to many things -- the current moment, a span of
time, a season, a time of life, several years. Just as in English, Japanese とき
has various shades of meaning, one of which is 季節【きせつ】 ("season"). See the
国語大辞典【こくごだいじてん】 entry [on
Kotobank](https://kotobank.jp/word/%E6%99%82-510811), specifically sense [三]③
(emphasis mine):

> [三] 時間の流れの一部分、または一点をさしていう。  
>  ...  
>  ③ 時節。 **季節** 。時候。

More deeply, while the ultimate origins of the native-Japanese words とし
("year") and とき ("time") are uncertain, there is speculation that they might
be related. If you can read Japanese, the 語源由来辞典【ごげんゆらいじてん】 lists some of
these theories in their entries [for とし](https://gogen-yurai.jp/toshi/) and
[for とき](https://gogen-yurai.jp/toki/). I don't think the compound derivation
for とし makes much sense, and it is clear that both とし and とき stretch back into
the Proto-Japonic stage of the language -- the Ryūkyūan branch has reflexes
for both terms. Japanese とし appears in Ryūkyūan mostly as とぅし (pronounced
something like //tuɕi//; this is a regular correspondence between Japanese
//o// and Ryūkyūan //u//), as we can see in [the various hits at
JLect](https://www.jlect.com/search.php?r=%E5%B9%B4&l=all&group=words), while
とき appears as とぅち (//tut͡ɕi//; same vowel correspondence, plus
[affrication](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affricate#Affrication) of the
//k// before //i//, similar to what happened when Latin ⟨ci⟩, //ki// became
Italian ⟨ci⟩, //t͡ʃi//).

> I have also looked into the 旧字体 list given by Earthliŋ in his answer to this
> question here: Variations in the "same" kanji, how do you know which one to
> use? But there is no correlation between those two kanji.

No, you are correct, there isn't any correlation: the kanji **季** and **時**
are wholly unrelated glyphs (characters, symbols).

> Is that [the use of the "TOKI" reading] because "KI" would be just a
> 1-syllable name and thus thought inappropriate as a product name?

I'm sure that's part of it -- _ki_ is indistinct as a name, and could be any
of very many things. The reading _ki_ for 季 is also never used as a standalone
noun, so Japanese speakers who hear _ki_ used as an independent word would
never think of 季.

The word とき is unambiguous, more distinct as a standalone noun, and is clearly
tied to ideas of "time". Spelling it with the 季 kanji explicitly refers to the
"season" sense, and adds a kind of poetical association to the name.




> ... what might be the reasoning for naming the whisky "season(s)" and then
> "translating" it to the Kanji "time(s)" 時{とき}?

The word "time" can refer to many things -- the current moment, a span of
time, a season, a time of life, several years. Just as in English, Japanese とき
has various shades of meaning, one of which is 季節【きせつ】 ("season"). See the
国語大辞典【こくごだいじてん】 entry [on
Kotobank](https://kotobank.jp/word/%E6%99%82-510811), specifically sense [三]③
(emphasis mine):

> [三] 時間の流れの一部分、または一点をさしていう。  
>  ...  
>  ③ 時節。 **季節** 。時候。

More deeply, while the ultimate origins of the native-Japanese words とし
("year") and とき ("time") are uncertain, there is speculation that they might
be related. If you can read Japanese, the 語源由来辞典【ごげんゆらいじてん】 lists some of
these theories in their entries [for とし](https://gogen-yurai.jp/toshi/) and
[for とき](https://gogen-yurai.jp/toki/). I don't think the compound derivation
for とし makes much sense, and it is clear that both とし and とき stretch back into
the Proto-Japonic stage of the language -- the Ryūkyūan branch has reflexes
for both terms. Japanese とし appears in Ryūkyūan mostly as とぅし (pronounced
something like //tuɕi//; this is a regular correspondence between Japanese
//o// and Ryūkyūan //u//), as we can see in [the various hits at
JLect](https://www.jlect.com/search.php?r=%E5%B9%B4&l=all&group=words), while
とき appears as とぅち (//tut͡ɕi//; same vowel correspondence, plus
[affrication](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affricate#Affrication) of the
//k// before //i//, similar to what happened when Latin ⟨ci⟩, //ki// became
Italian ⟨ci⟩, //t͡ʃi//).

> I have also looked into the 旧字体 list given by Earthliŋ in his answer to this
> question here: Variations in the "same" kanji, how do you know which one to
> use? But there is no correlation between those two kanji.

No, you are correct, there isn't any correlation: the kanji **季** and **時**
are wholly unrelated glyphs (characters, symbols).

> Is that [the use of the "TOKI" reading] because "KI" would be just a
> 1-syllable name and thus thought inappropriate as a product name?

I'm sure that's part of it -- _ki_ is indistinct as a name, and could be any
of very many things. The reading _ki_ for 季 is also never used as a standalone
noun, so Japanese speakers who hear _ki_ used as an independent word would
never think of 季.

The word とき is unambiguous, more distinct as a standalone noun, and is clearly
tied to ideas of "time". Spelling it with the 季 kanji explicitly refers to the
"season" sense, and adds a kind of poetical association to the name.

