Akina/Terminology Analysis

### A Girl Encircling Three Worlds

The megami Akina is deeply rooted in business, mathematics, and esoteric rituals. Her card pool mixes all three of these facets together in interesting ways. For her normal cards the first two are featured prominently as expected, but the third is always lurking in the background, and it leaps onto the main stage to join the rest for her specials. Though it's to be expected that there'd be at least a little mysticism due to being a goddess, it actually goes deeper than that. Since olden times in Japan, the practice and teaching of mathematics was done by the temples and intertwined with religion. This led to many math words containing religious methodology as a matter of course. Now that you know what to expect, let's get into her rules and cards!

## Market Forces

Akina's unique mechanic is based around the very literal business-oriented terms of 相場 market value, 投資 investment, and 回収 collection. Through these she's carrying out transactions back and forth at a "fair" price. She additionally leverages 資本 capital value to support negotiations. Her normal cards are similarly straightforward business and math terms, with a little cultural spice and history blended in.

### Abacus Beads (算盤玉)

A Japanese cousin of the ancient abacus design, the 算盤 "soroban" counting table is an evolution of the calculation instrument. After its introduction to Japan it gained traction among merchants, got adopted and optimized by the temples, gradually replaced other calculation tools, and ultimately came to represent calculation and reckoning in the country altogether. Its beads are usually made of heavy wood, and a rod of them represents a numerical digit.

### Swagger (恫喝)

The usage of boastful claims and inferred threats in business is a practice as old as time. When backed up by resources and confidence, this style of intimidation can manipulate people towards preferred outcomes, forcing them to open their wallets to one's own benefit. In the west these practices have often been called bluster and swagger, and are associated with bravado, mavericks, hustle, or forceful dealings. Whether viewed in intrepid or negative connotations, many businesses still study this style of manipulation for one reason or another.

### Commerce (交易)

Intermingling of goods and services, trading commodities, buying and selling. This form of exchange doesn't always focus specifically on money but is primarily built on barter and logistics, going back far before money was widely standardized. The old meanings of the Japanese word are based on association and exchanging, however the term was also used to refer to financial management of early Japanese government systems, where tributes to national centers were handled by priests. Much of this also involved complex formulas of valuation to determine acceptible amounts.

### Speculation (投機)

Speculation from an investment viewpoint is placing money into things that may not pan out, but if they're successful it often leads to large profits. Many commodities have been speculated over from rice to gold, and even such things as flowers or rabbits. Many think of this as high-risk high-reward gambling, yet on the other hand, deep analysis of fluctuations in the market can reveal signs of likely profits to be made. In older times the Japanese term had an entirely different meaning, a Zen phrase meaning the tossing of mental mechanisms and beliefs into each other by a master and a student.

### Arithmetic (算法)

The art of number computation is considered the most elementary pillar of math. Counting and operations are used to map, translate, and apply functions to numbers, manipulating them to arrive at a final solution. Most of this is involved with "real" numbers, addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. As a result, it has been used to account for the numbers and values of real objects for nearly as long as the concept of math itself has existed.

### Surprise Upset (盤狂わせ)

This one's a bit of wordplay, it's pronounced the same as the common phrase 番狂わせ, but with the 番 kanji for "turn" replaced with the 盤 board kanji used for the soroban or games like shogi. The common meaning is along the likes of upset, dashed plans, or otherwise unexpected turnouts. This is often applied to competitions when the one favored to win loses, but it's also applied to markets when something comes in and shakes things up enough to require significant adjustment. The addition of the counting board infers that this is a very calculated upset of the rival, and in its literal sense the changed meaning is similar to derailing the course of the boardgame itself.

### Direct Financing (直接金融)

This term refers to surplus funding being lent directly from an investor to a recipient for the purposes of growing capital over time by dividends or interest. Unlike other kinds of finance this is done straight between those involved instead of through market connections or banks, and it often involves gaining debt contracts or a share of ownership over the recipient. Finance as a whole is split into the categories of procuring for use, allocating over time, and investing excess, each of which are possible through direct contracts. Unlike the rest of Akina's methods, the idea of direct finance is new to Japan and has been the product of increasing globalization, though it bears some resemblance to older taxation and funding practices.

## True Reckoning Revealed

Akina's specials are made up of multiple complex and uncommon ideas, most of which are keenly academic or insider knowledge. As such they defy dictionaries and confuse translators, and each requires a breakdown of their terms followed by context reconstruction to find a cohesive meaning.

### Root-Law Provident Buyout Method (開方冥式切取法)

開方 "kaihou", meaning opened, in mathematics translates as "open law" and refers to radicand square and cube root formulas used for solving equations of very high orders of operation, simplifying their magnitudes for easy calculation. It also hints at open-order methods of trading, in which orders are placed in advance to be filled once prices move to the estimated point.

冥式 "meishiki" is a portmanteu of a couple concepts, the first of which can be dark or esoteric, and second of which is methodology or formula. Mathematically alongside open law it's a reference to a quotient model developed by Koide Kanamasa to solve infinite scaling polynomial equations. In relation to the esoteric it's also evocative of 冥加 "myouga", a term used for providence, fortune, and money offerings to shrines.

切取 "kiritori" is a very blunt term for cutting something right out of its source or other forms of aggressive seizing. In business this usually refers to finalizing a big slice of profits or a takeover of a rival's or debtor's assets.

法 "hou" is another methodology word.

All combined, Akina is setting rapidly increasing price targets and executing an infinitely scalable brute-force procurement scheme on the fly.

### Overflowing Deal Summation Table (大衍算顆手打表)

大衍 "daien" is a great overflow of something breaking through any sensible amount, and can refer to vast overexaggeration, amplification, or even tacking on extra digits. On the math side it refers to Qin Jiushao's remainder algorithms, which use very large integers or indeterminate values in calculations abstractly through multiple division steps.

算 "san" is for counting, and 顆 "ka" is used to denote numbers of small spheres, the two together was one early symbolic term for arithmetic, and combined with the massive overflow of the first term this creates the sense of far too much abacus beads being moved to count.

手打 "teuchi" translates as hand-striking and is colloquially linked to striking a deal, so named due to the sound of striking beads moving around to calculate the transaction.

表 "hyou" is the surface where all of this is happening, and can mean tables, charts, and lists for the purposes of holding calculations or tallies.

In essence Akina is performing an overwhelming number of calculations to fill an equally absurd number of orders, moving gratuitous levels of capital around to complete the exchange.

As an added bonus, the pronunciation evokes a reference to mathematical 大円 daien great circle and religious 賛歌 sanka hymns.

### Decline Turnaround Hedging Plot (衰垜逐肘守料術)

衰垜 "suida" refers to a Decline formula popularized by Seki Takakazu that focuses on series of natural numbers. The formula shares recursion properties with other famous self-referencing computation functions, such as the Ackermann and Sudan functions. In the context of market movement, the term takes on the meaning of finding the bottom target to enter on a downturn, where if an expected bounce doesn't happen it instead confirms it as a falling trend. On the older side of things, the word refers to a recessed target mound for usage in archery, the practice of which has always had deep meditative qualities.

逐肘 "chikuchuu" is a shorthand compound of trend and either elbow or rebuff. From a market sense this closely resembles terminology for flag pattern analysis and trend reversal theory. A single arm of a flag pattern is a short countertrend movement followed by continuation of the trend. Trend reversal on the other hand is a massive turning point where a trend is denied and changes direction entirely. Reading and predicting these market patterns and their differences is pivotal to deciding whether to change investment strategies, and it even allows for capitalizing on the countertrends or reversals themselves. Much of this prediction is done with the help of natural number recursion functions. On the math side the shorthand could also possibly reference iteration angle formulas.

守料 "moriryou" is in a simple sense protection funds. Though the term is used as slang in Japan for racketeering, in business it represents allocating capital into stable or counter-trend investments for the sake of offsetting losses, and is closely related to hedging and risk insurance. In mysticism it can also refer to an old practice of using coins as warding talismans.

術 "jutsu" is simply a technique or practice.

Put together, in this one Akina is using advanced calculative pattern-tracing to predict a potential danger or opportunity, and banking her resources towards best handling that event.

Pronunciation bonus this time is 療術 ryoujutsu, a catch-all term for folk healing remedies.

### Minakami Akina's Illuminating Audit (源上安岐那の御明算)

The least complex of Akina's methods due to most of it being her name, but there's still a lot to unpack.

As revealed her full name is "Minakami Akina" (源上安岐那), and the kanji used for her given name is eccentric and nonstandard. 安 "a" is used for words like cheap and consistent. 岐 "ki" is seen in forking roads, conditional branches in computing, and the names of several deities. 那 "na" is in things such as shop-master, a phrase referring to an absurdly high number, and a lot of Buddhism terms. Her family name 源上 isn't too uncommon, and roughly translates to "on the source". It's a very old name originating in southern Japan that used to be pronounced as "genjo", and is often associated with industry and profitable neighbors.

The thing she's doing in the card is exclaiming 御明算 "gomeisan!", an arithmetic term used when checking and finding someone else's (or one's own previous) calculations to be accurate. However, instead of the modern writing of 御名算, she's using the much older one which refers to counting offered 御明 prayer lamps or candles far back when such things were done for purposes of temple operations. This sub-layer further references the Buddhist origin of the offering, signifying "lighting the lantern of one's mind".

This is her eureka moment, enlightened thought surging through her practices, every prediction going her way.

The candles are the final flavor bonus, being significant to market movement due to the prevalence of the "candlestick chart", an information-rich price pattern graph developed in Japan in the 1700s.

## Afterword

The arrangement of all of these cards creates a very professional and cunning image of Akina, with all of the bases covered and every deal accounted for. Her shrewd business ethic is supported by ample calculative prowess and deep clerical history, creating a fascinating dynamic befitting a goddess of merchants. Now that we've studied what she stands for, we can further grasp her ambitious approach. Let's harbor her with full understanding of her economic wiles, and secure enterprising victory!

## Credits

* Analysis, Writeup, and Editing: Cinnabar
* Akina Design and Image Resource: 【ふるよにコモンズ/BakaFire,TOKIAME】https://main-bakafire.ssl-lolipop.jp/furuyoni/na/rule.html