Akisutozeneko Explained

is a love fortune telling method.^[1] It was mainly used by girls in the Showa period.^[2]

Each character in the name of this fortune-telling method is associated with a word: a for aishiteiru ("to love"), ki for kirai ("to dislike"), su for suki ("to like"), to for tomodachi ("friend"), ze for zekkō ("break up"), ne for netsuretsu ("passionate"), and ko for koibito ("lover"). These initials form the name Akisutozeneko.

Rules

Akisutozeneko is performed by changing the letters of the names of a couple into numbers. For example, given two people named and :

1	ひ	や	つ	か	さ	ぶ	ろ	う	じ	て	ん	は	な	み
	hi	ya	tsu	ka	sa	bu	ro	u	ji	te	n	ha	na	mi
2	2	1	3	1	1	3	5	3	2	4	1	1	1	2
3			3			3	5	3		4
4	14								4

1. The names of the couple in question are written out in hiragana. "Small" hiragana are written out as their full-sized counterparts. For example, is written as .
2. All vowels and the character Japanese: ん (n) are changed into numbers (a=1, i=2, u=3, e=4, o=5, n=1). In this example, Hiyatsuka Saburou = 21311353 and Jiten Hanami = 241112.
3. After converting the names into numbers, any numbers that both names share are erased. In this example, both people have 1's and 2's in their name. Therefore, all 1's and 2's are erased.
4. The remaining numbers are added for each person. In this example, Hyakka Saburou's total is 3 + 3 + 5 + 3 = 14. Jiten Hanami's total is 4.
5. Each number corresponds with a character:

1 = Japanese: あ (a)

2 = Japanese: き (ki)

3 = Japanese: す (su)

4 = Japanese: と (to)

5 = Japanese: ぜ (ze)

6 = Japanese: ね (ne)

7 = Japanese: こ (ko)

8 = Japanese: あ (a)

9 = Japanese: き (ki), etc.

In this example, Hyakka Saburou's number is 14, so his character will be Japanese: こ (ko). Jiten Hanami's number is 4, so her character will be 4 = Japanese: と (to).

1. A word is then associated with the character according to the table below:^{[3] [4]}

Character	Word associated with character
Japanese: あ (a)
Japanese: き (ki)
Japanese: す (su)
Japanese: と (to)
Japanese: ぜ (ze)
Japanese: ね (ne)
Japanese: こ (ko)

In this example, the result is "Hyakka Saburou thinks of Jiten Hanami as a lover, but Jiten Hanami thinks of Hyakka Saburou as a friend".

If step 4 cannot be performed because all numbers were erased in step 3, then the meaning is "fated person".^[5]

Notes and References

1. Book: 米川 . 明彦 . ja:日本俗語大辞典 . November 2003. 東京堂出版 . 978-4-490-10638-1 . 9.
2. Web site: http://zokugo-dict.com/01a/akisutozeneko.htm . ja:あきすとぜねこ – 日本語俗語辞書. 2 March 2008. ja. https://web.archive.org/web/20080311153933/http://zokugo-dict.com/01a/akisutozeneko.htm. 11 March 2008 . live.
3. Book: 目黒卓朗他 . ja:20世紀死語辞典. December 2000. 太陽出版. 978-4-88469-214-8. 14. .
4. Book: PHP研究所編. ja:時代を読む事典 最新トレンド・ワード555. January 1989. PHP研究所. 978-4-569-22423-7. 25.
5. Web site: 坂井あやの. 2011-06-27. http://www.tokiomonsta.tv/hitomebo/column/article/48.html. ja:消しゴムに名前、枕の下に写真…恋に効くのはどれ!? 懐かしのおまじないをプレイバック！. ja:ヒトメボ 一目惚れしたとき、押すスイッチ. ユーマインド. 2013-11-17.