WTF does that mean? Yeah, the J-League has some of the coolest team names. I am partial to Oita Trinita and Ventforet Kofu.
I have heard two stories about this name. According to one story, it was supposed to mean "Blue cross" (= blu + x), and it was a registered trademark of the company Chuo Bohan, which is the origin of the team. At the time, the team was not in Fukuoka, but in Fujieda, which is in Shizuoka Prefecture, and the team was called "Fujieda Blux". When the J.League was formed, the team moved to Fukuoka since there were already so many teams in Shizuoka. A second story says that "Blux" stands for "Brave Lads with Ultimate X". The "X" is supposed to be that extra ingredient that makes a player special. Although this name sounds a lot cooler, I think this story is just an urban legend. The blue cross explanation seems more likely, based on the team's history. Personally, I like the name "Profesor Miyazaki" (JFL team). It sounds like the name of some mad scientist from a James Bond movie.
Ventforet? Where'd they get that from, if anyone knows? Because I believe it means, very loosely translated, something like 'strong wind' in Catalan.
San Frecce Hiroshima "san" is "three" in Japanese and "frecce" means "arrow" in Italian. It's based on a local legend, but it's silly how they combine two languages. I love it.
It is French, actually, and means "wind in the forest". The name comes from the motto of Takeda Shingen, a 16th century warlord who was famous for all the battles he fought and his excellent strategic ability. His philosophy was to move quickly and attack rapidly, so he took the motto "Furin Kasan", which means "wind in the forest, fire on the mountain", which expresses the way he thought his armies should fight. Ventforet Kofu took the first part "wind in the forest" and translated it into French to become "Ventforet". By the way, for those who speak japanese, there is also an "oyaji gag" about how Takeda Shingen made his motto. When he was young, his mother was always cheating on her husband, so when he grew up, he took a motto that reminded him of his childhood: "Furin Kaa-san"
Hamatachi are you gonna start another Kindaichi thread again? Yeah the Three arrows story comes from Mori Motonari, who when he was dying brought his sons into the room, broke one arrow, then grabbed there and couldn't break them. Personally my family hates Mori cause he burned and pilaged our region.
The Mori family was a warlord family that ruled the region around Hiroshima. Of course, Motonari's son ended up being defeated by Toyotomi Hideyoshi who ended up ruling most of Japan.
Almost all of these names are discussed on the team pages at my web site. I dont mind discussing some of them here, if I have time, but for those who are really interested in the source of the names, you can just go to the team pages at the RSN and find out the source of the name. For J1: http://www.wldcup.com/Asia/jleague/teams.html for J2: http://www.wldcup.com/Asia/j2/teams.html By the way this what I wrote about Grampus: Grampus took its name from an old British word for gargoyle-like characters, like the ones on the top of Nagoya Castle -- the city's most distinctive landmark. The official team name is "Nagoya Grampus Eight", and a variety of reasons have been given over the years for the word eight. Originally, some suggested that it referred to the eight arms of an octopus. However, Nagoya adopted a killer whale as its mascot, so this explanation makes little sense. The official company website states that it refers to the eight priciples of citizenship in Nagoya City, but it is unlikely that any fan can tell you what those principles are. In general, the public and the press have come to refer to the team as simply "Nagoya Grampus".
It sounded liked the movie "Ran" by Akira Kurosawa. He must have combine the story with King Lear to make "Ran". I am sure the warlord in the movie told his three sons about the arrows.