Dai-ichi

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Dai-ichi (第一) is a compound modifier phrase of Japanese origin, meaning number one,[1] or first. In kanji, "dai" ("number") is 第[2] and "ichi" ("one") is 一.[3] "Dai" is also defined "ordinal number marker."[2] It is this feature that makes the phrase a modifier, or an adjective, describing a noun, as first. Number one functions in the same way.

The phrase is also written without the hyphen, as daiichi.

Dai-ichi is frequently used in proper names, hence capitalized; also Dai-Ichi and occasionally Dai Ichi. There is a sound-alike common first name with different spelling.

Uses include but are not limited to:
  • Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (or Fukushima Dai-ichi), a.k.a. Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant (福島第一原子力発電所) (dai and ichi are the third and fourth characters) – a six-unit nuclear plant complex struck in the March 11, 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami
  • Dai-ichi Life Insurance Co (第一生命保険株式会社) – the third largest life insurer in Japan by revenues
  • Dai Ichi Daihoumaru Ship case (第一大邦丸事件) – a 1952 incident between the South Korean Coast Guard and the Japanese Dai Ichi Daihoumaru ship
  • Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank (第一勧業銀行) – was one of the largest banks in the world during the latter half of the 20th century
  • Dai-ichi KōKū Kantai (第一航空艦隊) (dai and ichi are the first and second characters) – 1st Air Fleet of the Imperial Japanese Navy; amongst a number of military-unit names incorporating the phrase
  • Dai-ichi Hōsō – The 1st Broadcast (第1放送) (dai is first character; ichi is the numeral "1" instead of 一) on Radio Nikkei carries general programs and horse racing from eastern Japan (hōsō; click link to edit listing)
  • Dai-Ichi-dōri Station (第一通り駅) – a commuter station in downtown Hamamatsu city (dōri)
  • Morioka Dai-ichi High School, a.k.a. Morioka First High School (盛岡第一高等学校) – is a public university preparatory high school in Morioka city, Iwate, Japan
  • Daiichi Sankyo (第一三共株式会社) (Dai and ichi are the first and second characters) – a Japan-based major pharmaceutical company
  • Daiichi Institute of Technology (第一工業大学) – a private university in Kirishima, Kagoshima, Japan
  • Dai-ichi was the name of a professional Go tournament 1959–75
  1. ^ Hobart-Hampden, Ernest Miles and Sir Harold George Parlett, eds., An English-Japanese dictionary of the spoken language, via Google Books. Retrieved 2011-03-18.
  2. ^ a b Nakao, Seigo, Random House Japanese-English English-Japanese Dictionary, via Google Books, p. 39. Retrieved 2011-03-18.
  3. ^ Nakao, Seigo, Random House Japanese-English English-Japanese Dictionary, via Google Books, p. 95. Retrieved 2011-03-18.