"Akatsuki" may also mean "twilight"

[Kadmos1]

Akatsuki literally means "Dawn" or "Daybreak".

By definition, twilight refers to the time between dawn (which is when we start to see the sun) and sunrise or sunset and dusk (the darkest part of the evening twilight). So, I think it's technically safe to say that Akatsuki is related to the definition of twilight.

It's also an interesting metaphor as how the Akatsuki originally wanted to be a peaceful organization but Yahiko's death and Nagato going crazy with those soul-sucking dragons (and succumbing to Yahiko's deception) were a key to it becoming a terrorist organization ("dawn", meaning hope/light while "dusk", because it's darkness, was the evil side).

 

[rollin]

in way can it also be a pun
aka means read and tsuki means moon or i guess a red moon symbolizes a dawn or daybreak

 

[Kadmos1]

But how would "red moon" be a pun?

 

[rollin]

But how would "red moon" be a pun?

nevermind i meant a play of words

 

[real uchiha madara]

we already know...

 

[Your Creepy Stalker]

Aka Tsuki translates literaly to Red Moon. Sort of hinting at the Infinite Tsukiyomi. The moon is red in the anime during the war.

 

[reizon]

akatsuki also means aka tsuki.!!

also known as tsuki(Moon).!!

 

[Erebus]

I thought it meant Red Moon or was it Red Cloud

 

[KGB Kakuzu]

I thought it meant Red Moon or was it Red Cloud

Red Cloud would be Akakumo (Kumogakure: village hidden in the clouds)


Aka is red

Tsuki is Moon


It is a play on words suggesting the Project Tsukinomi in which the moon is cast red with the Sharingan. It also can suggest the daybreak of a new way of life. The daybreak in Obito's seemingly eternal darkness. Or twilight, the darkest act before the rise of a glorious change.


Speaking from a bad guy prospective of course.

 

[uvauva2]

Akatsuki is NOT "red moon". It's definitely true that it fits, but that isn't the root of the word at all.

If you check a Japanese-Japanese dictionary (like

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) you learn that 暁(あかつき-akatsuki) is actually a sound variation on 明時(あかとき-akatoki), which roughly translates as "the time of brightening".

The two definitions given in the dictionary say the following:
1- The moments of faint darkness before the rise of the sun (the rest is a discussion of how usage has shifted a little throughout time).
2- The moment at which something you sought becomes reality.

 

[Kadmos1]

Then, I wonder why people would edit it's Naruto Wiki article for it to mean "dawn" or "daybreak" and some other places (fan sites included) say that it translates to either word. Is it because it depends on the writing style (kanji, Romaji, etc.)?

uvauva2, with the 1st definition you listed, that seems to describe dawn.

 

[uvauva2]

Correct, 暁(akatsuki) pretty much means dawn/daybreak (which are the same thing), as described in the first definition.

However, it can not refer to a sunset, nor does it come from 赤+月(aka+tsuki), which would be "red moon". It is hence incorrect to interpret 暁 as "twilight".

Let me point out though (though as I'm not Japanese and I don't think I've ever found the word 暁 anywhere other than in Naruto, you should take this with a grain of salt), that though 暁 is translated as "dawn" by Japanese-English dictionaries and even listed in J-J dictionaries as a synonym to 明け方、夜明け (which seem to be more common words for "dawn" in my experience), the dictionary definition is more subtle: akatsuki isn't defined as the dawn per se, it is defined as the darkness immediately before the dawn.

And that is how I interpret the name of the organization: they are not aiming to be the dawn itself, rather they are the necessary darkness that immediately precedes the dawn.