# Japanese translation of pro wrestling hold ''Shinin no maki''

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/japanese-translation-of-pro-wrestling-hold-shinin-no-maki/253169>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 2, 2004, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/japanese-translation-of-pro-wrestling-hold-shinin-no-maki/253169 "2004-07-02T03:45:52Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\
**Post date:** [July 2, 2004, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/japanese-translation-of-pro-wrestling-hold-shinin-no-maki/253169/1 "2004-07-02T03:45:52Z")

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I guess, anyway.

I remember a Japanese pro wrestler using this term to describe this \*deadly hold. When other non-Japanese wrestlers used it, it was called the “Cobra Clutch,” and sometimes the Japanese themselves called it the “Japanese Cobra.”

I never saw the name in print, only heard them use it, and came up with the spelling in the OP based on trial and error with searching. Based on that, it would seem to mean “Scroll of Faith.”

Is there anything else that something phonetically close to “shinin no maki” might mean that would refer to this wrestling grip.

\*This hold looked sorta like the traditional wrestling “sleeper” hold, the outward appearance differing, IIRC, in that instead of your own arm wrapped around your opponent’s throat, it was his own arm.

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**Author:** ![jovan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/0ea827/32.png) [@jovan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jovan)\
**Post date:** [July 2, 2004, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/japanese-translation-of-pro-wrestling-hold-shinin-no-maki/253169/2 "2004-07-02T04:12:19Z")

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> [@Earl Snake-Hips Tucker](#):
>
> I never saw the name in print, only heard them use it, and came up with the spelling in the OP based on trial and error with searching. Based on that, it would seem to mean “Scroll of Faith.”

Nope, it’s not “scroll of faith”. “Maki” does indeed mean “scroll” but in wrestling it refers to certain types of techniques. “Maki” means more accurately “roll”, a spring roll is called “haru-maki”.

“Shinin” means “dead man”, so I’d probably translate that as “dead man’s clutch” or something. I found what seemed to be an extensive [dictionary](http://waza.fc2web.com/ko.html) of Japanese pro-wrestling techniques. It lists “cobra clutch” but there’s nothing under “shinin”. I think it might be something the wrestler made up.

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**Author:** ![Bigdog224](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4491bb/32.png) [@Bigdog224](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bigdog224)\
**Post date:** [November 14, 2023, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/japanese-translation-of-pro-wrestling-hold-shinin-no-maki/253169/3 "2023-11-14T20:20:04Z")

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I think you’re referring to what’s called in pro wrestling, ‘The Self Strangle hold’ where the opponent’s own arms are used to choke him and a knee is in his back to apply counter pressure pushing the opponent into the choke.

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**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\
**Post date:** [November 16, 2023, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/japanese-translation-of-pro-wrestling-hold-shinin-no-maki/253169/4 "2023-11-16T07:51:09Z")

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Welcome to the Dope. Note that the OP was written in 2004, so it’s been a while.

I haven’t ever been a huge fan of pro wrestling, also I knew some people who were.

Googling, the term does seem to pop up. In [an article](https://prowrestlingstories.com/in-memoriam/masa-saito-remembered/) concerning the Japanese wrestler Masa Saito.

> [@](#):
>
> In the deep South, where many people still hold a deep-seated distrust of “foreigners,” Saito was a vicious, brutal heel who could really, really wrestle. Facing off against fan-favorite and legendary Southern wrestler Ken Lucas, he pitted his version of the sleeper hold, calling it the Shinin-No-Maki (in reality, a cobra clutch) against Lucas’s own variation of the sleeper.