This question stems from the name of the game: Ni No Kuni which in Japanese is
二ノ国.

  1. Why there is no in Katakana here? Is this still the particle の?
  2. If so, then does this form a Genitive, Ordinal Number, or something else, like "The Country of Two" vs "The Second Country" or maybe "Another Country"?

I'm not sure what the intended meaning is here.
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-10-07T19:14:03.927
96531
2022-10-15T11:18:33.633
2022-10-09T21:29:14.733
32952
48639
question
particle-の
What is the meaning of ノ in the videogame title 二ノ国?
Well, the quick and easy answer, it is just being used as katakana to be
pretty. No actual reason. Like in the pic: [![Like
here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/Iq7Bp.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/Iq7Bp.png)
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-10-07T22:44:06.467
96533
2022-10-07T22:45:52.850
2022-10-07T22:45:52.850
54654
54654
96531
answer
## Usage of の

The particle の connects two nouns, where one modifies the other.

While it is true that in many instances this denotes a relation of possession
(genitive):

> AのB。"B belongs to A"

> 私の名前 "My name"

it is not always the case, and の may indicate any relationship or connection
between both nouns arbitrarily. The nature of this relationship is determined
by context, like many other aspects in Japanese:

> 司会のミラーさん。"Moderator Miller" (A is qualifying or describing B)

> 男の人。 "A man" (Again A is qualifying B)

Note that among learners of Japanese as a foreign language, there's a whole
category of the so called "の adjectives", where an "adjective" modifies a noun
connected by the の particle. From the standpoint of Japanese grammar, there's
no such category and the supposed "の adjectives" are simply nouns, that happen
to modify other nouns by connecting both with の.

## The particular case of 二ノ国

To answer your first question, "Is this still the particle の ?" the answer is
yes, ノ in 二ノ国 corresponds to the particle の without a doubt.

I found [this entry](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/19218/what-
does-ni-no-kuni-mean-exactly) in the sister site anime.stackexchange.com where
they try to determine the meaning of the title. The accepted answer states
that:

> So the final title is either: "The Country of Two" [...] or "Second Country"

I checked the [entry for 二ノ国 at the Japanese
Wikipedia](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%BA%8C%E3%83%8E%E5%9B%BD). It
turns out that besides 二ノ国, there is also an 一ノ国. Since there are actually 2
countries, it only makes sense to translate 二ノ国 as "Second Country" or
"Country number two" rather than "The country of two":

> シズクは現実世界（『 **一ノ国** 』）とは異なる並行世界 **二ノ国** からやってきたのだという。 **一ノ国** と **二ノ国**
> はそこに暮らすものの魂が繋がる表裏一体の世界だった。

> Shizuku is said to have come from a parallel world called **Ni no Kuni** ,
> which is different from the real world (" **Ichi no Kuni** "). **Ichi no
> Kuni** and **Ni no Kuni** were two sides of the same world where the souls
> of those who lived there were connected.

## A note on numbers in Japanese

Please note that 二ノ国 is not the common way to count stuff in Japanese.
Usually, to count objects in Japanese you should use counters. This is a
complex topic and I can't explain it here, just beware that numberのnoun is not
the only nor the standard way to count things in Japanese. Here you are some
examples of numbers combined with nouns (counters in **bold** font):

> **三{み}つ** のミカン Three mandarines (general counter)

> 三{さん} **番{ばん}目{め}** の車 The car in the 3rd position (ordinal counter)

> 第{だい}3 **課{か}** The 3rd lesson (counter for lessons)

> 三{さん} **月{がつ}** The 3rd month, March (counter for months)

> 三{さん} **ヵ月{げつ}** Three months (counter for months)

There is a counter for countries, with the same kanji 国, but it is pronounced
国{こく} instead of 国{くに}. However, this counter does not seem to be used
regularly (see the [discussion in the comments
section](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/96531/what-is-the-
meaning-of-%e3%83%8e-in-the-videogame-
title-%e4%ba%8c%e3%83%8e%e5%9b%bd/96557#comment157273_96557)):

> [三{さん} **国{ごく}**](https://jisho.org/search/%E4%B8%89%E5%9B%BD) Three
> countries (counter for countries).
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-10-09T21:18:18.443
96557
2022-10-15T11:18:33.633
2022-10-15T11:18:33.633
32952
32952
96531
answer