Shinri Electric Power Company

[edit] Overview and Background

Shinra's corporate logo which depicts the parsing once used in Japan
The Shinra Electric Power Company (神羅電気動力株式会社, Shinra Denki Dōryoku Kabushiki-gaisha?), or simply the Shinra Company (神羅カンパニー, Shinra Kanpanī?), was a powerful mega-corporation which acted as a de facto government for much of Gaia. The Shinra Company grew from a small weapons manufacturer into a large conglomerate after the discovery of mako energy which the Shinra used to fuel the planet. In addition to their monopoly over mako the company employed a large military to secure their control over much of the planet. However, the company collapsed following the Meteor Crisis and now operates on a far smaller level. Despite this downsizing the company still plays a major role in world affairs.
Shinra is named after the family that runs the corporation. In Japanese materials pertaining to the original Final Fantasy VII, the company's name is parsed "Shin-Ra", though this parsing has not appeared in any English localizations and has been disused in Japan. "Shinra" is written with the Japanese kanji 神羅. This does not appear to be an actual Japanese surname, although its on-reading is the same as many others. The individual kanji mean "god"/"divine" and "snare"/"net"/"silk". The "Ra" is also often used to represent Rome, and as the short "lat." for "latin". In view of the Vatican in Rome, "Shin-Ra" possibly mentioning the Romanized name of the Judeo-Christian God, Jehova[17][18] (YHWH). With the many relations between Japan and Russia in mind, and the use of the Russian language in Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII[19], it can be taken into consideration, that Russians by use of their Cyrillic alphabet would spell the word JEHOVA as JENOVA (cyrillic N is written like a latin H). Exactly why this name was chosen and what it might imply are unknown, although "Shin-Ra" could mean capturing a god, or the essence of a god, such as Mako. It could also mean "Soul (of) Rome" since "Shin" can also mean "soul" and as said "Ra" can represent "Rome" thus being a name representation of the (game design) idea behind Shinra.