Save Type Surname (from location) Usage Japanese Scripts 宮本(Japanese Kanji) みやもと(Japanese Hiragana) Pronounced Pron. MEE-YA-MO-TO [key·IPA] Meaning & History From Japanese 宮 (miya) meaning "temple, shrine, palace" and 本 (moto) meaning "base, root, origin". A notable bearer is video game pioneer Shigeru Miyamoto (1952-). Categories folk heroes