Special Words

[BoB nEsS]

So, we know that the Japenese have a different language then us. Even in English, the mangas can sometimes be a bit difficult to understand. So, I've complied a list of 'special words' that can be used in roleplaying. I'll update regularly.

GLOSSARY

A glossary of terms from the country of Koryo:
Ryanban- Feudal Lord
Shinban- Magician/practitioner of the secret arts
Omoni- Mother
Kiishim- A magic-using creature that can be summoned by a strong Shinban

HONORIFICS

[blank]: usually forgotten in these lists, but perhaps the most significant difference between Japanese and English. The lack of honorific means that the speaker has permission to address the person in a very intimate way. Usually, only family, spouses, or very close friends have this kind of permission. Known as yobisute, it can be gratifying when someone who has earned the intimacy starts to call one by one's name without an honorific. But when that intimacy hasn't been earned, it can also be very insulting.
Bozu: This is an informal way to refer to a boy, similar to the English term “kid” or “squirt”.
-san: This is the most common honorific, and is equivalent to Mr., Miss, Ms., Mrs., etc. It is the all-purpose honorific and can be used in any situation where politeness is required.
-chan: This is used to express endearment, mostly toward girl. It is also used for little boys, pets, and even among lovers. It gives a sense of childish cuteness.
-dono: This comes from the word “tono”, which means “lord”. It is even a higher level than “-sama”, and confers uttermost respect.
Kohai: This is the opposite of “-sempai”, and is used toward underclassmen in school or newcomers in the workplace. It connotes that the addressee is of lower station.
-kun: This suffix is used at the end of boys' names to express familiarity or endearment. It is also sometimes used by men among friends, or when addressing someone younger or of a lower station.
-o: Taken from the kanji for king, the -o honorific is reserved for the high gods/heroes who are not only powerful, but are also rulers of their particular clans.
-sama: This is one level higher than “-san”. It is used to confer great respect.
-san: This is the most common honorific, and is equivalent to Mr., Miss, Ms., Mrs., etc. It is the all-purpose honorific and can be used in any situation where politeness is required.
Sempai: This title suggests that the addressee is one's “senior” in a group or organization. It is most often used in a school setting, where underclassmen refer to their upperclassmen as “sempai”. It can also be used in the workplace, such as when a newer employee addresses an employee who has seniority in the company.
Sensei: Literally meaning “one who has come before”, this title is used for teachers, doctors, or masters of any profession or art.

OTHER

Angry Guy: The popular type of Japanese comedy team called manzai is made up of two types of people, the boke, the dumb guy, and the tsukkomi, the angry guy. As in the comedy of Laurel and Hardy and the Smothers Brothers, the boke makes a dumb remark and in response the tsukkomi usually slaps the boke over the head and complains about him.
Auras: The presence of distinctive life-force auras (usually described as chi in Chinese and ki in Japanese) is prevalent in the martail arts, but also in healing techniques originally imported from China but developed in Japan. Such familiar concepts as shiatsu massage are methods of channeling ki to promote well-being. One less familiar technique is reiki (spelled with the characters for spirit and ki) of which practitioners are said to be able to see or sense a persons ki.
Attack Names: Most anime, manga, and game fans are familiar with the attack names that the opponents shout at each other when making their attacks. Sure, it doesn't happen in real life, but it is a long-time entertainment convention.
Bunkobon Size: Bunkobon are even smaller than the tankobon size that Japanese manga usually come in. They are approximately 4 inches by 6 inches, which is a perfect small size for carrying and reading while one is commuting or waiting for an appoitment. This is the normal size for most Japanese paperbacks, but it is also the final size for classic manga after they have gone through the original tankobon size and the collector's-size wide-ban editions.
Chu'nyan: What's with the apostrophe? It's just to not that the n belongs with “nyan” rather than with “Chu”. By the way, “chu” uses the kanji (the Japanese system of writing) for “spring” and “nyan” uses the kanji for “scent”.
Cracking the sake cask (Kagami-wari): This tradition is practiced not only at weddings, but at many types of celebrations. Sake is brought in to the proceedings in a large wooden container with a rough-hewn wooden lid. The main celebrants take a large wooden mallet and crack the boards of the lid apart, and that's when the sake is served to all of the guests. Sort of like the traditional popping of the cork.
Cyclone Cuts: The vacuum of a tornado can cause multiple cuts on exposed skin. This in Japanese is called kamaitachi, and is an effect that is often duplicated in fictional swordplay in which the swordsman represents the whirlwind and the multiple cuts are caused by the sword.
Dyson: A maker of home cleaning products such as vacuum cleaners. Although Dyson is a Western manufacturer and Dyson products are available in North America, the brand hasn't penetrated the American popular culture as much as other brands of vacuum cleaners.
Flipping Rights: Most okonomiyaki that you will find in Japan is made in the kitchen, or at least, behind the counter. However, there are okonomiyaki restraunts where you can flip the okonomiyaki yourself. But, since the dish was created in the Kansai (Osaka, Kyoto, Nara, Kobe) region, chefs jealously guard the right to flip their okonomiyaki- only when it's ready. After all, they're proud of their food and want it to be perfectly cooked.
Gambling Prizes: Cash payoffs for gambling are illegal in Japan, so you will find that gambling for prizes is a very normal occurrence. Unlike skeeball-style amusement centers in the U.S., the prize counters at pachinko parlors are more like mini convenience stores with food, cigarettes, and household items. In Chu'nyan's country the prizes are a natural product of the barter system, and bringing home groceries from your lucky gambling trip is very common to Japanese readers.
Ginryu: The characters for Ginryu mean “silver dragon”, which gives you the reason for the dragon on the hilt.
Hitsuzen: This is actually defined in xxxHolic Volume 1: “Hitsuzen. A naturally foreordained event. A state in which other outcomes are impossible. A result which can only be obtained by a single causality, and other causalities would necessarily create different results.”
Iroha: Before modern reforms of the written Japanese language and kana (written symbols of the Japanese-language syllables) were put in the present order, children would recite a poem that used all the kana only once and made sense in a poem. It's sort of like a combination of the alphabet son and “the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog” in English. And just like we use the alphabet to number things, so too do the Japanese use the Iroha poem as a substitute for a numbering system.
Jinja: Normally, Jinja is spelled with two kanji, one that stands for god and the other for shrine, and it means a shrine to the Shinto gods. In this case, the Jin part is for a different kanji that sounds the same but means army or troops, so it comes off sounding like a shrine dedicated to the military arts.
Kampai!: (Alternatively spelled Kanpai) This toast literally means empty glass, but for all intents and purposes, its direct translation would be the English “Cheers!”
Kannushi: The word means Shinto priest and one who protects a shrine. The word is also used for a card in the Magic the Gathering card game.
Koto: The koto is considered one of the traditional musical instruments of Japan, although it is a Chinese import from around the seventh century A.D. It has thirteen strings arranged on movable bridges that are rest for each song, and it is played with the index finger, middle finger, and thumb.
Kyaa!: “Kyaaaa” is a standard onomatopoeia (sound word) for a scream in manga, but many Japanese people have adopted this sound and use it to express joy, surprise, and other happy emotions.
Manju: The same type of big, white, wheat-dough bun as Siu Bao found in dim sum restaurants, and sometimes sold steaming hot on a chilly day by street vendors in Yokohama's Chinatown. Mmmm.
Manners As A Guest: It is traditional for hosts to offer a guest everything in their power. The tradition for a guest is to refuse as much as possible and never admit to needing anything (because if guests need something it implies that the host has been neglecting them- and that is an insult).
Miko: In this case the word would refer to a virgin priestess in the Shinto religion. Although these days miko are nothing more than lowly priest's assistants (usually the daughters of Shinto priests), in a small section of Romance of the Three Kingdoms (a Chinese epic), the country, Yamatai, that was the central power in the land of Wa (Japan), was ruled by a Queen/Miko by the name of Himiko. This precedent has led to many stories of women who are powerful priestess/rulers.
Mirrors: Mirrors are a traditional mystic element of the earliest parts of Japanese culture. According to the Kojiki (the book of Japanese myths), the Sun Goddess Amaterasu ordered her son, Ninigi-no-Mikoto, to go to Earth, and with him she sent three sacred objects: a magatama (a beadlike jewel accessory), a sword, and a mirror. Those three objects have been passed down in the Japanese imperial family. Mystical mirrors have also crept into Japan's fox-spirit tales and other traditional stories.
Mito Komon: One of Japan's most popular hour-long TV dramas, “Mito Komon” began its run in 1970 and continues today. The main character is an elderly aristocrat who travels Japan with his three retainers, finding injustice and doing what he can to correct it. In the last act of every show, just when the bad guys seem to have the upper hand (reportedly at exactly the same minute mark of every program), Mito-sama pulls out the emblem of his nephew, the Shogun! The bad guys realize that Mito-sama's influence trumps any power they might have, and they capitulate. Like James Bond, the title character has been played by a number of different actors.
Moxibustion: An ancient Chinese remedy, possibly even the precursor to acupuncture, since the Chinese word for acupuncture literally means “acupuncture-moxibustion”. A lit and smoldering stick of mugwort is placed on or over an acupuncture (sometimes to the point of scarring the skin). When combined with acupuncture, the lit mugwort is attached to heat the needle. Like most Chinese medicine, the purpose of moxibustion is to enhance the blood flow and elevate the chi.
Okonomiyaki: They call it Japanese pancakes or Japanese pizza, but the only thing similar between those and okonomiyaki is that all are round and flat. Okonomiyaki is made of flour, water, cabbage (mixed with other veggies), egg, seasonings, some kind of meat (seafood is common), and a delicious steak-sauce-like okonomiyaki sauce. The “konomi” means “like” or “love”, and it indicates that you can put the veggies or meat you most like in it. The “yaki” means fried (the same as with “teriyaki” or “sukiyaki”).
Oni: In Japanese legends and fairy tales, oni play the role we usually reserve for ogres and goblins in Western stories- the bad guy. They are usually portrayed as big, brutish men with a single stubby horn on the top of their heads, bearing studded or spiked clubs, wearing animal hide (tiger skin is popular), and looking for ways to be troublesome. The oni of Oto are somewhat different from the traditional idea of oni.
Oni Ranking: The ranking of oni start with I, which is the highest, down to To, which is the lowest. Each rank has a level with 1 being the highest and 5 being the lowest. Thus we have:
I: 5-1
Ro: 5-1
Ha: 5-1
Ni: 5-1
Ho: 5-1
He: 5-1
To: 5-1
On the House (Service): The first time a person goes to a Japanese retail shop or restaurant, the customer may receive some small free gift to encourage them to come again later and to encourage the customer's friends to patronize the business as well. (Don't expect it. It doesn't happen everywhere). The word the Japanese use for this gift is the English word “service”. Fans of anime may recognize “fan service” as a word that has grown out of the “service” custom.
Polishing Skills: Polishing one's skills by going into competition against the opponent is fully engrained in the Japanese popular culture. It was an integral part of swordsmanship during the time of the Tokugawa Shogunate, when swordsmen in training would go to swordsmanship schools and challenge the master of each school to a duel. And the tradition continued with martial arts training after the Shogunate fell.
Royal We: It has long since been the custom for kings to speak not only for themselves, but since they are (supposedly) a living embodiment of their country and people, they speak for everyone. Therefore, kings have been known to use the pronoun we when referring to themselves.
Ryanban: The “Ry” combination is one of the most difficult combination of sounds for native, monolingual English speakers to wrap their lips around. Many would pronounce “Ryan” as if they were saying the first name of Ryan O' Neal. Not quite. First, remember that the “r” sound in Japanese sounds like a very light “d” sound- similar to the “r” sound that an upper-class British person would use to pronounce the word “very”. Add that to a “ya” sound, and you get a single syllable, that sounds a little like “dya”. Remember, it's not “di-ya” or “ri-ya”, but “rya”.
Se-no...(One, two...): This is how Japanese people time things so that they all start on the same beat. People in the West usually chant “One, two, three...”, starting off all together on the next beat. In Japan, they do it by counting to two with the words se, no, and then, on the third beat, they start together.
Shimenawa: Shimenawa is a rough rope decorated with strips of folded and cut white paper. It is usually placed around holy sites, and especially on old or prominent parts of nature such as locally significant rocks or old trees. The shimenawa indicates that the locals respect that piece of nature as having kami residing in it or connected to it. Shimenawa can also be used as wards or boundary markers for Shinto shrines and other religious observances.
Sprinkling Salt: One of the rites of Shinto purification is to sprinkle salt on the ground that has been made impure. One can see this just before a sumo match when the wrestlers sprinkle salt on the ring to purify it.
Tayu: This is a high rank for actors in Noh drama, entertainers, and courtesans. In Kabuki, it refers to the male actor who plays the female roles.
Tea for the guests: Serving tea to one's guests is a time-honored tradition in Japan, though servants aren't necessarily included in this tradition.
The Game of Telephone (Dengon): The origin of this children's game is lost, and considering that it has appeared in many cultures, it probably has more than one origin. Children are lined up and the first whispers a message to the second. The second whispers a message to the third, and so on down the line. At the end, the final child tells the group what the message is, and everyone compares notes as to how much the message has changed in the telling. It has also been called Gossip, Chinese Whispers, Whisper Down the Lane, Stille Post (German for “silent mail”) and foreign-language variation on Telephone. The Japanese word dengon translates as “message”.
Tora-Cola: Tora means Tiger- the mascot of Osaka's baseball team, the Hanshin Tigers, and the symbol of the entire Hanshin Republic. History buffs might also recognize “Tora” as the Japanese Navy's signal to start the attack on pearl Harbor: “Tora Tora Tora”.
Tsubame: Tsubame is the Japanese word for swallow.
Umbeoshi as a Hangover Remedy: Umeboshi is usually described as a pickled plum, but it is actually in the apricot family, and has many uses. One of the main uses is to add a tart flavor to rice balls, but another use is to help with hangovers. Umeboshi contains picric acid, a substance that is said to stimulate the liver and clean artificial chemicals out of the body. Other uses for Umeboshi include preventing fatigue constipation, and bad breath, and serving as a morning-sickness remedy.
Wai! (Whee!): Wai is the cry of delight for a baby or very young child in Japan. And because of the cuteness craze that seems to be a Japanese staple, when someone older wants to appear cute, they have been known to cry wai-wai as well.
Watoji: Watoji is the traditional Japanese style of book binding. It usually consists of two heavy covers (made of many different types of materials including wood and leather) and the pages all bound together with string. In Japan, book binding is considered an art in itself.
You did wrong! (Ikenai-nda! Ikenai-nda!): Some Americans might remember hearing a little sing-song chant in elementary school when one happened go a bit beyond the school rules, and the other children sang out, “You're gonna get it!” The Japanese version, Ikenai-nda, Ikenai-nda!, is exactly the same. Children chant it with glee of schadenfreude when they know punishment is coming to someone else from a teacher or parent.