JAPANESE TERMS USED
Arigato: “Thank you”.
Daimyo: A Japanese feudal lord.
Futon: Traditional Japanese bedding consisting of padded mattresses and quilts.
Gaijin: A foreigner, usually used to refer to Europeans and Americans.
Kimono: Traditional Japanese clothing, typically full-length robes with long, wide sleeves. Kimono were worn by men, women and children, with the female versions brightly coloured and the male versions generally of plain design.
Geisha: Traditional Japanese female entertainers who act as hostesses and whose skills include performing various arts such as classical music, dance, games and conversation, mainly to entertain male customers.
Genkan: The entranceway of a Japanese house, in which one removes one’s shoes.
Hashioki: Chopstick rests.
Hara-kiri: Japanese ritual suicide, by disembowelling. Also known as seppuku.
Kamikaze: Literally a “divine wind”. Used originally to refer to the storms that wrecked the invading Mongol fleets of the 13th century, the term was revived by the Japanese to refer to their suicide-attack pilots in the latter stages of the Second World War.
Kimono: Traditional Japanese clothing, typically full-length robes with long, wide sleeves. Kimono were worn by men, women and children, with the female versions brightly coloured and the male versions generally of plain design.
Kobu gattai: Literally, the “Union of the Imperial Court and the Shogunate”. This was a policy in late Tokugawa Japan aimed at a new political settlement based on coordination between the Shogunate and the Imperial Court.
Ninja: A highly-trained covert assassin or mercenary in feudal Japan.
Nunchaku: Alternatively “nunchaks” in English. A traditional Okinawan martial arts weapon consisting of two sticks connected at one end by a short chain or rope.
Obi: The belt on a kimono.
Ronin: A masterless samurai.
Saké: Japanese rice wine.
Sakoku: Literally “the closed country”, the policy enacted from 1635-1854 of closing Japan to the outside world.
Sankin kotai: The Tokugawa policy that required a feudal Daimyo to spend alternate years in the Shogunate capital of Edo, with his wife and heirs left as hostages during the Daimyo’s absence back in his province.
Samurai: A member of feudal Japan’s aristocratic warrior class.
Seiza: The traditional sitting position in Japan, feet folded beneath the legs.
Seppuku: Japanese ritual suicide, by disembowelling. Also known as hara-kiri.
Shamisen: A Japanese stringed instrument, a little like a guitar.
Shogun: A Shogun, or “Seii Taishogun” to give the full title, was the military ruler of Japan. Literally, the term means “Barbarian-Subduing Generalissimo”.
Tsunami: An earthquake-induced tidal wave.
Yattai: A Japanese stall, selling food or other goods.
Arigato: “Thank you”.
Daimyo: A Japanese feudal lord.
Futon: Traditional Japanese bedding consisting of padded mattresses and quilts.
Gaijin: A foreigner, usually used to refer to Europeans and Americans.
Kimono: Traditional Japanese clothing, typically full-length robes with long, wide sleeves. Kimono were worn by men, women and children, with the female versions brightly coloured and the male versions generally of plain design.
Geisha: Traditional Japanese female entertainers who act as hostesses and whose skills include performing various arts such as classical music, dance, games and conversation, mainly to entertain male customers.
Genkan: The entranceway of a Japanese house, in which one removes one’s shoes.
Hashioki: Chopstick rests.
Hara-kiri: Japanese ritual suicide, by disembowelling. Also known as seppuku.
Kamikaze: Literally a “divine wind”. Used originally to refer to the storms that wrecked the invading Mongol fleets of the 13th century, the term was revived by the Japanese to refer to their suicide-attack pilots in the latter stages of the Second World War.
Kimono: Traditional Japanese clothing, typically full-length robes with long, wide sleeves. Kimono were worn by men, women and children, with the female versions brightly coloured and the male versions generally of plain design.
Kobu gattai: Literally, the “Union of the Imperial Court and the Shogunate”. This was a policy in late Tokugawa Japan aimed at a new political settlement based on coordination between the Shogunate and the Imperial Court.
Ninja: A highly-trained covert assassin or mercenary in feudal Japan.
Nunchaku: Alternatively “nunchaks” in English. A traditional Okinawan martial arts weapon consisting of two sticks connected at one end by a short chain or rope.
Obi: The belt on a kimono.
Ronin: A masterless samurai.
Saké: Japanese rice wine.
Sakoku: Literally “the closed country”, the policy enacted from 1635-1854 of closing Japan to the outside world.
Sankin kotai: The Tokugawa policy that required a feudal Daimyo to spend alternate years in the Shogunate capital of Edo, with his wife and heirs left as hostages during the Daimyo’s absence back in his province.
Samurai: A member of feudal Japan’s aristocratic warrior class.
Seiza: The traditional sitting position in Japan, feet folded beneath the legs.
Seppuku: Japanese ritual suicide, by disembowelling. Also known as hara-kiri.
Shamisen: A Japanese stringed instrument, a little like a guitar.
Shogun: A Shogun, or “Seii Taishogun” to give the full title, was the military ruler of Japan. Literally, the term means “Barbarian-Subduing Generalissimo”.
Tsunami: An earthquake-induced tidal wave.
Yattai: A Japanese stall, selling food or other goods.
