Japanese words adopted into English

The Great Wave by Hokusai, sometimes thought to depict a tsunami, but more likely a rogue wave – click on the picture to go to an interesting history of the artwork on Culture Trip

To coincide with the climax of the Rugby World Cup tournament in Japan I thought I would revisit my occasional series on words we have adopted or adapted into everyday English use.

Previously I have explored words with their roots in Anglo-Saxon, Latin, Celtic, Scandinavian, Indian and Spanish.

With Japanese it is probably a bit different as English speakers didn’t have much contact with the country until the mid-19th century. So most of these words are comparatively new additions to English and came to us along with newly-arrived foods, cultural or sporting practices. Here are some of my favourites – there are links throughout to more information – mostly but not only on Wikipedia. And click on the pictures to go to the image source…

I’ll start with artistic and cultural words:

BONSAI AND IKEBANA

A Chinese example from the collection at the National Bonsai and Penjing Museum in Washington DC, this trident maple, Acer buergerianum, has its roots growing over a rock and its foliage and stems trimmed in the shape of a dragon. Both China and Japan have a tradition of miniature trees

As a lover of trees I of course love bonsai, literally “tray gardening”, the art of tending miniature trees. Apparently the word originated from the Chinese penzai.

An example of ikebana – Japanese flower arranging

I also admire Japanese flower arranging or ikebana. It literally means “arranging flowers” or “making flowers alive”. As a teenager I read a beautifully illustrated library book about it and was inspired for a while. The two things I still recall are the ideas of minimalism and the shape of a triangle in certain forms of the art.

ORIGAMI AND NETSUKE

Origami crane – click on the image to go see a video on how to make one – and the origami unicorn from Blade Runner

Origami translates literally as “folding paper”. This first came to my attention in the 1960s when Robert Harbin demonstrated the art on British TV. It was very popular in my youth and I dare say many still practise the art in the western world.

Origami cranes remain a symbol of good luck in Japan and you may recall the silver origami unicorn featured in the original Blade Runner film, whose significance in suggesting that Deckard was himself a replicant is explained here.

Ivory netsuke of the Hare with Amber Eyes, held in the collection of Edmund de Waal, who wrote a book about his family history also called The Hare with Amber Eyes, which I am reading

In English netsuke is not such a mainstream word as origami but the art of these beautifully carved miniature toggles features in many western museums. Traditional Japanese clothes had no pockets so netsuke were used to secure the string holding a box or pouch to a belt sash.

KARAOKE AND MANGA AND BOKEH

Karaoke – click on the picture for advice from Open Mic UK on improving your karaoke performance…

Now a popular pub and club pastime in the west, karaoke literally means “empty orchestra” and invites amateur singers to accompany recorded music.

Flying Witch – an example of manga art

Manga refers to Japanese comics – which are generally cute. A related Japanese term is anime, which refers to animation. I particularly like the work of Studio Ghibli.

An example of bokeh

I am throwing in the word bokeh because I can never remember it when I see an example. It is Japanese for “blur” and has been defined as “the way the lens renders out-of-focus points of light”. I have seen it referred to many times by fellow Tweeters and bloggers. And just a few days ago I saw bokeh mentioned as a new feature in the latest Samsung camera phone, as if everyone knew what it meant.

HAIKU AND TANKA

The poets among you will recognise these short verse forms, considered by some a challenge. The haiku is composed in English of three unrhymed lines of five, seven, and five syllables. Meanwhile the related tanka takes the form of five unrhymed lines with five, seven, five, seven and seven syllables.

KABUKI AND NOH

Two forms of Japanese theatre whose names we sometimes hear are kabuki and noh. As far as I can tell the main difference in these ancient dramas is that kabuki is based on dance and movement and uses elaborate make-up while noh is based on music and uses masks.

Then there are words for foods we have adopted from the Japanese – these are just a few:

SUSHI AND SASHIMI

A platter of sushi

There is a difference between these two – sashimi is thinly sliced raw fish served with only a dipping sauce and wasabi (a hot green horseradish). Sushi is vinegared rice that is mixed with other ingredients, which may or may not include raw fish. Sushi is now a snack that can be bought in many UK sandwich shops.

SHIITAKE AND EDAMAME

The tasty shiitake mushroom is an edible fungus typically cultivated on the shii tree.

Finding their way into my Marks & Spencer salads lately have been edemame beans – young soybeans that in Japan are boiled whole in the green pod and served with salt. Here they are generally out of their pods and resemble small broad beans.

UMAMI

How did we survive without knowing about umami? This is a taste sensation produced by condiments such as monosodium glutamate and is now accepted as the fifth basic taste along with sweetness, sourness, bitterness and saltiness.

Some Japanese words we have taken on board relate to people:

TYCOON AND HONCHO

From Japanese we get the word tycoon, from taikun, meaning “great prince” or “high commander” and later applied to wealthy business leaders. We also get honcho, from hancho, meaning chief – I myself often refer to someone as the head honcho.

Note that while tycoon comes from Japanese, the word typhoon, meaning a hurricane in the north west pacific, does not. It has a complicated derivation from various languages including Chinese and Persian. This did not stop Japan being struck by the devastating Typhoon Hagibis during the current Rugby World Cup.

Typhoon may not be a Japanese word but tsunami is. This literally means “harbour wave” and is a large wave caused by earthquakes or other underwater disturbances. The word has been more widely known since the Boxing Day tsunami which hit areas around the Indian Ocean in 2004.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – a world-wide pop-culture sensation

MIKADO AND SHOGUN, NINJA AND SAMURAI
Most of these people are to be found in legend and TV dramas.
Mikado is an old word for the Japanese emperor and of course gives its name to the famous Gilbert & Sullivan comic opera.

The shogun was the military dictator of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868.

A ninja was a spy or mercenary in feudal Japan and the word has now entered popular culture.

While ninja kept a low profile, the samurai were the magnificent military nobility and officer caste of medieval and early-modern Japan. The 1954 film The Seven Samurai, about masterless samurai knights hired by a village to protect it from bandits was the inspiration for the western the Magnificent Seven.

MARTIAL ARTS

My favourite martial art – kendo

Many Japanese martial arts have become popular in the west, such as aikido, judo and karate. Meanwhile we tend not to build a dojo for sumo wrestling in this country but are very familiar with the concept. Sumo literally means “striking one another”.

Personally I have always had a soft spot for kendo since seeing it in a superhero comic as a teenager. Always devouring new words I learned bokken, meaning the wooden swords used in this martial art.

Finally a few more words at random…

The emoji is an ideogram or smiley used in electronic messages and web pages.

Although I prefer crosswords, I am also partial to a sudoku puzzle, in America known as Number Place.

A Japanese akita dog

The akita or Akita Inu is a large breed of Japanese dog, becoming more popular in the west. Only six dogs are recognised in Japan as true native breeds. They are the Shikoku, Kishu, Kai, Hokkaido, Akita and Shiba Inu.

Futons can be stored in a cupboard during the day

The handy futon is a flat mattress with a fabric exterior stuffed with cotton, wool, or synthetic batting that makes up a Japanese bed. It’s very handy for folding away to make more space during the day so has a certain appeal. In Japan a complete futon set consists of a mattress (shikibuton or “spreading futon”) and a duvet (kakebuton or “covering futon”).

There is a longer list of words with Japanese origins on Wikipedia. I wonder if you have a favourite Japanese word?