It’s inevitable that I’m going to use Japanese words and film terms that aren’t in common usage in English. While I won’t go into detail when I use them in the blog after the first time, here are the explanations for any word I’ve written in italics, or that isn’t in common usage.
ABSOLUTE FILM: An art movement from 1920s Germany, where artists made abstract films without plot or inherent meaning. It was one of many artistic movements snuffed out by the Nazis after their rise to power.
BANZAI: Literally meaning “Ten Thousand Years”, it’s best translated today as “Hurrah”. As with so many Japanese things, it was corrupted to serve Imperial purposes in the Fifteen Years War.
BENSHI: A narrator who would read out text appearing on the film screen, including acting out dialogue where necessary. They would also explain any non-Japanese ideas, locations and other “exotica” before the film started.
CHAGAMA: A cast-iron teakettle, used since the 15th century as part of a traditional method of making tea. Tanuki like to transform into them, and very quickly transform back once they’re heated up.
DANGO: A small round dumpling, made of a mix of rice flour and glutinous rice flour. They’re usually served in groups of three or five on a skewer, and eaten with various sweeteners. There are as many variations of dango as there are kinds of doughnuts.
GEISHA: Professional companions. Women who wear traditional Japanese clothing and white-powder face makeup, who provide non-sexual company and entertainment, almost always for men.
ERO GURO NANSENSU: The name given to a 1930s counter-culture movement in Japan, and of an artistic movement that focused on the ideas of “erotic grotesque nonsense”, which is where the name comes from.
JIDAEGEKI: Literally “period drama”, it specifically means any story set in Japan between the 14th and 19th centuries CE, before the Meiji Restoration (see below). They don’t all involve heroic samurai and closing swordfights, but that’s the cliche.
KABUKI: Despite my slightly dismissive description in a footnote, this is a theatrical artform which is part drama, part dance, and part bright make-up and masks. Women invented it in 1603, they were banned from it in 1629, and now it’s a staple of high Japanese culture.
KAMISHIBAI: “Paper Theatre”, a form of street entertainment for children that was popular from the 1930s onwards, until television eclipsed it.
KENDO: Meaning “way of the sword”, Kendo is a martial art that relatively safely simulates actual sword combat. It involves wielding bamboo swords and wearing special protective armour, and originated in the Shotoku Era (1711–1715).
MANCHUKUO: Between 1932-1945, a Japanese puppet state on the Asian mainland, in an area currently controlled by China. It was only ever recognised as a separate country by Japan and other Axis nations.
MASUMUNE Gorō (1264-1343): One of Japan’s two Great Bladesmiths. His swords are real and sit in museums around Japan, but his legends are the root of countless stories, in anime and outside.
MEIJI RESTORATION: In 1868, the Emperor Meiji overthrew Japan’s military government and restored power to the Imperial throne. It began the modernisation of Japanese society, ending the country’s feudal period.
MOCHI: A rice-cake made by pounding glutinous rice into a paste, usually in a special mortar.
MONOGATARI: The traditional Epic Form of Japanese literature. While it’s used in anime for adaptations of classical texts such as “The Tale Of The Bamboo Cutter”, it’s also used for epic texts translated back into Japanese: for example, “The Lord Of The Rings” became “Yubiwa Monogatari”.
NATTO: A breakfast food and side dish, made from fermenting whole soybeans in a specific bacterium. Some people love it, and some loathe it. It occupies the same place in Japanese culture that Marmite, haggis and grits do, elsewhere.
NICHIRIN BUDDHISM: A Japanese branch of Buddhism which involves chanting while focusing on a holy object. It originated in the 13th century, but by the 20th it had become significantly linked with Japanese nationalism.
OMOMORI: Protective amulets in Shinto, sold in temples. To a European eye, they resemble ornate bookmarks.
ONDO: A traditional form of Japanese music, with a swung 2/2 rhythm. It’s used in a lot of anime title sequences.
ONI: Red-skinned ogres, with huge fangs and a single horn on their heads. Known for their strength and fighting prowess, and often connected with lightning. Usually portrayed in tiger-skin loincloths.
OTAKU: A term for a dedicated fan of something. Sometimes self-applied positively, but more commonly used as an insulting term by someone outside the relevant subculture. You can translate it into English as “geek” or “nerd”, but is more insulting than either word manages to be in English.
PALANQUIN: A covered carrying litter, usually for one person. Between two and eight people carry it, for the convenience of the rich person inside.
RIKISHI: A professional sumo wrestler. Yes, that’s where the WWF wrestler took his name from.
RŌNIN: A samurai with no lord or master. Taken literally, it means “migrant” or “wanderer”.
SAKE: A fermented rice wine, traditionally served warm. It has more alcohol in it than western wines, but far less than in spirits like vodka.
SEPPUKU: Also known as “harikiri”, this is an act of ritual suicide, carried out by a samurai on the orders of his master. I won’t go into any more detail.
SHAMISEN: A three-stringed traditional Japanese instrument, played with a plectrum called a “bachi”. It’s nothing like a banjo.
SHINTO: A belief system common in Japan, primarily connected to a belief in spiritual beings called “kami”. Entire libraries exist arguing if it’s a religion or not, or if it’s a branch of Buddhism or not.
SUMO: A traditionally male-only full-contact wrestling style, which takes place in a circular ring. The two wrestlers or rikishi must force each other down, or out of the ring. It’s existed in some form since 712 AD, but the modern competitive sport began in 1925. Your writer is a big fan.
TANUKI: An real animal, often referred to as a “raccoon-dog”, although they’re more closely related to foxes. In folklore, they’re shapeshifters with enormous testicles. They’re more mischievous than malicious, usually.
TENGU: While it literally means “heavenly dog”, this youkai varies more in appearance than any other. Sometimes it’s a crow-goblin, or a monkey-demon. But most often it’s a humanoid with a bright red face and an impossibly huge nose.
TOYOTOMI Hideyoshi (1537-1598): Born into the peasant class, Toyotomi schemed and fought to become Imperial Regent, the most powerful man in Japan. One of the most important rulers of the Warring States period of Japan.
URASHIMA TARŌ: A folktale dating back to the 8th century. A fisherman saves a turtle, and is taken to the Sea King’s undersea palace as a reward. While there, he’s gifted with a magic box that he mustn’t open under any circumstances. Upon returning to the surface, he finds that a century has passed. So he opens the box, and instantly becomes an old man.
YATAI: Japan’s term for a mobile food stall. They’ve been in use since the 17th century, and they’re usually one-person affairs made of wood and steel. They sell grilled food and alcoholic drinks. They’re only really used in Fukuoka in the south, these days.
YOUKAI: A vast range of spirits and other strange entities, which form the bedrock of Japanese mythology and folktalkes.