Little Japan Dictionary

六曜　（Rokuyou）

13th March – 弥生

Did you know that Japan has different counting system other than normal 7 days per week? It is called 六曜 (Rokuyou) and has 6 days. Each days have fortune telling meanings and even every hours have lucky, unlucky times. Many Japanese cares about this when deciding wedding, funeral and other event days.

Each 6 days are following:

大安 (Taian) – A day when nothing bad will happen. Many people prefer to hold wedding on this day. It is a good day to do a long hour events, as this day has the shortest time of bad luck. 安: safe, calm

友引 (Tomobiki) – A day to pull friend in. Good day to hold events such as weddings, as this day is considered to involve friends. So if holding wedding in this days, friends might get married too! On the other hand, many case people avoid this day to hold funerals, as this day might bring friends death too… The timely fortune telling is; morning – good luck, afternoon – bad luck, evening – little luck. 友: friend, 引: pull

先勝 (Senshou) – A day if doing things earlier will bring luck. Good luck time is in the morning, so it is better to do things before afternoon. 先: first, 勝: win

先負 (Senpu) – Bad luck in the morning, so doing things after afternoon is better. A day to wish nothing bad will happen. 先: first, 負: lose

赤口 (Shakkou) – A day when evils are around, meaning of disappearing everything. However, noon time has a little luck. It is believed to do celebration events on this day as this day has bad luck throughout day. 赤: red, 口: mouth

仏滅 (Butsumetsu) – A day when things finish. It is bad to hold celebration events, but good day to break up with somebody who you do not want to have relationship anymore, or quit work you do not want to do anymore. 仏: Buddha, 滅: disappear

The days repeat with the order of 先勝→友引→先負→仏滅→大安→赤口

The origin of this system came from China. In China, this used to use for separating the times – From the sun rises till sunset has 3 punctuation, from start of night till the end of night has also 3 punctuation. Therefore 6 time frame per day. This came to Japan and applied to day and time counting system.

As it was applied to both time and day, day might have a good luck but the time can be bad luck.

Moreover, normally those days are repeated in the same order, however the days 1st January, 1st July in the old Lunar calendar is always 先勝, 1st February, 1st August in the old Lunar calendar is always 友引. Every time when the first day of Lunar calendar starts, it will be reset and starts with the order again.

Even this Rokuyou fortune telling is not proven scientifically, however traditional events are followed with this rule.

日本の迷信 (Nihon no Meishin) – Japanese Superstition No.4

12th March – 弥生

茶柱が立つと、幸運が訪れる

If there is a tea leaf stem standing in the tea, happiness will come to you

In Japan, having 柱 (Hashira = pillar) has meaning of good luck, so people used to believe making Hashira brings happiness to the house.

Also when counting Buddha and god, Japanese count as 1体, 2体…(体 -Tai) and it is the same was as counting pillars. Therefore, pillar is considered as good luck item.

The origin of this superstition was made by the tea retailer, normally the tea leaves which were picked first have the best tea taste, so people buy them a lot. Then the second tea season, those leaves was not sold as many as the first. The second picked tea leaves usually have the stems in it, so the retailer made up this story as their part of marketing plan. From that time, this second picked tea has sold pretty well too!

耳たぶが大きいと、お金持ちになる

If you have big earlobes, you will be rich

The big earlobe is called 福耳 (Fukumimi) in Japanese. Many of the Japanese gods and Buddha have this type of earlobes, therefore people still believe this.

朝に蜘蛛を見ると、幸せになる

If you see a spider in the morning, you will have a good luck

Morning time is considered as good luck as the sun brings energy. Also spider is believed as the God and ancestor’s servant in Japan. Spider will bring the message from god or ancestor so it is better not to kill them!

トイレを綺麗にすると、美人が生まれる

If you clean the bathroom well, beautiful child will be born in the family.

This associated with the fact that the sewage from toilet used to run down to the river and it went to the ocean at the end. In the old time, it was believed that in the ocean there was a god who protects house and also brings birth to the family. So maintaining the bathroom clean will make this god happy and might bring the beautiful baby.

手の冷たい人は、心が温かい人

The person who has cold hand, has warm mind

This is not scientifically true, but people believe that those cold-handed people help others so much, so that their hand got cold.

ワカメや昆布を食べると、髪の毛が増える

Eating seaweed will grow your hair

This is also not scientifically true, people thought so as seaweed looks like hair. I’m fact, seaweed is good for health and can make the quality of hair good.

東日本大震災 – 3.11 Great East Japan Earthquake

11 March – 弥生

Happened in 11th March 2011, with the largest Magnitude of 9.0, seismic intensity of 7 and massive 10m Tsunami brought one of the biggest catastrophe in Tohoku area in Japan. The nuclear power plants in Fukushima exploded and brought another severe situation to the area.

9 years has passed after this crisis happened in Japan, still 60% of people in Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefecture consider themselves as victim of that incident and they think the situation has not changed.

The government reported that people who died from Great East Japan Earthquake has increased up to 15899, the number of missing people are 2529. Now 99.6% of the bodies got their identification but still 57 of bodies do not get to their home.

Especially Miyagi prefecture has got the worst effect from this crisis, on 11th March 2011, the Tsunami went up to 40m hills and murdered thousands people, who did not even know this would happen just before the Tsunami took them off the ground.

This Tsunami happened in 11th March 2011 looked black, as it included sludge, which caused many victims to death. The sludge made the eyesights very bad so they couldn’t see well in this Tsunami, and this black Tsunami was heavier than normal water. In fact, the langs from many of the dead body contained a lot black micro sediments.

Moreover, still 48,181 evacuees cannot go back to their normal life style and stays at temporary houses, even after 9years has passed.

Nothing has over yet.

The water from nuclear power plants are still running down, contaminating the nature. Even though that nuclear power plant had been believed as ‘the world most safest plant’.

In 2011, the government reported that the economic loss from Great East Earthquake was 16,900,000,000,000yen but it must be more and more if it includes the side city effects, all over in Japan.

Even 9 years has passed, they still need help to overcome the situation.

Many people lost their family, loved ones, houses and homeland.

It is very hard to imagine what they experienced on that day, and for sure they definitely do not want to recall that memory.

What I can do now is to inform about the reality there, let’s hope for the peace and remember the tragedy, so we do not bring the same catastrophe again!

日本の迷信 (Nihon no Meishin)-Japanese superstition No.3

10th March – 弥生

<<<Scary Japanese superstition related to death>>>

In February, I shared some negative / positive superstitions that have been inherited over time. Seems like people like to learn those contents, so I would like to share more of them! Today’s topic is unlucky superstitions:

-北枕で寝るのは、縁起が悪い

Sleeping with head toward North is unlucky

At Japanese funerals, People lay dead person down with the pillow facing North, this is called 北枕 (Kitamakura). For Buddhism, Kitamakura is done to wish for the dead person who finished discipline rest in peace, so some countries think this is the symbol of good luck. However Japanese relate this to funeral and death = bad luck.

On the other hand, sleeping with head toward South is considered as good luck in Japan, 東枕 (Higashimakura). This is because South is where the sun rises so it will bring energy.

-靴下を履いたまま寝るのは、縁起が悪い

Sleeping with socks on brings bad luck

This has been told due to the Japanese funeral tradition: In Japan people put white socks for deceased, therefore imitating this habit was believed to make oneself closer to death. Actually wearing socks while sleeping makes blood circulation bad, so it is unhealthy to do it.

-箸から箸へ食べ物を運ぶのは、縁起が悪い

Carrying food with chopsticks continuously is unlucky

Japan only allows cremation after the death. After burning the body, people make pairs to carry the bones to the cinerary urn by using chopsticks, passing the bone to the pair in the air. Because of this tradition, doing it when dining is breaching manner and forbidden in Japan.

-茶碗のご飯に箸を立てるのは、縁起が悪い

Placing chopsticks on the top of the rice in bowl is bad luck

Again, this relates to the funerals in Japan. In Japanese funerals, family put plenty of rice in bowl the deceased used to use, and placing the chopsticks vertical on the top, this is called 枕飯 (Makurameshi). People see the relation with funerals and death by doing this, therefore parents tell kids not to do it.

-三人並んで写真を撮ると、真ん中の人が早死にする

When 3 people take photos, the middle person will die first

In the old time, people used to believe that taking picture would take the soul out. Plus the old cameras had low performances and only could put focus in the middle. The middle person was only in focus, so people thought the soul of the middle person were easier to be taken.

Also, in many cases the person who are in the middle of the picture are higher position than the side (like corporation photos, president is in the middle), consequently it is true that the middle person die before the others.

-４と９は、縁起が悪い数字

The numbers 4 and 9 is unlucky number

Some people might know about this, that 4 in Japanese is よん (Yon) or し (Shi), and ‘Shi’ is the same pronunciation as 死 (Shi) meaning death. Not only 4 but also 9 in Japanese is きゅう (Kyuu) or く (Ku), and ‘Ku’ can be written as 苦 meaning painful.

Some hotels and parking lots does not have the number including 4 or 9, as some people still get scared of those numbers, just like 13 in other countries.

In Japan, things which can be related to death are considered as bad luck. probably not many people have experienced funerals in Japan, so hope those information helps your knowledge. When you come to Japan, maybe you can look around to find if the places skip the numbers of 4 and 9!

ブラック企業 – (Bulakku-kigyou) Black company

9th March – 弥生

The companies where do not consider the workers’s health, work life balance, personality etc. Those companies have characteristics of long work hours, too many over time hours, giving the impossible tasks, not paying legally, have variety of harassment and high volume of turnover rate. This has been Japanese society’s huge issue.

Many people might think Japanese people are hard workers. However, many Japanese companies take advantage of this characteristics of Japanese, they put too much pressure on workers and make them work too much – Those companies are called ブラック企業 (Bulakku-kigyou) and spreading all over Japan, even the popular companies too.

Japan has special hiring system, that all university graduates start job hunting at the same time (Third year of university in March) and start working at the same time (On April after graduated at fourth university grades), in different companies.

Therefore, most companies welcomes newly graduate workers on every April, however over 30% of them quit jobs within 3years… One of the reason is that the companies they got in are Black company. Black companies hire high volume of new workers and use them till they feel a lot stress, then fire them and get new fresh workers again and again… this is the cycle of black company.

By law, Company can give 40 hours of overwork per week, 45 hours per month in Japan. However heaps, very many companies break the rules and force the workers do the サービス残業 (Service-zangyou) which is not paid overwork.

Even Black companies try workers not be able to use their paid holiday, even people think having long continuous holiday causes troubles for coworkers so they take it a day each. Average day-offs are 120 days per year (Mostly Saturday and Sunday, public holiday) but if the day-offs are less than 100, it is considered as Black company.

Japanese companies have the tradition that bosses and people who worked longer than others have extreme authorities and others cannot oppose their order. There are silent-compulsion that pressures weaker workers. People with authorities does a few works and use the others till they become sick, that is why the black companies gain so much profit and keep it mostly by themselves. Moreover, Japanese society have made a tendency to think that quitting one job is bad and continuing to work at one company is virtue. Many people believe it and the fact that many hiring manager think this way too.

In Japan, it has been said that around 100 people die due to overwork. Even this number might be wrong as those companies try to hide the actual information, so they announce fake information that they did not die from the overwork.

Another research showed that people who committed suicide because of work related cause was over 2000, in 2018. It was revealed that half percentage of Japanese feel stress from the amount of tasks, quality of works, pressure from the boss /superiors and relationship with workmates.

But, why those people just quit jobs to be free from this work related stress?

There are different reasons, but common ones are;

-The work environment is terrible, but salary is good

-It is very hard to get another job (As Japanese society have negative impression for job-hoppers, people who changed previous jobs several times – considered as gutless or when they get older it is harder to get new jobs)

-The company does not let the person leave the company

-Feel bad for quitting as the tasks will hand in to the their co-coworkers

-Cannot speak to the boss that they want to quit as they are scary

-peer-pressure and having too much responsibility

etc…

These days, there are even the website informing which companies are black company and have reviews commented by previous workers. If you get a job in Japan, it is better to check those website and see the company is really worth getting in!

山姥 (Yamanba) – Japanese Mountain witch

8th March – 弥生

Old women monster who lives in deep mountain. Very tall and have sharp eyes, teared mouth till ears . She runs very fast like a wind. She can also be called 鬼婆 (Onibaba), 鬼女 (Kijo).

As it has been told that Japanese mountains are mysterious and have relations to spirits and unknown things. Just like Tengu from previous blog, there are believed to live 山姥(Yamanba) in the deep forest and have made peoples scared.

In many districts in Japan, there are various Yamanba stories inherited till nowadays, both good and bad. The most famous things about Yamanba is that she eats humans and animals. However, there are other stories that Yamanba gives fortunes to people who she likes, helps child births, becomes a match maker for marriage. Therefore, it is better to be kind to her rather than making her angry!

Hypothesis for origin of the Yamanba can be this:

In the old time, there were Miko (who serve gods, from previous blog) for mountain gods. when the faith for that religion became obsolete, those Miko became monsters and those ladies were started to called Yamanba.

One district are saying that Yamanba has got beautiful white skin, but other many districts are believing she looks very old and scary.

One famous most-known story of Yamanba is that when the traveler lost in the mountain in the night, beautiful lady offered her house to stay over night and when the traveler sleeps, she ate the traveler. Therefore, most people consider Yamanba as very scary women.

On the other hand, there are stories that Yamanba is explained as nice and kind:

In the one region, when the baby boys were born, the mom left one bunch of hair at his head and shaved the rest, this hair style was called ととっ毛 (Totokke). This custom was done as it was believed that when the kids drowned in the river or pond, Yamanba would hold that hair and help the kids. Once they turned to the age for elementary school year, they cut the hair and provide it for Yamanba to thank her for looking after the kids.

Therefore, some districts worship Yamanba as a great spirit.

Even there are nice stories about Yamanba, the famous ones are always illustrated as a bad monster:

Once upon a time, there were Buddhist priest and little boy. This little boy asked priest that he wanted a permission to go into the mountain to get chestnuts. Priest allowed the boy and gave him 3 talismans in order to escape from Yamanba if he met her. As priest had imagined, Yamanba came while the boy was picking the chestnuts. She asked him that she could boil the chestnuts for him to eat. The boy got excited and being tricked by her. On the way to Yamanba’s house, the boy realized that she was actually Yamanba, so he told her that he wanted to go for peeing. Yamanba tied the boy with rope so she would not lose her dinner for today. When the boy went into the bathroom, he tied the one talisman and ask the talisman to reply Yamanba’s qustions so he can escape from her. When the boy escaped from the bathroom window, Yamanba noticed he ran away, so she ran crazy fast and almost catching up with him. The boy asked another talisman to make a flood so Yamanba could drown. However, Yamanba drunk all the water and still chased him. So he asked the last talisman to make a fire so she could not come close to him. But Yamanba extinguished fire by spitting out the water she drunk. Now the boy does not have any talisman… but he was almost back to the temple! So he ran fast and hided inside the temple. The priest came and met the Yamanba, Yamanba asked him where the little boy is. Priest told her “if you compete with me and you won, I will tell you where he is”. Then priest showed his skill to make the Yamanba small like a bean. He wrapped her with rice cake and ate her at the end!

巫女 (Miko) Shrine Maiden

7th March ー　弥生

When you go to the shrine, you probably see the ladies working with white and red clothes. Those people are called 巫女 (Miko / Fujo) and help the priests at the shrine. In the past, Miko had very important roles for both society and religiously.

In the old time, Miko was the ladies who does 神楽 (Kagura), which is the dancing and singing for god. They were the prayers, fortune-teller and even did 口寄せ (Kuchiyose) who can become a medium for talks between people and gods or spirits, ghosts and communicate through her. Therefore, Miko was treated as very important people.

Miko exists from 700 years, they had been controlling the weather (Just like the movie, Weathering With You…). Moreover, when the time there were no doctors exist, Miko used to cure the sick and stopping the plagues by praying for gods.

However, in the Edo era, the government abandon the Miko’s previous works and gradually the power of Miko has been forgotten. Therefore, nowadays there are not many Miko are able to do the prediction or talks to gods.

Now, Miko is just a ladies who works at shrine helping for priests and there are no requirement for becoming Miko. There are even part-time workers when the shrines are busy – expecially in the New Years time. Usually Miko are chosen from the priest families but if you want to work there, you can apply for shrine just like a normal jobs. They normally do not require any qualification. Generally Miko are finishing their job at late 20’s and it used to be unmarried girls, but now it is not so strict so many shrine accept anybody who wants to work at shrine.

If you want to try Miko jobs, you can start looking up at job hunting website or go to the shrines to ask when the time gets close to the end of year! Perhaps you can become a Miko and learn cool culture about Japan from working there:)

お坊さん　Monk

6th March – 弥生

In Japanese, there are various ways to call monk depending on their Buddhism sect or their hierarchy, but generally we call monk as お坊さん (Obou-san).

Why are they called Obou san?

IN Nara /Heian era, the metropolitan city was divided into several district, those districts were named as 坊, and each Bou had several buildings. Then as the time passes by, Bou standed for the temples where monks stay and gradually Monks themselves started to be called as Bou.

In Japanese we call the person with shaved head is called 坊主 (Bouzu), this came from the Monks’ hair style. As the Bou means Temple and temple’s master (主) is Bou, so the word 坊主 were born.

In Buddhism, desire and being selective are the reason people suffer from. Each hair can cause those selfish mind, therefore in order to cut off this mind, Monks shave their hair. Generally, most monks have this hair style so the shaved head has been called as 坊主 (Bouzu).

What is Japanese monks’ general jobs in the Temples?

Their main jobs can be holding memorial service for the people who believe that temple’s sect and send the deceased to rest in peace. Monks generally go to the funerals and memorial services to chant the sutra. This service can costs around 2,000 ~ 3,000 US dollars, and those money are called お布施 (ofuse) and it is counted as donation for the temples. So monks are getting salary from those events. Also Monk will decide the commandment names for the deceases, generally called 戒名 (Kaimyou) – Commandment names can be called differently in different sects. Kaimyou has hierarchy and if person want to get the higher rank ones, they have to pay more than ordinary ones. It can be over 10,000 US dollars to just get the Kaimyou.

Monks also maintain the cemeteries in the temples, chanting the sutra for all deceases resting there. They also does marketing for the cemeteries, informing people that there are vacant space for graves in order to get more customers for the temple.

Furthermore, some monks hold lecture for people and teach the Buddhism.

When they do not have those works, they train themselves to become a better monks.

Japanese Monks’ life style

Generally, monks eat frugal food called 精進料理 (Shoujin-Ryouri), this menu does not use animal contained food, garlic, spring onions, onions, leeks and Japanese shallots, as those ingredients push the desires. However, Japanese monks are not strict as the other Aisan Buddhist monks, so some monks eat just a regular food they want to eat.

Every morning before the sun goes up, Monks clean up the temples they stay. they use brooms and dust cloths and try to clean up by their hands.

Those life style is part of their training and makes monks keep calm and apart from human desires.

天狗　Tengu

5th March – 弥生

God or monster alike creature which has been believed to exist in deep mountain. He has red face with very tall nose and flying with his wings. He has huge body and wear Japanese mountain ascetic hermits (山伏＝Yamabushi) style clothes.

From the old time, Japanese people have believed that mountain has spiritual power. Because of this belief, the story about urban legend creature 天狗 (Tengu) has been handed down and scare people to go into the mountain.

This mysterious creature was originated in … of course China, as you can expect many things in Japan was inherited from China. Chinese people used to believe that Tengu is informing the bad luck and they consider the falling star as Tengu. When the falling star falls close from the ground, it makes huge explosion sound. They thought the sound was same as the dog barking and how the falling star falls in the sky looked like dog running around the sky. As 天 (Ten) means sky and 狗(gu) means dog, this word was born.

In Japan, Tengu has roughly 3 different species:

-大天狗 (Dai-tengu): This is the most powerful tengu, having huge body and be able to change the looks into anything

-烏天狗 (Karasu-tengu): Second strongest species, having crow-alike beak and can fly. Karasu means crow

-木の葉天狗 (Konoha-tengu): Have the least power compared to the other species. It is over 2m high and have bird looks.

Tengu has many scary story such as causing fire and typhoon by using his special fun called 葉団扇 (Ha-uchiwa), controling humans’ mind and teleportation ability. Expecially, Tengu’s kidnapping story is famous as there is a book about one boy kidnapped came back after 7 years. Therefore in the old time, kids were told to come back before the outside becomes dark as Tengu would kidnap them.

On the other side, Tengu also have a good story like healing the illness. This urban legend probably was told because it was actually happened – but by monk.

In the past, monks went into the mountain ans trained themselves. Then when they finished the training, they came down from the mountain and looked like very different person. Those people helped healing the sick for villagers using herbs in the mountain as they had a lot knowledge about herbs by then. Therefore, villagers thought those people as Tengu and believing they were gods.

This is why Tengu has been considered both god and monster.

There are another hypothesis that Tengu was actually Western people. There is one thought that when the Western ship drifted in Japan and people on the ship went into the mountain and lived there. Or when Japanese saw the western person back then, they were scared of foreigner as they looked different. Therefore people might have considered Western people as Tengu.

Anyhow, learning Tengu’s legendary story is very attractive and interesting, if you are interested, why not searching about ’仙境異聞’ (Senkyou-ibun) story!

オノマトペ　 onomatopoeia No. 1

4th March – 弥生

Making words from the things which does not have the actual word in order to express how the thing is – from nature sounds, feeling, situation and emotion into words

Japanese has a lot onomatopoeia compared to other language. This is because Japanese does not have variation of verbs – For instance, expressing anger in English can be angry, irritated, offended, furious, mad, upset… but in Japanese this is explained in one word 怒る (Okoru). Therefore, Japanese uses various onomatopoeia to express how we feel with slight difference.

Today’s blog gives some useful onomatopoeia that you can use in normal conversation in Japanese.

Double words – repeating the two letter again to express certain situation, feeling, looks.

-キラキラ (Kira-kira): something shiny

The star is shining =星がキラキラしている。

-ぴかぴか (Pika-pika): luster, glossy, polished, sparkle

This shoes is polished well＝この靴はぴかぴかに磨かれている。

-ふわふわ (Fuwa-fuwa): very light, floating lightly, plumpy, fluffy.

This bread is fluffy = このパンはふわふわしている。

-わくわく(Waki-waku): excited with joy, good expectation

I am excited for the concert tomorrow＝明日のコンサートが楽しみでわくわくする。

‐ドキドキ (Doki-doki): heart is beating from excitement, fear joy etc

My heart is beating because of the today’s exam = 今日のテスト、緊張して心臓がドキドキする。

-もちもち (Mochi-mochi): soft, sticky and fluffy, how the rice cake feels, tight skin

This snack feels very soft just like a rice cake = このお菓子、お餅みたいにもちもちしている。

‐ペラペラ (Pera-pera): talkative, fluent, good at languages, thin

Nicolas speaks very fluent in English and Spanish = ニコラスさんは英語もスペイン語もペラペラだ。

‐ペコペコ (Peko-peko): very hungry

I am hungry＝おなかがペコペコだ。

‐うろうろ (Uro-uro): walking around

The cat is walking around on the street = 猫が通りでうろうろしている。

‐キンキン (Kin-kin): very cold, cooled

The room is cooled down with very low temperature＝部屋がキンキンに冷えている

‐ふにゃふにゃ (Funya-funya): limpness soft, flabby and flexible

His body is flabby and flexible = 彼の体はふにゃふにゃだ。

‐メロメロ (Mero-mero): person is into someone or something

She is into her cat = 彼女はペットの猫にメロメロだ。

‐サラサラ (Sala-sala): smooth, easily going, no stopping

This pen is smooth when writing = このペンはサラサラ書ける。

Were these helpful? Or did I just explain too many words?

Hope you can use them in the usual conversation in Japanese!