Japanese glossary
In order to avoid a glossary of more than 20 pages in each book, we have chosen to group all the Japanese terms used in the various books on this page. If you want to use this glossary in your works, please do it by adding the QR code that leads to this page
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Food product made from twice-fried soybeans. It is produced by cutting tōfu into thin slices and deep-frying them first at 120 °C, and then again at 180 °C.
Literally meaning indigo white, it’s a traditional color of Japan.
A bancha green tea that has almost no caffeine, it is also called ‘spring bancha’.
Japanese red pine, cultivar with red-brown bark and soft, thin needles, a slender trunk; more delicate than the black pine.
Videogame in an arcade cabinet, made up of a screen and control panel, extremely popular in amusement arcades all over the world. Works with tokens or coins.
Seven herbs that indicate the arrival of autumn, very popular in Japanese haiku.
Breed of dog typical of Akita Prefecture, in the north of Japan.
Traditional sweet, low-alcohol or non-alcoholic Japanese drink made from fermented rice.
Japanese cartoons with their own distinctive style, usually taken from manga comics.
Sweet paste made of red azuki beans.
Japanese dessert made of small cubes of agar jelly and served in a bowl with sweet azuki bean paste.
Literally ‘wisteria blue color’, similar to mauve blue.
Edible green seaweed.
Word indicating the ‘morning market’. These are small markets that take place in cities and towns, usually from 7am to 12 noon, and they sell local crafts, snacks and agricultural products such as vegetables, pickles and flowers.
Red beans originating in East Asia and widely used for bean paste in many Japanese pastries.
Soft cakes cooked in special moulds, usually sold at market stalls and festivals. The dough resembles that of the Japanese kasutera cake, the shape that of small seeds so that they are often associated with images of tender hamsters.
Sweet pastry in the shape of a doughnut, made of thin layers of sponge cake pressed together, originating from Germany but very popular in Japan, where they sell many different flavours and shapes as well as the classic version. The name means ‘tree cake’ and derives from its characteristic inner layers reminiscent of those visible in a cut tree trunk.
Ready-made take-away meal in a container with compartments, packed at home or bought in a shop. Based on rice and various side dishes, such as fish, meat, vegetables in tenpura or pickled. The ingredients are artistically arranged.
Decorated sacred rods 3.5 meters long and carried in procession during the Miyoshi Bonden-sai festival in Akita.
Trees kept miniature inside small pots for many years. A complex art, in that as the plant grows it is encouraged to take on the desired shape and dimensions by continual root and leaf pruning.
Japanese confections made with glutinous rice and red bean paste.
Music and costumed dances with traditional masks narrating events of Japanese folklore. Once they were performed exclusively for nobles and the imperial Japanese court, but in the mid twentieth century they were opened to the general public too.
Loin pork, roasted and browned in the pan, typically flavoured with soy sauce, sakè, mirin and sugar, and served sliced in rāmen.
Literally ‘breastfeed, nipples’. Regarding the ginkgos, it refers to the protuberances that descend from the branches towards the ground in search of nourishment, that resembles the female breast.
Japanese seafood product composed of fish surimi, salt, sugar, starch, monosodium glutamate and egg white. After mixing them well, they are wrapped around a bamboo or metal stick and steamed or grilled.
Term deriving from the union of the two English words ‘costume’ and ‘play’, it describes the art of dressing up as famous characters from manga or videogames.
Cheap candies and snack foods.
Japanese confections consisting of small round mochi stuffed with a sweet filling, most commonly anko.
Question expressing interest and concern, rather like ‘Everything ok?’.
Large white elongated winter radish used in Japanese cuisine.
Feudal lords that controlled Japan during the Edo period.
Sweet dumpling made from glutinous rice flour, often served with green tea, arranged on skewers then roasted and served with different sauces.
Typical soup in Ōita Prefecture, with a broth based on vegetables, mushrooms and chicken and particular ‘fettuccini’ with a wide, thick and irregular cut.
Good luck talismans, or small red dolls modelled on the Bodhidharma, founder of Zen Buddhism. They are sold with blank eyes, one of which is coloured when the owner makes a wish, the second when the wish comes true. After the New Year, the Daruma are returned to the temple and burned all together after giving thanks.
Broth made of konbu seaweed and dried tuna.
Large, seedless and sweet variety of satsuma orange.
Katsudon variant served with demi-glace and pea sauce, originating in Okayama.
Small teapot in which hot soup is served.
Unfiltered sake originally brewed across Japan by farming families but banned in the Meiji period, though it has since been revived as a local brewing tradition.
Terracotta pots typically used to keep soups and seasonal broths warm for a long time.
Japanese rice-bowl dish with a wide variety of condiments and side dishes.
Pyres raised all over Japan, built with straw, cedarwood, bamboo, or reeds in open places to swallow in flames the past year’s decorations.
Japanese tv drama series broadcast in daily or seasonal episodes.
Japanese confections that consist of two small pancakes made from kasutera wrapped around a filling of sweet red bean paste.
Immature soybeans in pods boiled in salted water or steamed, often served with salt or other condiments as a starter or appetizer.
Mushrooms growing on the bark of trees. Those cultivated, widely used in the kitchen, are ivory with long, thin stems because they are not exposed to light and grown in an environment rich in carbon dioxide to encourage the development of the stems.
Manga from the nineties set in a futuristic Tōkyō, internationally famous thanks to the profound storyline and action scenes in the relative anime.
Floating decorations of the Tanabata made to symbolize the weaving made by Orihime. The term also means ‘windswept’ and it refers to a particular bonsai style.
Manjū where the bean paste is wrapped in raw wheat gluten instead of the usual steamed wheat flour. Sometimes, they are wrapped in bamboo leaves.
Small glass or cast-iron bells that make a pleasant sound in the wind.
Japanese wrapping cloths traditionally used to wrap and to transport goods.
Thin rollable cotton mattress laid on the floor at bedtime and put back in the cupboard the next morning so the room can be put to other uses, gaining a lot of space in the house.
Literally ‘outside person’, used to indicate foreigners with a harsher connotation than the official term gaikokujin, ‘person of an outside country’.
A type of Japanese classical music that was historically used for imperial court music and dances.
Tōfu fritter made with eggs and vegetables, such as carrots, lotus roots and burdock.
Literally ‘prayer-hands construction’, in reference to the steeply slanting roofs that look like a pair of hands with the fingertips joined as if in prayer. These houses, once very common in Gifu Prefecture because resistant to snow, were reserved for farmers, artisans and merchants.
Japanese entertainer, expert in the traditional Japanese performing arts of playing music, song, dance and witty conversation. The geisha take part in formal parties, often to entertain wealthy clients.
Entrance to Japanese homes with the function of allowing anyone entering to remove and put aside their shoes before accessing the inner rooms.
Infusion composed of green tea and toasted rice grains with a strong and very particular flavour.
Traditional wooden sandals, raised a few centimetres from the ground and held to the foot like flip flops. Typical footwear worn by geisha.
Wooden wands, decorated with two white zigzagging paper streamers used in Shinto rituals.
Seal stamp given to worshippers and visitors to Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples in Japan.
Premium quality green tea being grown under the shade rather than the full sun.
Japanese version of Chinese jiaozi dumplings, the main difference being the rich flavour of garlic and thinner pastry. Often stuffed with minced meat, cabbage, spring onions and garlic. In Japan the common cooking method is in a frying pan.
Literally ‘crest of the wave’.
Form of poetry consisting in three short phrases that evoke images suggestive of nature, a rapid scene that describes details of the moment caught with intensity.
Literally ‘fire flowers’, hanabi are fireworks. Displays are either as a finale to an event or the main part of longer festivities, then called hanabi-taikai.
Literally ‘to look at flowers’.
Custom in which picked flowers are laid to float in fountains or other aquatic surfaces. Widespread in temples in spring, it is also practised with autumn leaves.
Chopstick holders. Commonly found in restaurants or used for formal dinners. They come in various shapes and are made of clay, wood, plastic, metal, glass, porcelain or mineral stones.
Long-term aged soybean miso.
The first visit to temples or shrines in the new year, usually to native towns, to pray for health and good resolutions for the year ahead.
Brazier made from or lined with a heatproof material and designed to hold burning charcoal.
Known as red spider lilies, are called autumn equinox flowers since flowering occurs during this period. As they often grow near cemeteries they are associated with the afterlife.
Japanese cypress.
Hinoki wood tub used in the kitchen for the rice to rest after cooking and in onsen to throw water over yourself when washing or to acclimatize the body to the hot temperature of the pool. Made of highly perfumed wood.
Syllabic, phonetic lettering system native to Japan, used for all words not written in kanji or not of foreign origin, for which katakana is used. It is distinctive for its soft, rounded shapes.
Famous Hiroshima variation of the classic okonomiyaki: a pancake superimposed with layers of vegetables, meat or fish, and also spaghetti or udon, all accompanied by sauces and spring onions.
Folded origami diamond decoration.
‘Person’ ideogram consisting of two traits which, according to one interpretation, represent two people supporting each other.
Variant of the unadon where the eel is cut into small pieces and then placed on a bed of rice.
Thin and delicate wheat noodles served chilled with dipping sauce and summer vegetables.
Large fragrant Japanese magnolia leaf, with bactericidal properties used to wrap ingredients such as hōba-zushi and hōba-mochi. In addition, as it is very resistant to fire, it is used for its aroma in local cooked dishes such as hōba-miso and hōba-yaki.
Rich dish comprised of meat, mushrooms, vegetables and konjac flavoured with dark miso, served on a hōba leaf and cooked at table over a small grill.
Japanese green tea roasted in a porcelain pot over charcoal.
Small cylindrical sushi with nori seaweed on the outside.
Japanese concept translatable as ‘life aim’, or the activity that makes us happy, that we do well, that brings added value to the community and that can be remunerated.
Super alcoholic beverage made from sweet potatoes.
Fried tōfu-coated rice balls.
Widespread expression of welcome in Japan, said by owners or staff at the entrance to their establishment, for example a hotel, shop or restaurant.
Expression generally translated as ‘bon appétit’, in fact it is thanks given for food and cook.
Small, inexpensive Japanese pub, where people meet after work to drink sakè and beer served with grilled skewers and other appetizers.
‘Inferno’ in Japanese.
Method of cooking food in hot vapours issuing from hot springs running through towns and adding flavour to the food.
Small statues of Kṣitigarbha, the bodhisattva (Buddhist monk who has reached awakening but not nirvana) who protects the dead and premature babies in cemeteries, or travellers along the road. Often the statues, smiling and in prayer, are dressed in red to ward off evil.
The night of the autumn harvest moon.
Term used for the sake that is made of pure rice wine without any additional distilled alcohol.
The finest variety of sake, obtained without the addition of alcohol, of a very delicate taste with aromatic notes depending on the type.
Term used to indicate a variety of Japanese pumpkin or generically such a vegetable.
Traditional Japanese New Year’s decoration, generally placed at the entrance to homes and working establishments.
Traditional cuisine made up of lots of small refined dishes.
Restaurants that serve sushi and other dishes on little plates on a belt that moves in front of the customers.
Japanese shaved ice dessert flavored with sweetener syrup and sometimes with condensed milk or fruits.
Taikodai competition consisting of a test of strength where the teams lift their float highest and for as long as possible.
Mobile version of the yamakasa of the festival Hakata Gion Yamakasa.
Traditional snow dome in snowy regions of Japan.
Term indicating a Shinto deity or a supernatural spirit. The Kami worshiped in Shintoism can be qualities, animals or elements of the landscape and forces of nature, as well as the spirits of ancient forebears.
Logographic characters originating in China, integrated into the Japanese writing system in 500 C.E., used with the syllabic alphabets hiragana and katakana. Deriving from concrete pictures, they can express complex concepts.
Cooking technique, generally involving chicken, rolled in flour and potato starch and deep fried, very common street food at festivals. The same technique can be used with other foods.
Mechanised puppets for entertainment. Among these the dashi-karakuri are large mechanised dolls used during religious festivals.
Buildings full of small sound-proofed rooms with microphones, tv’s on which song lyrics appear, and tapes, reserved by the hour for people to sing their favourite songs with friends and colleagues. The word means ‘without orchestra’.
Traditional Japanese hat whose name changes according to the material it is made of
Japanese confection of white mochi with sweet red bean paste filling and wrapped by a Kashiwa oak leaf.
Sponge cake originally developed in Japan based on a confectionery imported from abroad by Portuguese merchants.
Famous Japanese slightly curved sword with single, incredibly sharp blade, cross-guard and long hilt to be used with two hands.
Rice bowl with topping of pork cutlet fried with panko accompanied by savoy cabbage.
A rice dish with fried pork and curry.
Japanese term used to indicate objects and people expressing tenderness or sweetness; something adorable in its childlike silliness.
Traditional Korean side dish of cabbage and turnip fermented in spices such as chili pepper, spring onion, garlic, ginger and jeotgal. Used in many soups.
Japanese traditional garment and national dress. Generally made of silk and worn with a large sash, the obi, and with accessories such as zōri sandals and tabi socks. Today they are most often kept for formal ceremonies and festivals, apart from by geisha and maiko.
Roasted soybean flour.
Traditional Japanese drawstring bag, used like a handbag for carrying around personal possessions.
Traditional Japanese sweet made with sweet bean paste and agar seaweed that’s sweetened with sugar and left to solidify in a mold.
Dried shelf stable mochi made with glutinous rice.
Typical dishes of the various seasons.
Typical udon from the Nagoya area, very sticky, less thick but wider than the classic udon, classified as among the best in Japan.
Literally ‘foxes’ in Japanese. According to the yōkai folklore, they are spirits with paranormal abilities that increase as they get older and wiser. Some folktales describes them with the ability to trick others while other stories portray them as faithful guardians, friends, and lovers.
National holiday that falls on May 5, dedicated to the happiness of children, especially male children, during which koinobori are hung.
Coloured variety of fresh water, herbivorous carp. Large and in variable colours and patterns, it is very common in Japanese ponds and lakes.
Cone-shaped flags depicting the determined carp, that according to Chinese legend, by swimming against the current manage to transform themselves into a dragon and fly to paradise. They hang during the Kodomo-no-Hi, as a wish of realization, health and success for sons.
Ball of soil, covered with moss, on which an ornamental plant grows.
Can be translated as ‘Here it is!’
Literally ‘heart’.
Lion-dogs, keepers of sacred places, one shows its teeth while the other has its mouth closed, they represent the beginning and the end of all things.
Very suggestive term that evokes ‘the sunlight that filters through the trees’ and the special type of beauty that emerges.
Store open 24 hours a day whose name derives from ‘konbinience’ the Japanese pronunciation of the English word ‘convenience’. They sell a range of ready made and packaged foods and toiletries, but also act as newsagent and chemist. They often have an ATM and sell tickets for events.
Edible kelp widely used to make dashi broth.
Edible Asiatic tuber similar to the potato, made into a jelly used in many dishes and from which shirataki or transparent noodles are made.
Deep-fried breaded potato croquettes, stuffed with meat, fish or vegetables.
Low, wooden table covered by a heavy blanket, upon which a table top sits. Underneath is an electric heat source, often built into the table itself.
Japanese term used to indicate all the colours of autumn leaves during foliage.
Prediction of the progressive colouring of autumn leaves in different areas of Japan.
Literally “giant tree”.
Literally ‘fruit hunt’ activity in which, paying a few yen for entry into the orchards, you can eat fruit by picking it directly from the plants.
Good luck charms made with bamboo and with the shape of racks.
‘Chestnut’ in Japanese.
Japanese rice dish cooked in the rice cooker along with the previously boiled chestnuts.
Soft nuggets of sweet bread baked in the oven, stuffed with chestnut cream and white azuki paste.
Japanese black pine, the country’s most common pine cultivar and particularly resistant, characterized by dark grey bark and hard, dark needles.
Paper decoration created by sewing multiple identical pyramidal units together using underlying geometric principles of polyhedra to form a spherical shape.
A powdered green tea commonly known as ‘matcha’, it is widely used as an ingredient for confectionary and for the tea ceremony.
Traditional town houses built entirely of wood. Originating from the Heian era and successively transformed, still today they abound in Kyōto and often have shops on the ground floor.
Cafés where waitresses are dressed in maid costumes and act as servants, treating customers as masters (and mistresses) as in a private home.
Apprentice geisha, younger in age, wearing gaudy accessories in their hair, high wooden sandals and white make-up on face and neck.
Literally ‘beckoning cat’, common Japanese figurine which is often believed to bring good luck to the owner.
Japanese style comic books and graphic novels, very different to western versions both in the drawings and because they are read from right to left.
Comic artist who writes and illustrates manga comics.
Traditional Japanese festivals, recurrent events with food stalls, processions, floats and fireworks. Related to Shinto or Buddhist traditions, they usually take place near a local shrine.
New Year’s decoration made with pine.
Edible mushroom, very delicious and spicy aroma, grows specifically under pine plants.
Generic term that indicates the long Japanese pasta, usually used to refer to the one artisanally created by various rāmen-ya. It is generally firm and rough, unlike the very fine sōmen and soba or the wide udon.
Alaska pollock roe marinated in various spices, originally from the Korean cuisine. Considered a gourmet condiment, it is traditionally eaten raw with steamed rice or as a filling in onigiri or korokke.
Sweet bread covered in a thin layer of crisp biscuit that looks like a melon. Stuffed with cream or ice cream, today they can differ in pastry type and shape.
Portable sacred altars inside which Shinto Kami symbolically reside. Used to carry the Kami from a certain shrine around the city during the festivals as good luck, for example for a plentiful harvest.
Seasoning made from fermenting soybeans, salt and fermented kōji-kin mushrooms, with a high nutritional value, used as flavouring for sauces, pickles, fish or meat and added to dashi broth to make miso soup.
Variation of tonkatsu in which the pork cutlet is accompanied by miso sauce.
One of the traditional Japanese aesthetic ideals, a term derived from ancient Japanese to indicate elegance and refinement, to express the sensitivity to beauty that was typical of the Heian era. Often closely related to the notion of mono-no-aware, the transience of things.
Japanese rice cake made of mochigome, a short-grain glutinous rice.
Literally ‘hunting the red leaves of maples’, is the favorite activity of the Japanese in the autumn period of foliage in gardens, parks and natural areas.
Soft buckwheat and maple leaf shaped rice cake stuffed with various fillings. Specialties of Miyajima Island can be found almost everywhere.
‘Peach’ in Japanese.
Japanese sweet made of azuki bean paste enclosed between two thin crispy waffles made of rice. Wafers can have different shapes and the filling can be replaced by creams or ice cream. It is also served as a dessert with tea.
Emotional participation, melancholy mixed with wonder at things that are subject to an end. It is the beauty inherent in the fragility of life.
Japanese expression used when starting a conversation on the phone.
Concept tied to re-use and lack of wastage. It derives from the expression of disappointment used when something is thrown away that could yet be useful. Much like the exclamation ‘what a waste!’.
Term for hot dishes, such as stews and soups, served in cold seasons in terracotta pots, the donabe.
Fine Chinese noodles in cold water running along split bamboos, to be caught with chopsticks as they go by and dipped into accompanying sauces.
Literally ‘fall down 7 times, get up 8 times’. Proverb that praises resilience and knowing how to face life with courage.
Rondelles with a vortex design. A type of kamaboko, or fish loaf, mainly used as topping for rāmen.
Variety of pear originally from Asia with skin much like that of a pear but the rounder shape of an apple, and a not very pronounced taste.
Classic ‘hand-pressed sushi’, consisting in an oblong pile of rice forming an oval ball with a layer of raw fish, seafood or omelette on top. Usually accompanied by wasabi and soy sauce.
Hot, soft, salty scones made from flour and water steamed and usually stuffed with meat, onion and ginger. Also called Japanese dumplings; similar to Chinese baozi. In Japan it is cooked both in street banquets and convenience stores, kept warm in special wooden containers ready to be consumed, or ready-made in supermarkets.
Japanese confectionery made by baking sponge cake dough with red bean paste fillings. They are baked in small moulds with many different shapes.
Fabric dividers traditionally used in Japan to separate the areas of a house or at the entrance of shops and restaurants bearing their name. They are hung from above and cut vertically to allow people to pass.
Dried seaweed of high nutritional value, often roasted and sold in leaves to wrap around sushi or onigiri rolls.
Wish-fulfilling jewel within both Hindu and Buddhist traditions, said by some to be the equivalent of the philosopher’s stone in Western alchemy.
Intricately decorated wide belt worn around the waist over the kimono.
Main Buddhist festival, generally held in the middle of August, when people commemorate their ancestors, with dancing, bonfires and other customs.
Dish in which vegetables, eggs and tōfu are boiled in a soy sauce broth. Widespread in the stands of the cold season festivals and in konbini.
Rice cakes covered with azuki jam.
Literally ‘big wisteria’.
Informal abbreviation of ‘okaerinasai’, an expression used when a family member returns home.
Type of fried food cooked on a griddle, made up of batter, kale and a choice of other ingredients, usually flavoured with okonomiyaki sauce, mayonnaise, seaweed and tuna. One of the most common foods at Japanese festivals.
Literally ‘large camphor tree’.
Fortune-telling written on small strips of paper in Japanese, which you can purchase for a small donation. If the prophecy isn’t positive, it is usual to leave the piece of paper tied to the area of the temple designed for this purpose.
Pronunciation imported from the Chinese reading of ideograms used when a word is composed of more than one kanji. Whereas when a kanji is alone or accompanied by hiragana, the kun’yomi pronunciation native of Japan is used.
In Japanese folklore they are like demons or orcs, often represented coloured red, blue or white, with tiger skin loincloths and kanabō iron clubs.
Famous rice balls wrapped in crunchy seaweed with various fillings, sold in all convenience stores or made at home to eat with family and friends.
Japanese hot springs, public or private, often outside, rotenburo, or inside, uchiyu, and also to be found at hotels and ryokan.
Literally ‘hot spring tour’.
From ‘ori’ (to fold) and ‘kami’ (paper) it is an art consisting in making sculptures by folding pieces of paper.
Origami in the shape of a crane, is considered the most classic of all Japanese origami. Its wings are believed to carry souls up to heaven.
Traditional Japanese New Year foods served in boxes. Each ingredient that make up box each have a special meaning celebrating the New Year.
Hot wet hand towel offered to customers in places such as restaurants or bars, and used to clean one’s hands before eating.
Literally ‘big cleaning’, done in late December before the new year.
Japanese term to describe nerds who are particularly obsessed with computers, anime and manga, often to the detriment of their ability to socialize.
Big torii gate.
Enormous pair of straw sandals woven in the traditional way. Hanging from temples, their presence keeps demons at bay by making them believe that the temple is home to an invincible giant.
Recreational arcade game like a vertical flipper, similar to western slot machines. Although cash gambling is illegal in Japan, its popularity and a specific legal loophole allow its existence.
Fried and dried white breadcrumbs used for breading and crumbling foods. Incorporating more air, panko produces a light, crunchy coating.
Series of globally successful videogames from the late ‘90s, on which anime, manga and films are based. The term Pokémon refers to fantastical creatures similar to animals that live with humans.
From the English “lights-up”, suggestive lighting from below to enhance trees, landscapes and monuments.
Noodles served in thin meat or fish-based soup and flavoured with soy or miso sauce, usually accompanied by chāshū and nori seaweed.
Restaurant that specializes in rāmen.
Open air hot springs, often immersed in nature.
Traditional Japanese hotels, very common in hot spring resorts.
Spherical decorations composed of cedar branches, used as signs at the entrance to sakè distilleries.
Japanese alcoholic beverage made from fermenting rice with kōji-kin mushrooms. The quality varies according to how refined the rice is and how much alcohol is added. It is drunk warm or cold depending on the occasion.
Japanese ornamental cherries, metaphor of the ephemeral nature of life, its beauty and brevity.
Japanese confections consisting of pink-colored mochi with a red bean paste center and wrapped in a pickled cherry blossom leaf.
Special tea blend made with sencha green tea and real sakura leaves.
Forecast of the progressive spring flowering of ornamental cherries in the various areas of Japan.
Honorary title used in sign of great respect to clients, other people and even deities.
Road approaching either a Shinto shrine or a Buddhist temple. Its point of origin is usually straddled in the first case by a Shinto torii, in the second by a Buddhist sanmon, gates which mark the beginning of the shrine’s or temple territory.
Small fish in the shape of a blade, one of the most delicious autumn foods in Japanese cuisine. It is commonly served salted and grilled, garnished with grated daikon along with a bowl of rice and miso soup.
Udon noodles typical of Kagawa Prefecture, formerly known as Sanuki. They are the most famous in Japan.
In Japanese popular culture, this is embodied by a white-collar worker who shows overriding loyalty and commitment to the corporation where he works.
Literally ‘goodbye’ in Japanese.
Most popular tea in Japan, representing about 80 percent of the tea produced in the country. It’s the normal blend of green tea for daily use.
Votive slips, stickers or placards posted on the gates or buildings of Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples in Japan.
Literally translated as ‘person born before another’. In general usage, it is used as a suffix to personal names and means ‘teacher’.
Festival throughout Japan between 2 and 4 February in which people throw fukumame, ‘fortune beans’, outside the front door or against a family member wearing a mask demon to drive out misfortune and ill health. They eat roasted soybeans, one for each year of life plus one for luck in the New Year.
Japanese hot dish of vegetables and thinly sliced meat boiled in water and soy sauce in a deep pot directly at the table.
Animal from Japanese folklore with the body of a carp and the head of a tiger, it can summon the rain and is used for good luck against the frequent and devastating fires of the past that destroyed castles, temples and shrines.
Staff topped with metal rings traditionally carried by Buddhist monks. It was originally used as a noisemaker to announce a monk’s presence and frighten away animals and then was adapted for use as a rhythmic instrument during chanting and sutra recitation.
Small, light-weight diatomite grill for cooking food at table.
Mushrooms native to the Asiatic east, with a pronounced taste, prevalently growing on dead wood. Eaten raw or dried in broths and tenpura, grilled or to flavour dashi broth.
Long and thick ropes made of rice straw or hemp, used for ritual purification in the Shinto religion.
High-speed Japanese train, also called ‘bullet train’ due to its tapering shape, capable of travelling at speeds of up to 220 miles an hour.
Literally ‘new rice’ is rice harvested, processed and packaged for sale before the end of the year. Usually harvested from August to October, it has a more pronounced flavour and a greater consistency.
Literally ‘bath in the forest’, theory of Japanese medicine based on the physical and mental therapeutic benefits for an individual spending time in a forest.
Literally ‘new coolness’, in reference to the sparkling air that in autumn replaces the summer humid heat.
Unsweetened mochi that’s often served with sides of red bean paste, kinako powder, or even with a scoop of ice cream. Often eaten in anmitsu or mitsumame sweets.
Literally ‘white bird’, means swan in Japanese.
Sweet porridge of azuki beans boiled and crushed, served in a bowl with mochi.
Fountains in Japanese gardens where the water accumulates in a bamboo mobile that, emptying regularly, makes a certain sound as it pounds against the rock.
Known as Chinese basil, in its red and green variants it is widely used in cooking. It has fragrant leaves and anti-bacterial properties and is used in tenpura and sashimi, and shredded in other dishes.
The world famous weekly Japanese manga magazine that launched titles like Dragon Ball, Naruto and Onepiece.
Books where goshuin seal stamps are collected.
Buckwheat spaghetti native to Japan. It can be served in different variations, cold with a dipping sauce or hot in soup.
Very thin noodles made of wheat flour that originated in China, used in classic rāmen.
A cry of incitement the Japanese use before activities requiring physical strength, for example lifting a heavy weight or sprinting in a race.
Popular custom in small thermal towns in which clients make a tour of several onsen in one evening, walking down the lanes in kimono.
A Japanese term meaning to walk leisurely and with no apparent aim.
Exclamation of awe translatable as ‘incredible!’.
Term meaning ‘I like it’ in Japanese, similar to the verb to love and be fond of.
Dish consisting of a shallow iron pot where vegetables, mushrooms, thin meat and other ingredients are cooked in a mixture of soy sauce, sugar and mirin directly to the table. It is a typical dish of cold seasons and end-of-year holidays.
Literally ‘I’m sorry’.
Traditional Japanese sport linked to Shintoism.
Japanese dish of prepared vinegared rice and accompanied by a variety of ingredients, such as raw fish and vegetables.
Pampas grass, grass with silvery feathery inflorescences that bloom in autumn.
Term literally meaning ‘to read on your feet’. Reading standing up is very popular in the bookshops and comic stores of Japan.
Term literally meaning ‘I’m back home!’, said by a family member when he comes back home.
Traditional Japanese drums with a wooden barrel or cylindrical shape, used for festivals, in Kabuki and Nō theatres and for ceremonies at shrines and temples.
An arched bridge that curves upwards like the body of a drum.
Enormous festival floats exquisitely decorated in fine cloths portraying scenes from folklore, inside which is a large taiko drum that provides the team’s rhythm with its deep sound. They are fifteen feet high and can weigh as much as 3 tons, so moving them is very demanding.
Red sea bream shaped cake filled with red bean paste, commonly sold as street food.
Raised stage at Itsukushima-jinja Shrine that faces outwards in the direction of the torii and on which bugaku dances are performed.
Simple rice dish cooked in dashi broth with the addition of tender bamboo shoots.
Leading Japanese courier company: highly reliable, useful for tourists to send bags between hotels and recognizable by the black cat symbol.
Famous octopus balls, cooked in a special pan with semi-circular indentations, stuffed with octopus, ginger and leek.
Star Festival, the only night in which the stars Vega and Altair, generally separated by the Milky Way, unite and indulge their passion. To celebrate the Japanese hang tanzaku, strips inscribed with their hopes and wishes, from bamboos. Other decorations are often left on a river or burned after the party. The festival falls on the seventh night of the seventh month according to the lunar calendar, varying annually between July and August.
Species of canid endemic to Japan, subspecies of raccoons.
Small pieces of paper where people write wishes, sometimes in the form of poetry, hanging them on bamboo, sometimes with other decorations. The bamboo and decorations are often set afloat on a river or burned after the festival, around midnight or on the next day.
Japanese-style outerwear with thick cotton padding to protect against the cold.
Poetic expression that indicates dusk.
Rectangular mat made of rice straw placed around the floor modularly. Each tatami is covered with pressed and braided rush straw, and is edged with ribbons of linen or cotton. Historically it was also used as a unit of measure for areas as in Japan houses and structures were not measured in square metres but in tatami. 1 tatami = 1.65 square metres.
Balls made from embroidery that may be used in handball games and other such similar games. With the addition of a hand-strap, can serve as an accessory for a kimono.
Legendary creature of Shinto belief, traditionally depicted with human, monkey, and avian characteristics.
Commonly called ‘tempura’, it is a cooking method that consists in covering pieces of food, in particular vegetables and seafood, in frozen batter, to then fry them in sesame oil to obtain a light, crunchy result.
Large metal griddle on which cooks prepare food for customers.
Japanese sauce made of soy, sugar and sakè, used as a glaze on roasted or grilled meat, fish and tōfu dishes.
Ghost dolls handmade in white paper or cloth. They are hung outside windows like talismans to counter the rain and invoke the sun.
Bean curd made from coagulating soy milk with nigari. The result can be a solid white block of varied consistency for different types of tōfu. It has a delicate taste and is used in savoury and sweet dishes, often flavoured or marinated.
Tōfu topped with dengaku, a sauce made with a mix of white and red miso paste, soy sauce, sugar, mirin, sake, dashi, and grated ginger.
Thick and very tender pork cutlet fried in panko, a particular type of Japanese breadcrumb.
Rāmen originally from Fukuoka, also known as Hakata rāmen, whose dark broth derives from the lengthy boiling of the pig meat and bones. Served with chāshū and other ingredients. The customer can often choose the consistency of their noodles.
Traditional gate marking the entrance to a Shinto shrine and symbolically the path into the sacred world. Walking through it represents an initial purification, but it is appropriate to cross near the columns as the central passage is reserved for the Kami.
Ceremony in which participants float paper lanterns down a river.
Traditional Japanese soba dish eaten on New Year’s Eve.
Version of the rāmen in which warm spaghetti and hot soup are served separately. Generally, the spaghetti is handmade, and rougher than that of the classic rāmen to better soak up the soup when combined.
‘Moon’ in Japanese.
Literally ‘watching the moon’, is the contemplation and celebration of the moon that takes place between September and October according to the solar calendar. For the occasion, decorations made with Susuki grass are displayed and tsukimi dango, white rice dumplings are consumed.
Typical autumn dish of udon in broth on which a raw egg floats, depicting the moon.
The term may refer to the East Asian rainy season or to the dipping sauce served with the soba.
Thick noodles often made from wheat flour originally from Japan.
Japanese bush warbler (horornis diphone).
Artistic woodblock prints on paper from the Edo period.
Literally savoriness, is one of the five basic tastes.
Pickled Japanese plum fruits.
Unagi donburi, or a bowl of rice with grilled eel on top.
Japanese eel, served as a delicacy opened down its length, boned, grilled and accompanied by its own sweet and sour sauce.
Commonly known as ‘sushi-roll’ and a western reinterpretation of the Japanese makimono, they are cylindrical in shape with rice on the outside and alga nori inside around a filling of fish, vegetables, etc.
Literally ‘Japanese sweet’, small traditional Japanese confection often served with green tea, made of mochi, azuki bean paste and fruit. Enchanting miniature works of art in coloured sweet pastry with vegetable ingredients and shaped with extreme care.
The term refers to the chain-shaped origami decorations hung during the Tanabata festivities. Another use of the term wakazari refers to amulets of shimenawa rope tied in a circle, a simplified form of tamakazari used to hang on New Year’s kadomatsu.
Generically known as wild mountain vegetables, they are shoots of the bracken Pteridium aquilinum gathered in spring, cooked in boiling salted water and used in soups and condiments, also pickled.
Japanese confections made from warabiko (bracken starch) and covered in kinako (sweet toasted soybean flour). It differs from the classical mochi that are made from glutinous rice.
Sharp-tasting spice made from the roots of the green horseradish, or Japanese radish, a plant originating in Japan that grows in mountain streams. Given its antibacterial properties, the root, grated or crushed into a wasabi paste, is used to flavour sushi, sashimi and meat.
Literally ‘Japanese paper’, handmade with natural fibres, sometimes incorporating elements such as leaves, flowers and twigs. It is used in many traditional arts such as origami and fan making.
Japanese version of gyōza, fried on one side and steamed on the other. In Fukuoka they are known as tetsunabe-gyōza because typically served in a tetsunabe, the metal pan used to cook them.
Roasted sweet potatoes, popular as street food in the cold months.
Wheat flour noodles stir-fried on the griddle with kale, carrots and other ingredients such as meat or fish, then mixed with sweetish yakisoba sauce. A speciality of street food typically found on Japanese festival stalls.
Skewers of chicken cooked on hotplate or grill, another typical street food at festivals and often served in the izakaya alongside beer.
Literally ‘mountain of decorations’, the floats used at Hakata Gion Yamakasa Matsuri. In the late 1800s, with the increased use of power lines, they were divided into kaki-yamakasa, smaller floats that cross the city, and kazari-yamakasa, stationary floats forty feet tall and decorated with scenes from Japanese folklore.
The term mainly refers to street food stalls during festivals but also to mobile restaurants in the city of Fukuoka. However, sometimes it is also used to describe some types of festival float used by the Japanese.
Japanese money. The Latinized symbol is ¥, while in Japan it is the kanji 円.
Supernatural entities and spirits of Japanese folklore.
Evocative alleys in Japanese cities with a somewhat retro atmosphere that attract people in the evening, especially young and middle-aged men. They are narrow streets flooded with lanterns and smells of cooking, full of small pubs, restaurants and izakaya side by side.
Tōfu served hot in its cooking water.
Spring-summer cotton version of the kimono, traditionally worn at festivals, anniversaries that take place in certain seasons and at hot springs.
Huge hut-shaped structures that preserve trees, especially pines, from heavy snowfall. The branches are supported by cords that radiate like umbrella spokes from the long central poles parallel to the trunk.
Literally ‘hot water scoop’.
Citrus fruit plant of East Asian origin.
Buckwheat noodles served cold, to be dipped into a mentsuyu sauce made of soy and dashi, garnished with scallions, sesame and nori seaweed.
