Unusual Japanese words related to the Way of War

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Budo means the way of War. There are many specialized Japanese terms for any number of things. Unless you know these words, you will not be able to do historical research very well, but will have to reply upon a lot of guesswork. As such, from time to time, I will add a word, or I may find a link to a book, or a dictionary, or a glossary on Budo.

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...99724-No-dachi
If you look in my posts in the VV on the nodachi, there are many such words on weaponry and on terms dealing with fighting with edged weapons. There is also a topic on Bushido there, and one here in the historical research section of STW2. In the Bushido sections I include many of the authentic terms for the samurai from prior during the Heian era, during the Gempei war period, and through the Sengoku era. Likewise I include the most common six or seven real words for Bushido before 1600, as well as show one of the first documents in which the word Bushido is used in that time period.
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...y-Nitobe-Inazo
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...597453-Bushido

Once you have the correct Japanese word, then you can look in academic databases, which you can find at most good public libraries and many allow you to access them through websites even from home. Likewise most good universities have many memberships in academic databases.

Besides that, because the Japanese have been in America since prior to the building of the railroads and the pineapple plantations of Hawaii, plus ran orchards in the Pacific Northwest and fishing operations in the NW and NE, then they also trained in Budo in America. Because of that, some information was written down, and so in rare books one can find all kinds of references in the gentlemen scholar societies of the early 20th century as well as books on Budo in karate, kenjutsu, aikijutsu and Daito ryu (and later Aikido), kobudo, etc. Many of these can be briefly discovered in tantalizing ways by using Google Books, and sometimes very long sections of Japanese history especially about the samurai can be found.

The most authoritative information will always be found in Japan (Nippon) and much of it in rare archives and very difficult to access. Since it's in medieval Japanese in three languages plus the forms of Chinese of those time periods, then few people can translate or understand them. Even so, when describing sword techniques, then much is deliberately vague and only someone of that sword school will know what it means. Don't think that because you read Miyamoto Musashi's Book of Five Rings you understand more than the strategy (Heiho) for the art of using two swords at once is complex and without a foundation of swordsmanship, you will not be able to penetrate the mysteries. Believe it or not, there were more than one sword school that practiced with two swords at once during the time of Musashi. Perhaps I will tell you about it sometime in another topic. Few people are aware of that topic at all.

Aiuchi is an important word in swordsmanship. It means to attack simultaneously in such a way as to make a sword cut and likely both swordsmen could have died. In many cases one delivered a fatal blow, but the other a microsecond late still had the momentum to continue the swing but with an interruption of power and so still might deeply wound the other.

Watch this video from the silly but stirring film The Last Samurai:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yP9MmzyTIg

The final action is an aiuchi as both swordsmen would have delivered a likely fatal blow. If you knew about the sword stances, then you'd know that Algren's character takes a sha no kamae stance as does Ujio. That position signals that "I am open for you to attack..." as the katana is held back and requires a superior swordsman to then return the katana back to attack. It's a very tiny thing but crucial to understand.


Let's say you're a modeler and you wish to create a new animation. You have to know the basic kamae or postures or you will not be able to look them up and make them accurate.

In swordsmanship (kenjutsu in general), many times since the samurai was calculating the distance for the cut and making the tiniest alterations as the opponent was breathing in/out or shifting footing in kamae or moving forward in a triangle stance (sankakudai), or for a flickering moment their zanshin (total awareness of all around them) was momentarily disturbed, then the samurai would close for the kill. Many times this meant moving towards the three foot razor the opponent carried and so the movement would affect the opponent's calculations and in one cut...kill them.


Looking at the picture above in a triangle (sankakudai) stance what posture (kamae) is the samurai in?

spoiler

Seigan no kamae

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A short note that I will come back to later. While having Japanese ancestors and of course glad to see the TWCenter take an interest in the samurai, the Japanese titles are quite silly that one achieves by the number of title posts one makes. Today, I was made a senshi. Let's break down what that word means. A bushi bu (war) shi (person) is an admirable word, or a samurai (a person who serves [in war]) is an admirable word. A senshi sen (war) shi (person) or simply a warrior is not particularly an honorable title. It is a very simple title for someone who fights. It actually could be the word for the lowest person who fights in a war who has no association with Bushido at all, no skill at all, no ability at all, no history of winning, nothing.
http://books.google.com/books?id=D5b...senshi&f=false
http://www.stockkanji.com/Warrior_senshi

Like all words, a Senshi has more than one meaning. It could be a reference to one's departed teacher, or it could mean a spinal tap! It all depends upon context.

As such, it would be more appropriate to be the initial title for new posters and below a ronin for at least a ronin was a samurai, albeit one who had lost their Master. A ronin might be an entirely honorable samurai who through no fault of their own lost their ties to a clan, for the Master might have been disgraced and the clan dissolved, or the Master died and could no longer support so many samurai.

Because of the Five Relationships in Confucianism and discussed at length in the topics on Bushido, to be "undefined" by relationship by having none is the very worst state for a samurai. As saburau means to serve, then a samurai who cannot serve or has no Master, that person is rudderless, adrift in an ocean and so very lost. It is a largely a unique concept.

I have seen it in cinema. There's a scene in the John Boorman film Excalibur. Arthur meets Lancelot at a bridge that he is blocking, and he means no harm but only seeks to be challenged to test his skills. Arthur does eventually beat him, but only by being dishonorable. Still Lancelot exclaims, "This is a great day! For I the best knight have been bested!" That is a very Japanese concept as well, for the samurai who ascribed to Bushido sought someone to serve as Master who was better than themselves.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPiYBfTE1ec

This idea is why calling someone a Sensei is a great honor. It doesn't mean "teacher" or even "mentor" which is closer, but "Master" for a lost student who was unconnected to Budo found someone who had great ability and that Master is sacrificing his/her time to instruct the student in being a whole person. For the Japanese, while being a physician is a very noble profession, someone who is a Sensei is a true teacher who is devoted to the student and using their kokoro (the very essence or heart) imparts wisdom. A Japanese person might meet their 3rd grade teacher and then proceed to thank them for some gentleness or kindness that the teacher granted them so many years ago. Would that all people would honor a teacher in that way, but what is more to establish an educational relationship of such strength and devotion from teacher to student and from student to teacher.

I guess someone was attempting to create levels but perhaps didn't understand the meaning of words. Being called a Hime at higher levels, which means a princess is rather amusing. While being considered a royal from making so many posts is notable, but being called a princess is rather effeminate and since the preponderance of us are male rather like a slap in the face instead of a honor. It is similar to the Tico (Costa Rican) custom of calling someone a Mariposa (Butterfly) when you have long hair and might be effete.

Here's the official list of Japanese Titles used at the Forum:
http://www.twcenter.net/wiki/TWC:FAQ#Other_TitlesNow what is amusing is the order and the fact that some words are not Japanese words at all, but imported words from English! Kirā is derived from "killer" in the English just as salaryman(Sararīman) is derived from salary in the English. Too funny. Remember, there is no true r or l sound but rather a combination of the r, l, and even the d sound sometimes. Likewise in Japanese there is a sound like gna which is not in English and rather nasal sounding. So you attempting to say it rather like the unusual sound of Castilian Spanish.

A Ninja literally means one who holds a knife over the heart. It is a rather low term as it was entirely dishonorable. While people think the ninja are cool because of their air of mystery, that word was largely an invented word at the time of the Kabuki plays and the real word is derived from shinobi who wore disguises and wore dark blue and not black at night and sometimes assassinated. No Japanese person would place ninja immediately below the samurai but way way lower.

Putting a chugen (farmer soldier) in that slot equally makes zero sense. They were slightly above ashigaru who were conscripted soldiers and likely veterans that could be counted on to have superior ability because of experience and possibly knowledge of Budo. In the early days of the samurai, before professional armies, a chugen could be a low paid samurai who had to raise crops by necessity as they were of humble origin. It doesn't mean they are lessor in battle, for they might be excellent samurai, just not well paid. Or they might be peasants who did fight when called upon. I would bet that a lot of chugen would be called upon, just as that form of soldier was called upon in Western European medieval history.
http://books.google.com/books?id=tgO...chugen&f=false
http://books.google.com/books?id=Z9l...chugen&f=false

If you understand what the Japanese terms mean, then as a modder you could create very nuanced traits to show a humble status of a samurai named character or agent and so make them come alive and not just one more unit to dispatch into battle. Or, traits which show an increase in status, for to soldiers in history a title or medal was given and maybe no monetary reward, but the HONOR of being recognized. That is appropriate in any mod, and of course in mods which discuss Bushido. The samurai were not one dimensional soldiers, but flesh and blood, and few could be total villains or completely chivalrous, but rather the one who was a bushi-no kokorogiwa, who possessed the heart of the bushi and did what was right and true, that one Man so influenced the worst rascal or coward to fight one last battle as a chivalrous Man and not as a man.

One such man was Kusunoki Masashige.



http://www.samurai-archives.com/masashige.html

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I spent several days hunting for the proper word for an obscure Japanese shield used in archery. By not knowing the word, and then looking through many books and photos, I finally found it. The result can be found on the new topic on the archery and gunnery shield.

First find the thing you're looking for, look for the romanji (the western way of spelling the Japanese word) then try google book searches or google scholar. Then you likely will find the kanji (the symbolic word in Japanese) for the thing. Many times you can find a google image of it, and that will be on a website describing it. By this method you can research all kinds of things.

Books help. A serious student of Budo will purchase books on these arcane topics. Here's a link to a specialized Japanese martial arts dictionary. It would be well worth the effort to look through Pauley's Guide as I bet it gives you all kinds of ideas for modding STW2 or simply researching the history of the samurai. Most schools (dojo) of Budo have glossaries and short instructional pamphlets in pdf format for their students. This is another way to look up something fairly quickly.
http://books.google.com/books?id=XJD...rochin&f=false

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Earlier I mentioned that books on Budo had glossaries. Here is one. Naturally a book on Budo that is translated into English will have them for much confusion will happen from a martial arts term being used to the uninitiated. Practically all Japanese Budo books written have them, so if you're looking up some aspect of Kobudo or maybe Iaido or Kyudo then starting at the end of a book on it and looking through the common terms will then inspire to narrow down your topic.
http://books.google.com/books?id=ojz...0sword&f=false

Here I was searching for the more rare term for the nodachi, and used a google books search for the "otachi" a seldom used term, and then stumbled into a very useful glossary.

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http://books.google.com/books?id=6FQ...ketaba&f=false

While researching the proper word for the Taketaba topic, I poured through numerous books and found potential Japanese words. Many of these can be extremely obscure and so when looking for something from Budo (which are the codified arts post-Sekigahara), especially the traditional martial arts from the samurai in history, then sometimes you get lucky by looking in a English to Japanese or a Japanese to English dictionary. It's the old brute force method, but often by considering roots of compound words you get lucky. It doesn't work well in Japanese as the same sounding word can result in far different kanji, katakana, or hiragana and therefore very different meanings. It is however one additional way to get a clue that will set you off in the right direction.

You know, the smallest changes in archaic attitudes about Asian folks would likely result in far more Asians frequenting the forum and participating in the historical sections.