ashigaru – literally “quick legs,” called such due to their minimal armor, peasants enlisted or conscripted during times of war to serve as spearmen or archers, forming the bulk of a warlord’s forces.
awabi – raw abalone served in the shell.
ayu – Plecoglossus altivelis. Fresh water fish indigenous to Japan and Korea, often called “sweetfish” because of the sweetness of its flesh.
bakufu – literally “tent government,” but came to mean the dwelling and household of a shogun, or military dictator. Generally used to refer to the system of government of a feudal military dictatorship, equivalent in English to the term ‘shogunate.’
biwa – short-necked fretted lute, often used in narrative storytelling, the chosen instrument of Benten, goddess of music, eloquence, poetry, and education in the Shinto faith.
bokken – wooden practice sword, designed to lessen damage. Swordmaster Miyamoto Musashi was renowned for defeating fully armed opponents with one or two bokken.
bushi – synonymous with “samurai,” military nobility, warrior gentleman.
cho – unit of distance, equivalent to 119.3 yards (109.3 m).
daikon – literally “big root,” variety of large, white radish with a mild flavor.
daimyo - literally “great name,” feudal lord of Japan, vassal of the Shogun.
do-maru – literally “body wrap,” style of armor constructed of lacquered metal plates and leather, lighter and closer fitting than the o-yoroi style.
eta – one of the Unclean, a class of people typically relegated to such jobs as leatherworkers, gravediggers, and prostitutes.
futon – padded mattress flexible enough to be folded up and put away during the day.
geta – elevated wooden sandals.
Go – a board game for two players, originating in China more than 2,500 years ago, noted for being rich in strategy despite its relatively simple rules. Players place black and white “stones” on the intersections of a 19 x 19 grid, the object being to use one’s stones to capture a larger total area of the board than the opponent.
hamen – the temper line of a sword blade.
hara – the belly or stomach, believed to contain the soul or the “center of being.”
hyakume – a unit of weight, 100 momme, corresponding to about 13.2 ounces (375 g).
jitte – literally “ten hands,” also called a jutte, weapon consisting of an iron bar and U-shaped guard, designed to catch and hold sword blades, often used to disarm unruly samurai, typically 12-24 inches long (30-60 cm).
kabuto – helmet, comprising many different styles, secured to the head by a chin cord, often adorned with crests.
kachi-guri – dried chestnuts.
kai-awase – a game played by wealthy nobility, wherein the insides of seashells were painted with pictures (e-awase) or poetry (uta-awase). The object of the game was to find the most appropriate matching shell, such as the visually related or thematic match to a picture or the second half of a poem.
kami – sometimes translated as “god” or “deity,” but also referring to the ubiquitous spirits of nature, the elements, and ancestors, which are the center of worship for the Shinto faith.
kappa – supernatural river creature or spirit, about the size of a child, with a turtle-like shell, a beak for a mouth, a flat saucer-like indentation on its head that must remain filled with water when it is on land, or else it loses its power. Their behavior and feeding habits range from pranksterish and lecherous to predatory and vampiric.
katana – style of sword, later design than the tachi; also the long sword of a pair used with a wakizashi.
kemari – an ancient game wherein the players strive to keep a leather ball in the air using various parts of their bodies.
ki – spirit, life, energy.
kiai – battle cry or sharp cry meant to focus technique, awareness, and fighting spirit, sometimes to startle an opponent or express victory.
kimono – literally “thing to wear,” traditional garment worn by men, women, and children, typically secured at the waist by an obi. Straight-lined robe that reaches to the ankle, with a collar and wide sleeves.
kirin – creature of folklore resembling a scaly horse engulfed in flames, with either one or two antlers, cloven hooves, and scales. Said to be a good omen, signifying luck, justice, wisdom, prosperity, and fertility. Often conflated with the European unicorn.
koi – catch-all name given to many species of carp, a fish that symbolizes warrior spirit, perseverance, courage, and prosperity.
komadori – Erithacus akahige. Japanese robin.
kozuka – small utility knife fit into the side of a katana scabbard.
maku – curtain erected around the headquarters area of an army on campaign.
menpo – metal mask, armor covering the face from the nose to the chin, often fashioned into fearsome shapes.
miso – a thick paste made by fermenting soy, rice, and/or barley, used as seasoning. Very healthy. Miso soup is an excellent hangover cure.
mochi – rice cake made from pounding short-grain glutinous rice into a thick, sticky paste.
momme – unit of weight, approximately equal to 0.13 ounces (3.75 gm).
mon – emblem in Japanese heraldry, similar to coats of arms in European heraldry, used to identify individuals and families.
naginata – a polearm with a stout, curved blade 12-24 inches (30-60 cm) long, with a wooden shaft 4-8 feet (120-240 cm) long. Sometimes called the Japanese halberd.
nodachi – also called odachi, lit. “great/large sword,” averaging 65-70 inches long (165-178 cm), typically used from horseback.
nori – seaweed.
obi – sash used to secure robes, of a myriad of lengths and styles. Typically men’s obi are narrower than women’s.
ofuda – a paper talisman, written with spells and charged with magic.
ofuro – a deep, steep-sided wooden bathtub, but also sometimes referring to the room where bathing is done.
oni – supernatural creature from folklore, translates as demon, devil, ogre, or troll. Hideous, gigantic creatures with sharp claws, wild hair, and long horns growing from their heads, mostly humanoid, but sometimes possessing unnatural features such as odd numbers of eyes or extra fingers and toes.
onigiri – rice ball.
onmyouji – practitioners of a form of divination based on esoteric yin-yang cosmology, a mixture of natural science and occultism.
oyabun – literally “foster parent,” but most often used to refer to the boss of an organized crime family.
o-yoroi – literally “great armor,” heavy, box-shaped armor, used primarily by high-ranking samurai on horseback, consisting of an iron breastplate covered with leather, lacquered iron scales, woven together with silk or leather cords, and rectangular lamellar shoulder guards.
ramen – noodle dish consisting of wheat noodles served in broth, often with pork, miso, green onions, pickled ginger, or other toppings.
ri – unit of distance, equivalent to 2.4 miles (3.9 km).
ronin – a samurai with no lord or master, having become masterless from the death or fall of his master, or after the loss of his master’s favor or privilege.
saifu – A cloth, drawstring wallet used by men of means to carry money, papers, or small personal items.
saké – fermented beverage made from rice.
sakura – Prunus serrulata, the Japanese cherry blossom. Blooms brilliantly for a few days in the spring, but does not produce fruit. Deeply symbolic of the samurai’s life in its extreme beauty and quick death.
sama – an honorific suffix appended to names to indicate the addressee’s superiority in station.
seiza – literally “proper sitting,” kneeling position with legs folded under, sitting on calves and heels.
sensei – honorific title given to teachers and mentors.
seppuku – also called hara-kiri, literally “belly cutting,” ritual suicide performed by disemboweling oneself.
shide – white paper cut into zig-zag strips. When attached to a rope made of rice straw, they signify the boundary between the sacred and profane. Most often used to denote sacred trees or holy sites.
shugenja – also known as a yamabushi, an ascetic, itinerant follower of Shugendo, a practice of magic, augury, and exorcism claiming ties to both Buddhism and Shintoism.
shuriken – literally “hand-hidden sword,” any small, concealed bladed object, used for throwing, stabbing, or slashing. Common types include weighted spikes and thin, bladed plates.
soba – buckwheat.
sumi – traditional ink, made from soot, water, and glue.
tachi – style of sword, earlier design than the katana, with a more pronounced curvature, usually worn with the edge hanging down, in contrast to the katana, which was worn with the edge facing up.
taifu – literally “great wind,” hurricane, root of the English word “typhoon.”
taiko – a large drum, used for marshaling troops, as well as sending warnings and messages great distances.
tanto – single-edged dagger.
tanuki – Nyctereutes procyonoides. Mammal indigenous to Japan, sometimes translated as “raccoon dog,” member of the dog family (Canidae). Resembles a raccoon in having rounded ears, dark facial markings, and brown coat, but its tail is not ringed. Its limbs are short, brown or grayish in color, and its body low-slung. In folklore, tanuki are tricksters, said to possess magical powers and the ability to change shape. Tanuki are said to keep their magical powers in their scrota.
tatami – mat used for flooring, made of a core of rice straw wrapped in soft rush straw.
tengu – supernatural creature from folklore, having both avian and human characteristics. Tengu were long believed to be disruptive demons and harbingers of war. However, this image evolved into one of protective, if still dangerous, spirits of the mountains and forests, said to be masters of swordsmanship.
torii – a gate most commonly found at the entrance of or within a Shinto shrine, where it symbolically marks the transition from the profane to the sacred. The presence of a torii at the entrance is usually the simplest way to identify Shinto shrines.
tsuba – round or square guard above the hilt of a bladed weapon.
uguisu – Cettia diphone. A song bird known as the Japanese bush warbler.
wakizashi – a short sword, usually paired with the longer katana.
yabusame – a style of mounted archery developed in the early Kamakura period by Minamoto no Yoritomo to train samurai to shoot from horseback. A rider gallops his mount past three diamond-shaped wooden targets, each approximately eighty yards (73 m) apart, sized and placed to replicate firing at an enemy’s face and upper chest, just above the breastplate where armor is light or nonexistent. Special “turnip-headed” arrows are fired at each target in succession. In modern times, it is believed that the whistling sound emitted by the arrowheads drives away evil spirits.
yojimbo – bodyguard.
yoriki – literally “helper, assistant,” in the case of this story, the deputy to a provincial constable.
yurei – literally “dim spirit,” supernatural entity from folklore, analogous to Western ghosts. A person who dies in a state of extreme negative emotion, such as revenge, love, jealousy, hatred or sorrow, may be trapped in the earthly realm as a yurei.
zori – flat, thonged sandals made from straw or wood.