Glossary
36 Japanese words, defined the way the stories use them.
Every definition here comes from a story on this site, and every story that uses the word is linked beside it. No term is defined more broadly than the source supports.
- koji
- A mold, Aspergillus oryzae, grown on steamed rice. It produces enzymes in enormous amounts, breaking starch into sugar and protein into the amino acids tasted as umami. Miso, soy sauce, mirin, vinegar and sake are all made using it, and in 2006 it was named the national fungus of Japan. Fermentation Fermentation Fermentation
- moromi
- The fermenting mash in soy sauce and sake brewing. On Shodoshima, Marukin's museum lets visitors press it themselves. Fermentation
- miso
- Fermented soybean paste. The koji used decides its color and flavor, from the sweet white miso of Kyoto to the near-black Hatcho miso of Aichi. Fermentation Fermentation Fermentation
- Hatcho miso
- Miso from Aichi made from soybeans alone, aged about two years in cedar vats under stacked stones. Fermentation
- katsuobushi
- Skipjack tuna simmered, boned, smoked over wood for weeks and then deliberately cultured with mold. It is the base of Japanese soup stock. Fermentation
- honkarebushi
- The fully cured grade of katsuobushi, in which mold-culturing and sun-drying are repeated four or more times, leaving a block said to be one of the hardest foods in the world. Fermentation
- natto
- Fermented soybeans. Farmers once wrapped hot boiled beans in rice straw, which carries Bacillus subtilis var. natto, and the beans fermented on their own. Fermentation Fermentation
- nukadoko
- A bed of salted rice bran fermented by lactic acid bacteria, yeasts and other microbes, used to pickle vegetables. It stays healthy only if someone stirs it by hand two or three times a week. Fermentation
- tamahagane
- 'Jewel steel', the steel a katana is made from. It is born only from tatara smelting, and the last such furnace is the Nittoho Tatara in Okuizumo, Shimane. Katana
- tatara
- The traditional Japanese clay-furnace smelting that produces tamahagane. The revived Nittoho Tatara fires only about three times each winter. Katana
- hamon
- The wavy line along a katana's edge. It is not a decoration but the visible border between the hardened edge and the more resilient body, formed during quenching. Katana Katana
- yakibatsuchi
- The coating of clay, charcoal powder and whetstone powder applied to a blade before quenching — thin along the edge, thick over the body — which creates the hamon. Katana
- togishi
- The sword polisher, who finishes a blade the smith has forged. Working through more than ten stages with around ten kinds of whetstones, a togishi spends ten days to two weeks on a single blade. Katana
- tachi
- A long Japanese sword worn slung edge-down. One tachi alone demands more than fifteen days at the forge. Katana
- sento
- Japan's public bathhouse. In Edo, when most homes had no bath of their own, it doubled as the town's living room. There were 17,999 at the 1968 peak; about 2,847 facilities remain today. Sento Sento Sento
- onsen
- A hot-spring bath, as distinct from a sento, which heats ordinary water. Manners Manners Sento
- bandai
- The raised attendant's booth by a sento entrance, where fees are collected and the changing room is kept safe. Sento Sento
- noren
- The fabric curtain hung at an entrance. At a sento it is marked 'yu' (hot water): noren out means the bath is open, noren in means the day is done. Sento Sento Sento
- kakeyu
- Rinsing your body with hot water before entering a shared tub — the first of the two rules in the Tokyo Sento Association's etiquette guide. Sento Sento
- washoku
- Japanese cuisine as a whole. On December 4, 2013 UNESCO inscribed it as Intangible Cultural Heritage, naming respect for nature as its core. Washoku Washoku
- itadakimasu
- Said before a meal. It literally means 'I humbly receive' — gratitude for the lives that became the meal and for every hand that grew, caught and cooked them. Washoku Washoku
- gochisosama
- Said after a meal. It is built on chiso, a word that originally meant running about, and thanks the host for the unseen effort of gathering the food. Washoku
- makura-meshi
- The bowl of rice offered to the dead, with chopsticks stood upright in it. This is why standing chopsticks in rice is avoided at the table. Washoku
- kotsuage
- The funeral rite in which family members pass bones with chopsticks. This is why passing food chopstick-to-chopstick is avoided. Washoku
- waribashi
- Disposable chopsticks you snap apart. In 1862 the monk Sugihara Soan in Yoshino, Nara carved them from fine cedar offcuts left over from sake-barrel making. Washoku
- mottainai
- The sense that waste is regrettable — the spirit in which waribashi were first carved from offcuts. Washoku
- oshibori
- A hot or cold hand towel offered free to every guest before a meal, matched to the season. Washoku Washoku Washoku
- otoshi
- A bite-sized appetizer served at an izakaya that doubles as the seat charge — Japan's edible cover charge. Washoku
- izakaya
- A Japanese pub serving small dishes, where otoshi appears without being ordered. Washoku
- agarikamachi
- The single raised step at a Japanese entrance that has marked the border between outside and inside for centuries. It is the line where shoes come off. Manners
- karuton
- The small counter tray on which cash is placed in Japan. The word came from the French 'carton' and was already listed in a Japanese dictionary in 1918. Manners
- seiretsu-josha
- Organized boarding: forming lines at marked positions on a station platform. It is a defined term in the Japan Private Railway Association's glossary. Manners
- Bon Odori
- Japan's summer circle dance, performed during Obon to welcome ancestors' spirits home and send them off. Anyone may join, so there is no audience. Bon Odori
- Obon
- The summer period when ancestors' spirits are said to return home, and when Bon Odori is danced. Bon Odori