Glossary
This glossary is weighted towards items that will be useful to
gamers, such as names for skills and things characters might
encounter wandering japan. A sprinkling of these helps add atmosphere
to the game. It does not contain the names for arms
and armour however - those are in the the
appropriate sections.
A word of caution: this is a short glossary designed to help add a
little flavour to the game. Many of the words have (of necessity)
only a short definition, based on my assessment of many writer's
works. Their true meaning is usually far more specific than that
given here - and often subject to debate. Spelling also varies for
many words, and I've generally chosen the commonest usage. In other
words, don't bug me with semantic arguments, but if you find
something indisputably wrong, I'd appreciate knowing.
Akinai: the art of barter and trade
Angojutsu: the art of coding and breaking secret messages.
Ankokuji: (lit. "temples of national peace"). Zen buddhist emples
set up and supported by the shogunate to help spread its own
influence and weaken that of other temples. Rivals to the Gozan
temples.
Arashiko: the lowest form of soldier, employed mostly for camp
duties and as servants, rather than fighting men. Also called Chugen
or Komono.
Ashigaru: (lit, "agile legs"). warriors of the lower class,
normally part of a lord's or samurai's retinue.
Baishu: the art of giving gifts.
Bajutsu: the art of horsemanship.
Baka: fool, idiot.
Bakuchi: the art of gambling.
Bakufu: (lit, 'tent-goverment'). The name for the Shogunate's
government, originally derived from the fact that it was mobile.
Bakuro-jutsu: the art of the animal handler
Bakuyakujutsu: the art of deduction.
Basara: extravagant or ostentatious behaviour.
Bikuni: nun. Itinerant singing nuns (kumano bikuni or uta bikuni)
were a common sight on the roads raising money (at least in theory)
for their temple.
Biwa-hoshi: music-playing priest - often itinerant.
Biwa: a musical instrument shaped much like a lute, but played
with a scraper-like pick.
Bonsen: the art of Bonsai - growing miniature trees.
Bozu: a buddhist priest.
Bugyoshu: administrative officers (of a clan or government)
Buke: member of the warrior class
Bukkyo: the study of Buddhism.
Bunraku: puppet theatre.
Bushi: warrior, fighting man.
Bushi-no-nasake: the warrior's sense of mercy - an equivalent of
european chivalry.
Bushido: the code of the warrior.
Cha-no-yu: the art of performing the tea ceremony.
Chakuzen-Jutsu: the art of climbing on apparently unclimbable
surfaces.
Chigyo: fief.
Chikujo-jutsu: the art of siege warfare.
Cho: unit of land measurement - roughly 8 hectares.
Chogoku: the art of sculpture.
Chonin: merchant. Also called Akindo or Sho.
Chugokushi: Chinese history
Daikagura: the art of juggling.
Daikan: supervisor.
Daiku: the art of carpentry and woodworking.
Daimyo: regional military lord
Danwa: the art of conversation.
Densetsu: folklore.
Do-ikki: peasant leagues originally formed for protection against
bandits and ronin - in some cases becoming aggressive bands that
robbed on their own account.
Dobushu: "men of culture", practioners of the fine arts, often
arbiters and instructors in taste and fashion at courts.
Dogo: powerful peasant leaders, normally village headmen.
Dojo: a buddhist shrine
Doshin: policemen.
Doso: moneylenders. Often the most important people in their local
area, and leaders of civic associations.
Egoshu: city elders - and normally city government.
Ehon: an illustrated book.
Emaki: an illustrated scroll.
Engi: history of a shrine or temple.
Eta: very low caste, associated with duties involving blood -
tanning hides, executing prisoners, etc.
Furoshiki: wrapping cloths
Fusuma: wall panels.
Geigo: the art of cultured flattery.
Gekokujo: the overthow of lord by vassal - a term symbolic of the
turbulence of the Sengoku era.
Genkan: vestibule.
Giri: duty - particulary the duty of samurai to lord or son to
father.
Gisho-giin-jutsu: the art of forgery
Go: landholding around and belonging to a village - also a
boardgame based on encircling the opponent's pieces with one's own to
'capture' them.
Gogyo: ancient Chinese elemental magical art.
Gokenin: vassals of the Bakufu.
Gomonjutsu: the art of not-so-gentle persuasion, in short, of
forcing information from an unwilling victim.
Gonen-gumi: collective responsibility. The idea that all people in
a group (a family, a village, a street, etc) had responsibility for
any deed committed by one of the group and could be punished for
it.
Goryu: the Shogun's personal land-holdings.
Gosho: imperial residence.
Gosoku-shi: the art of the armourer.
Goson: villages.
Gozan: (lit 'five mountains') the five temples which dominated Zen
buddhism. Supported (irregularly) by the shogunate.
Goze: Blind female tale-singers.
Gozen Sata: council of advisors to the Shogun.
Gyogi: the art of civilised manners
Haikai: comic poetry.
Haikaragaku: the knowledge of high society - what to wear, how to
address people, appropriate gifts to give, etc.
Haiki: money-mad, greedy. An insult when applied to courtiers or
samurai.
Haiku: short seventeen-syllable poem.
Hanetsuki: a game similar to European badminton.
Hansojutsu: the art of sailing and piloting ships.
Hanzei: income from lands - half went to the superior, half to the
local landholder.
Haori: overcoat.
Hatamoto: "standard bearer" - samurai retainers who fought at the
side of the lord in battle, carried his banner and protected his
person.
Heimin: commoners.
Hensu-jutsu: the art of disguise.
Hiden: "secret things" - specifically teachings of a clan or
school kept secret from ousiders.
Hikan: vassal to a military leader (not restricted to
samurai).
Hikitsuke-kata: judicial arm of the Bakufu.
Hikitsukeshu: officers of the Hikitsuke-kata.
Hirazamurai: lower class samurai who were still part of the clan,
but could not rise within it.
Hojojutsu: the art of tying knots and ropes
Hokke: Lotus sect of buddhism, popular among townsmen for its
emphasis on simple prayer as a way of attaining earthly comfort.
Often called Nichiren sect after its founder. Opposed by the Ikko, or
Pure Land sect.
Hokoshu: military guard of the shogunate.
Honke: overseer of a personal estate.
Honzon: scroll with an inscription of Amida's name - a sovereign
protection against evil spirits.
Hoshi: priest.
Hyakusho-uke: contract by which peasants were given rights over
certain areas - paddies, woods, etc.
Hyakushu: peasant.
Hyojo: council of senior vassals.
Iajutsu: fast draw, the art of drawing and striking with a weapon
in one instant.
Ichimon: kinsmen owing allegience to the same lord.
Ichizoku: lineage.
Igaku: the art of the (non-mystical) healer.
Ikebana: the art of flower arrangement.
Ikki: alliance.
Ikko-ikki: partisans of the pure land sect given to violent
insurrection.
Ikko: Pure land sect of Buddhism. More popular in rural areas,
emphasised purity as a preparation for a new life in the "pure
land".
In: retired emperor.
Inja: see Tonseisha
Isshiken: paddy fields belonging to a lord which can be
temporarily leased out.
Jishu: a faction of the Pure Land sect. Jishu priests often
accompanied armies and tended to the wounded, buried the dead and
even carried reports to the familes of the slain.
Jito: warrior responsible for overseeing lands - normally a
village headman.
Jitsugyo: the art of running a business.
Joruri: narrative songs - also a type of puppet theatre.
Josoku: chief disciple.
Jugyo: the art of teaching others.
Jujutsu: unarmed combat.
Junshi: the act of committing suicide to follow a deceased
lord.
Kagi-ake, the skill of opening locks without a key.
Kaishaku: second. The person who administers the coup de grace to
someone comitting suicide.
Kakejiku: hanging scroll.
Kami: a poweful supernatural spirit normally associated with a
place, or natural aspect.
Kampaku: military dictator.
Kan: the art of finding hidden things. Also called
Meisaijutsu.
Kan: a coin worth 12 Mon.
Kango: tallies used for official trade between China and
Japan.
Kanjutsu: the art of finding hidden things. Also called
Meisaijutsu.
Kanrei: deputy shogun.
Kanshi: suicide used to protest unjust or unreasonable demands by
one's lord. An honourable practice.
Karamono: imported craft items.
Kari: the art of hunting wild birds and animals.
Karumijutsu: the art of acrobatics.
Kata: formal exercises.
Katoku: chiefs of families within a clan.
Kawaramono: outcastes, people of very low status.
Kawase: a draft for the transfer of funds. Like a modern money
order.
Kebiishi: officer responsible for the policing of a province or
city.
Kenbu: sword dance
Kijutsu: the art of sleight of hand.
Ko-do: the Way of Incense, or the art of the incense ceremony.
Ko: artisans.
Kojutsu: the art of navigation.
Koku: a measure of rice roughly equivalent to 180 litres.
Kokugaryo: provincial fiefs.
Kokujin-ikki: alliances or mutual-defence leagues of provincial
lords.
Kokujin: provincial lords - often tenuously supervised by more
senior lords if at all.
Konsha: a well trained body of troops.
Kosaku: the art of farming
Kosho: scholarship, the art of locating information from literary
sources.
Kowairojutsu: the art of mimicking voices and sounds.
Kuge: aristocrats of ancient lineage. The defining class of the
imperial court.
Kuji-kiri: sign language. Sign languages were often the basis of
secret clan or ninja languages (called Ingo).
Kumiai-tsujiban: garrison.
Kumicho: headman of a group of five peasant families. Also called
Kumigashira.
Kuso: shit.
Kyogen: comic plays - often used to open more serious drama.
Machi-kumi: townsman's association. A group of people living in
the same ward of a city or town joined together for communal
self-help. Originally for fire prevention, care of the sick etc,
often expanded to law-enforcement and even armed self defence.
Machi: social or admisitrative area of an urban area. Normally a
contiguous area and often grouped by class or occupation.
Machisu: townspeople.
Mandokoru: administrative office.
Meiso: the art of meditation.
Mikkyo: "secret disciplines", or more simply, magical
training.
Miko: medium or fortune teller. Reputed to be able to speak to the
dead or read minds. Sometimes also a healer.
Mon: unit of money.
Mon: heraldic device used to denote a clan.
Monchujo: records office.
Mongaku: the art of rhetoric.
Monomane: the art of acting a part.
Monshogaku: the art of identifying mon.
Monto: adherent of the Shinsu school of buddhism.
Mura: village.
Myo: land owned by a private individual. Also called Myoden.
Myojin: a god, goddess or even a particularly powerful kami.
Myoshu: head of a large household, a landowner. Roughly equivalent
to a samurai in status if not already absorbed into the samurai
class.
Nanushi: "men of the plains" - militant priests and their
supporters from lowland areas.
Nariagari: parvenu, someone pretending to gentility they don't
really have.
Nawanukejutsu: the art of the contortionist.
Nengu: annual payment for holding land.
Nihonshi: Japanese history.
Ninjo: human emotions and affections - which come a poor second to
duty for an honourable man.
Niwatsukuri: the art of landscape gardening.
No: sophisticated theatre, considered suitable for samurai. An
older, less sophisticated form was called Dengaku No.
Obi: belt.
Ofuda: folded paper with shinto prayers written on it. Used to
ward off evil spirits and attract good fortune.
Okappiki: patrolman. The lowest rank of policemen.
Onin war: period of unrest from roughly 1467 to 1477, which markes
the beginning of the Sengoku period, and which left the old Heian
capital of Kyoto (and the old political order) in ruins.
Onmitsu: the art of infiltration and spying.
Onmyodo: ancient japanese sorcerous art, mostly involving the
summoning of kami
Onshu-kata: office of rewards.
Oshi-ita: decorative platform on which senior individuals sat.
Otokodate: lower class fighting men raised to defend urban areas -
often covertly financed by merchants. Occasionally their leaders
became powerful enough to deal with samurai lords, and effectively
were a covert local government, or powerful crimelords. (see also
machi-kumi)
Renga: poetry with multiple linked verses.
Renji Mado: slatted windows.
Ronin: a samurai who has lost his master or his employment.
Generally considered a position of disgrace or at least very bad
fortune.
Rushiki: custodian.
Ryoke: lord of a self-sufficient estate - normally arable lands
plus at least one town.
Ryokoku: territory under a lord's command.
Ryoshu: landholding lord - normally too elevated to be involved in
day to day management of his lands.
Ryu: school.
Saiminjutsu: the art of hynotism.
Sakaya: sake dealers.
Sakusen: the art of military strategy.
Samisen: three-stringed instrument played by plucking with a small
pick.
Samurai-dokoro: council of samurai.
Samurai: (lit. 'one who serves.') military retainer, the warrior
class.
Sekisho: toll barrier, also place where travel passes were
checked.
Sen: unit of money, small coin equal to 1/30th of a mon.
Sengoku Daimyo: independant provincial lord.
Sengoku Jidai: age of war. The era from roughly 177 to 1573 from
the fall of the old centralised government to the establishment of
the Tokugawa shogunate and the permanent reunification of Japan. A
period characterised by warfare between clans as local lords
struggled for territory and power.
Senjo-jutsu: the art of tactical combat.
Sensei: teacher.
Seppuku: ritual suicide by slicing open the stomach. Also called
harakiri (belly-cutting) although this was not a polite
description.
Shiatzu: the art of massage, for healing or relaxation.
Shigakushi: a scholar specialising in historical knowledge.
Shijin: "men of the temples", more specifically militant priests
and their supporters.
Shiki-hyojoshu: council of appointed office-holders.
Shiki: an appointed office that provided its holder with some
income.
Shikiji: the art of oratory.
Shinobijutsu: the art of moving stealthily.
Shinshi: the craft of bureaucratics.
Shinto: the Way of the Kami, Japan's indigenous religion.
Shitomi: hinged wall panel
Shitsuji: chief of an administrative office.
Shitsujidai: second in command in an administrative office.
Sho: a religious sect
Shoen: private landed estate.
Shogaku: the art of calligraphy.
Shogi: a board game somewhat like chess.
Shogun: (lit. 'barbarian-defeating general.') officially the chief
military officer of the emperor, in fact the de facto ruler of
Japan.
Shoji: sliding wall panel/door.
Shoke Ikki: league of villages.
Shokunin: non-agricultural occupations - artisans, craftsmen,
entertainers, philosophers, etc.
Shomin: the common people.
Shoryu: subordinate families within a clan.
Shoshi: leader of the council of samurai.
Shoshidai: second in command of the council of samurai.
Shozan: temple associated with important local family.
Shozoku: the art of presentation and personal appearance.
Shudo: the art of leadership.
Shugendo: the mystical arts practiced by Yamahoshi
Shugenja: magician. Also called Kenja or Kenza.
Shugo Daimyo: independant lord owing fealty to a Shugo.
Shugo: important lord with control of whole provinces and many
subordinate lords.
Shugodai: leading subordinate to the Shugo at the local level.
Shurikenjutsu: the art of throwing weapons.
Shusai: the art of large scale military logistics.
Sodai: representative.
Sohei: warrior-monk.
Soroku: highest-ranking priest of the Gozan, the leader of the Zen
sect.
Soryo: leader of a clan.
Soyuden: common village lands.
Suiejutsu: the art of swimming while wearing armor.
Suiji: the art of fine cooking
Sumai: sumo wrestling.
Sumi-e: the art of brushwork (for painting, not calligraphy).
Suri: Pickpocket.
Tan: unit of land measurement, approximately equal to 1 tenth of a
Cho, or 800 square metres.
Tansen: provincial tax used to fund imperial expenses.
Tatami: straw matting used to cover floors - also used as a unit
of measurement for internal space.
Teikiichi: market held at regular intervals.
Teisatsu: the art of the military scout.
Tenmongaku: the art of astronomy.
Tenyaku: the art of the herbalist
Tesaki: hired police assistants, used for dirty jobs - cleaning
up, removing bodies, escorting or executing prisoners and so on, as
well as combat duties These were drawn from the Eta class and often
became wealthy enough to hire their own assistants, called Tedai.
Tessan: fan.
Togi-shi: the art of sword-polishing.
Toimaru: wholesaler (also Ton'ya)
Toko: raised floor alcove.
Tokusei: decree cancelling a debt or obligation (normally
financial).
Ton'ya: wholesaler (also Toimaru).
Tonobara: lord's men, retainers.
Tonseisha: one leading a secluded life after taking buddhist vows,
but who is not a priest. Also called Inja.
Tori-oi: the art of hunting with trained raptors.
Torii: the gate to a shinto shrine or temple.
Tsuiseki: the art of tracking by following footprints or
marks.
Tsuke-shoin: writing alcove.
Uji: clan - and more specifically families of some lineage and
antiquity.
Ukiyo: "floating world". Pleasure quarters, where a man might
gamble, drink or meet with courtesans.
Waka: court poetry.
Waka: the art of creating poems
Wako: pirate.
Wen-jen: chinese literary tradition.
Yadomejutsu: the art of deflecting missiles such as arrows or
thrown weapons.
Yama: mountain.
Yamahoshi: warlike priests, generally from fortified temples in
mountain areas. Also called Yamabushi.
Yogen: the art of alchemy.
Yojimbo: bodyguard.
Yori-udo: adminstrative council dealing with legal affairs.
Yoriai: council ofthe chief vassal of the shogunate.
Yoriki: guards, charged with keeping the peace.
Yosan: the art of raising silkworms and making silk.
Yugen: mysterious atmosphere.
Yuhitsushu: corps of adminstrators.
Yumi-shi: the art of crafting bows and arrows.
Za: trade guild or monopoly
Zei: the art of gentle persuasion.