Who
ate the Flying Chair?, tiddles, my
ratings, me, Graffiti,
Manga, Computer Games,
deep stuff,
word of the week, other stuff,
downloads, links.
Lone Wolf and Cub Glossary
(Pilfered from the back of the Dark Horse books.)
At the back of every Lone Wolf and Cub Graphic novel, there is a glossary. However, some volumes don't explain words used within their own pages. Here is a helpful collection of all the words contained in a Lone Wolf and Cub glossary.
This Glossary is a bit incomplete. To be honest, I have only typed out the stuff from the first 5 volumes. But I'm currently catching up with the volumes that have been released so far.
And I'll re-do the manga reviews and chack all the spelling at the same time.
Please note that since not even the book itself seems too sure about them, there may be some wrongly placed (or non-existent) extended vowels. (If you see a line above a vowel, pronounce it for twice the normal length of time.) If anyone could help me sort them out, I'd be extremely grateful. For the time being, I'm including all variations that have been printed apart from in a couple of cases where I'm at least 96% sure what the correct pronunciation is.
Adauchi - Revenge killing. It was accepted practise in the Edo period to kill
the person who had killed one's lord or relatives. If the case was strong,
the authorities would turn a blind eye to the killing.
Adauchi shamenjô -
Anego -
annya - A working prostitute.
There was a thriving sex industry in Edo-period Japan, and scores of different
words to describe the different varieties of sex workers.
ashigaru - A foot soldier in the employ of a daimyô. Lowest of the warrior
ranks.
bakkaku -
ban - A local policeman, much like a sheriff.
bangashira - Commander of the guard. Each han had a standing guard - the ban
- of samurai to protect the lord and castle. The ô-bangashira was the
supreme commander of the guard, the general of the han army.
bantô -
Benten - One of the seven gods and goddesses of good fortune popular among
the common people, a folk version of Buddhist Boddhisatva, a manifestation
of one aspect of the Buddha's nature. In this case, a boddhisatva of mercy
and compassion, usually depicted as female.
bôhachi, kutsuwa - The Japanese Yakuza specialise in different underworld
activities, gambling and protection scams to prostitution. Bôhachi and
kutsuwa were Edo-period terms for yakuza dealing in organized prostitution.
bokutô - a wooden practice sword.
bôzu -
bu - Approximately 3 millimetres.
bugi - The martial arts, the arts of war. Restricted to the samurai class
under the Tokugawa shogunate's strict social controls.
buke - A samurai household.
bushi - A samurai. A member of the warrior class.
bushidô - The way of the warrior.
cho - Old unit of measurement. Approximately 109 metres (119 yards).
crucifiction -
currency - mon - A copper coin.
kan - A bundle of 1000 mon.
monme - A silver piece.
ryô - a gold pice, worth 60 monme or 4 kan.
dai-metsuke - Chief inspector. The supreme inspector of the shogunate, the
Herbert Hoover of the Tokugawa power structure.
Daikan -
daikan - The primary local representative of the shogunate in territories
outside of the capital of Edo. The daikan and his staff collected taxes owed
to Edo and oversaw public works, agriculture, and other projects administered
by the central government.
daikansho - The office of the daikan.
daimyô - A feudal lord.
danzai - The samurai's right to put to death anyone who insulted their honor.
deiri - A fight between rival yakuza gangs. From their clothes, speech, and
greetings, it is clear that the house of Jizô are yakuza. In the Edo
period, yakuza were a common part of the landscape, running houses of gambling
and prostitution. As long as they did not overstep their bounds, they were
tolerated by the authorities, a tradition little changed in modern Japan.
dono - A term of respect for a higher ranking official or aristocrat. A more
common term of respect among civilians is sama, indicating more respect than
the most common san.
dôtanuki - A battle sword, literally, "sword that cuts through
torsos."
dôtanûki - A battle sword, literally, "sword that cuts through
torsos."
Edo - The capital of medieval Japan and the seat of the shogunate. The site
of modern-day Tokyo.
"the five lusts"
The Forty-Seven Ronin - In one of the most famous stories in Japanese history,
forty-seven loyal retainers of a lord forced to kill himself because of the
schemes of an enemy dedicated their lives to avenging him before commiting
ritual suicide at his grave.
fudai -
fudasashi -Merchant houses specialising in rice. They loaned gold to han governments,
loans secured by the han's projected rice revenues.
funai -
"Gaté gaté
paragaté parasamgaté" - The closing mantra of prajnaparamita
Hridadaya, The Heart of Perfect wisdom Sutra, one of the central texts of
zen Buddhism. The sutra is in Sanskrit, and is chanted today in Zen teples
around the world.
giyaman - From the Portugese "diamente," or diamond, the tool used
to make cut-glass containers.
go-daishi-biraki -
go-dô -
go-inkyo -
go-yo -
go-yô - Literally, "official business." Police and posses
carried "go-yo" lanterns when searching for criminals, identifying
themselves as law enforcers. A shouted "Go-yo!" could be the Edo
equivalent of "Halt! Police!" for a metsuke, or "Make Way!"
for an official procession.
gomen - "Forgive me."
gundai -
gundai kansho -
haiku -
han - A feudal domain.
hannayatô -
hansatsu -
hanshi - Samurai in the service of a han.
haori - Half-coats.
hatamoto - Daimyô considered utterly loyal to the ~Tokugawa clan, with
the right to meet the shôgun face to face. Their title, "standard
bearers," came from history, when the warriors who would be promoted
in peacetime to hatamokoto had been the most trusted allies of Tokugawa Ieyasy,
the first of the Tokugawa shöguns.
hikyaku -
hina - Elaborate dolls, traditionally displayed in the spring for the Girl's
Day festival.
Ando Hiroshige -
Hokurikuro -
hollyhock crest - Each samurai family had a family crest considered synonymous
with the clan itself. The Tokugawa clan crest was a three-leafed hollyhock.
To point one's sword toward the shogun's crest was to point your sword toward
the shogun himself, an unforgivable act of treason.
honjin -
honmaru - The Large, central keep of a Japanese castle.
honorifics - Japan is a class and status society, and proper forms of address
are critical. Common markers of respect are the prefixes o and go, and a wide
range of suffixes. Some of the suffixes you will encounter in Lone Wolf and
Cub:
chan - for children, young women and close friends
dono - archaic; used for higher-ranked or highly respected figures
sama - used for superiors
san - the most common , used among equals or near - equals
sensei - used for teachers, masters, respected entertainers, and politicians
hôzuki -
Iga-yashiki - There were two main ninja clans in Japan, from the Iga and Kôga
regions respectively. The ninjas served the shogunate. The Iga ninja served
the shogunate. The Iga-yashiki (residence) was their base in Edo.
ihai - A Buddhist mortuary tablet. The death name of the deceased, given after
they have passed away, is written on the tablet, which is kept at the family
temple or altar. No-ihai were placed on the grave, uchi-ihai on household
altars.
ikki -
jigoku-tabi - Literally, "a journey to hell. When yakuza would go ask
allies to help them in a fight.
jin -
jingi -
jitte-mon -
jizô - Local deities
jô -
jôdai - Castle warden. The ranking han official in charge of a daimyô's
castle when the daimyô was spending his obligatory years in Edo.
johakyû -
juku - Way station. The major byways through Japan during the Edo period had
way stations a day's walk apart with inns, tea houses, and other facilities
for the traveller. The names of these old way stations still remain in many
Japanese cities.
kabuki -
kaiken - A dagger kept inside the kimono for self-defense. Common among the
wives and daughters of samurai.
kaishaku - A second. In the rite of seppuku, a samurai was allowed death with
honour by cutting up his own abdomen. After the incision was complete, the
second would perform kaishaku, severing the samurai's head for a quick death.
The second was known as a kaishakunin.
Kamigata -
kan -
kannenbutsu - Literally, "cold prayers." There were many kinds of
itinerant monks in Edo-period Japan, travelling the land as part of their
religious discipline and relying on the handouts of the faithful. It was also
a useful dishuise for those with more than religion on their mind. Kannenbutsu
were known for their penance in the chill of the coldest nights.
Kannon - Buddhist goddess of mercy.
kansho -
Kantô -
karo -
karô - Elders, usually the senior advisor to a daimyô, the lord
of a han. Since the daimyô was required to alternate each year between
life in his castle in the han and his residence in Edo, the capital and the
seat of the Tokugawa shogunate, there was usually an Edo-karô (Edo elder)
and a kuni-karô (han elder), who would administer affairs in Edo or
in the han when their lord was away.
kasezue -
ken - Old unit of measure. Approximately five feet.
kenkyaku -
kenshiyaku - The shogunate official present at an execution to confirm the
death of the person to be killed.
kimeban - Board on which prison rules were written.
kintaro -
kô -
kôgi go-yô - The shogun's business.
kogi kaishakunin -
kôgi kaishakunin - The Shogun's official executioner and kaishkunin
(see kaishaku).
- The shogun's own second, who performed executions ordered by the shogun.
koku - 1. A bale of rice. The traditional measure of a han's wealth, a measure
of its agricultural land and productivity.
2. standard time unit in the Edo period. Approximately two hours long, further
sub-divided into three equal parts.
kômori - A bat.
Kongming - A famous general and tactician who lived during the warring states
period in ancient China, born 181 A.D., died 234 A.D.
kubi -
kuramoto - Merchant houses. Under the Confucian social order imposed by the
Tokugawa shogunate, merchants ranked a lowly fourth in Japan's four-strata
caste society. But, in fact, by the middle edo period the merchant class had
gained tremendous wealth and power by managing the assets of the han and selling
han rice and other products. Many han fell deeply into debt to the big merchant
houses.
kurobiki, shubiki -
kutsuwa, bôhachi -
kyôjô-mochi -
machi-bugyô - The Edo city commissioner, sombining the post of mayor
and chief of police. A post held in monthly rotation by two senior Tokugawa
vassals, in charge of administration, maintaining the peace, and enforcing
the law in Edo. Their rule extended only to commoners.
mage -
makura-sagashi -Literally, a pillow searcher. A wandering thief who preyed
on other travellers, stealing their valuables from under their pillows as
they slept.
manji -
meido - The afterlife. The land after death. Believed to be a place of darkness.
Only a few Buddhist sects described a division between heaven and hell.
meifumadô - The Buddhist hell. The way of demons and damnation.
Meireki -
metsuke - Inspector. A post combining the functions of chief of police and
chief intelligence officer.
monme - Unit of currency. Worth 1/60th of a ryô gold piece.
mu - Nothingness. A crucial concept in Zen Buddhismm and a goal of all the
martal arts. Clearing the mind of all extraneous thoughts and connections,
to exist wholly in the moment, freed of all attachment to life and the worldound
you.
mudra -
nagamaki - A two-handed spear-like weapon taller than a man, with a short
shaft and a long, curved blade. Similar to the more common naginata, which
had a longer shaft.
Nagashi-tôrô -
naginata - a two-handed weapon taller than a man, with a long, curved blade.
The less-common nagamaki was similar with a shorter shaft and longer blade.
namu - From the Sanskrit "namas" : "take refuge in the Buddha."
A common prayer for the dead.
namu amida butsu - One of the most common of all Buddhist chants, calling
for mercy in the world to come.
nanban - Westerners were known as "southern barbarians," after the
first traders reaching Japan from the south. By the Edo period, Portugese,
Spanish, and Duth adventurers, traders and missionaries were active across
Asia.
nô -
o-bangashira -
ô-bangashira - The supreme commander of a han's standing guard (or ban)
of samurai, charged to protect the lord and castle.
o-niwaban - "One in the garden." A ninja. The secret agents of the
shogunate, heard but never seen.
ô-metsuke -
O-Sadamegaki - Short for Kujigata O-Sadaega, the concordance of shogunate
laws, compiled in 1742.
obi - The often-arnate bolt of fabric used to tie a kimono closed.
Ogami Mountain - Mountain of the great gods. The Chinese characters are different
from those used in Itto Ogami's own name, "to pray, to perceive, to see,"
but have a similar pronunciation. It is also a play on "okami,"
or "wolf."
ogamu - To pray.
onibôchô - "Demon knife."
Ôsaka Castle - The largest castle outside of Edo, originally built by
Hideyoshi Toyatomi, the first unifier of Japan.
Ôta Dôgan - (1432-1486) Japanese military strategist and castle
designer, a retainer of the Uesugi clan. He designed the original Edo castle.
oyabun -
ri - Old unit of measurement. Approximately 4 kilometres (2.5 miles).
Rikudô Gofu - A talisman of the Six Paths. Used to curse on's enemies.
Rôjû - Senior councilors. The inner circle of councilors directly
advising the shogun, the Rôjû were the ultimate advisory body
to the Tokugawa shogunate's national government.
rôjû -
Rongo -
rônin - A masterless samurai. Literally, "one adrift on the waves."
Members of the samurai caste who have lost their masters through the dissolution
of han, expulsion for misbehaviour, or other reasons. Prohibited from working
as farmers or merchants under the strict Confucian caste system imposed by
the Tokugawa shogunate, many impoverished rônin became "hired guns"
for whom the code of samurai was nothing but empty words.
ryô - A gold piece.
ryû - Often translated as "school." The many variations on
swordsmanship and other martial arts were passed down from generation to generation
to the offspring of the originator of the technique or set of techniques,
and to any deishi students that sought to learn from the master. The largest
schools had their own dôjô training centres and scores of students.
An effective swordsman had to study the different techniques of the different
schools to know how to block them in combat. Many ryû also had a set
of special, secret techniques that were only taught to school initiates.
sai - The name of the riverbanks of the river Sanzu, that divides the land
of the living from meido, the land of the dead. Legend has it that the souls
of the dead children would pile rocks on the riverbanks of sai (sai-no-kawara)
to pray for their parents.
Sado island -
Sakai - A famous trading port, now largely absorbed by the city of Ôsaka,
but at the time the industrial powerhouse of Japan.
sakki - The palpable desire to kill, directed at another person. Sometimes
called blood lust. Based on the concept of ki, or energy, found in spiritual
practices and Japanese martial arts like Aikido. These body energies can be
felt beyond the physical self by the trained and self-aware.
sakazuki -
Sakushû - A town in what is today Okayama prefecture.
sankin kôtai -
sanpin -
sanshita -
Sanzu-no-kawa - The river Sanzu, the Japanese equivalent of the river Styx.
On their way to the afterlife, the dead must take boats across the river Sanzu.
sato-iri shinobi -
satoiri ninja - Ninja in the sato (homeland). In addition to the ninja based
in Edo, the shogunate placed ninja undercover in the various han of rival
lords. These moles would monitor dissident han and gather evidence that could
be used to blackmail or dissolve a han when it stepped out of line.
sengoku -
seisatsu yodatsu - Under the four-caste social system imposed by the Tokugawa
shogunate, the samurai class had the unquestioned right to kill thode in lower
castes, often for the smallest of insults and infractions.
seppuku - The right to kill oneself with honour to atone for failure, or to
follow one's master into death. Only the samurai class was allowed this glorious
but excruciating death. The abdomen was cut horizontally, followed by an upward
cut to spill out the intestines. When possible, a kaishakunin performed a
beheading after the cut was made to shorten the agony.
shaba - Yakuza divided the world between the shima ("island"), the
world of the Yakuza, and shaba, the normal world.
shaku -
shidô -
"Shikii-uchi gomen kômurimasu"
Shikyô -
shima - 1. The zone of death.
2. See shaba.
shinjû -
shinobi - Ninja. The yama-metsuke work undertcover, unlike the dai-metsuke
in Edo.
shubiki, kurobiki -
sô-metsuke - another name for "ô-metsuke." The senior
law-enforcement officer of the shogunate, reporting directly to the the rôjû
senior councillors who advised the shogun.
sokushitsu -
suemono-giri -
sun -
Sun Tzu - The great 500 B.C. chinese military strategist, author of the classic
Sun Tzu Bingfa ("The Art of War").
Takama-ga-hara - A heavenly land of bounty in Japan's indigenous Shintô
religion.
Takeda shido - Bushido, the way of the warrior. Takeda Shingen was one of
the most feared warlords of the sengoku period of warring states that ended
with the ascendancy of the Tokugawa. If he had not been felled by illness,
Takeda, not the Tokugawa, might have unified Japan.
tenryô -
Tôkaidô - The most important of the Edo-era travel routes, connecting
Edo with the "kamigata" region of Kyôto and Ôsaka. Now
traversed by freeways and high speed "bullet" trains.
Tokugawa - The Tokugawa clan, the warlord family that unified Japan following
its victory at the battle of Sekigahara in 1600, and ruled until 1867 from
its castle in the city of Edo. The period is commonly known as the Edo period.
The shogun was both the head of the Tokugawa clan and the head of the Tokugawa
bakufu - the shogunate government - that ran bational policy and kept the
often unruly han at heel.
tono - Lord, daimyô. Sometimes used as a form of address, as in tono-sama.
tôrô -
toseinin - Literally, "rootless one," one who travels the world.
A euphemism for a wandering yakuza.
toshiyori -
Tsukada -
Wajo - A term of respect for a high priest or the head of a temple.
Wakadoshiyori -Junior Councilors. The Tokugawa shogunate was a hybrid government,
both a national government empowered by the emperor to govern the nation as
a whole, and a daimyô government like that of any han. The council of
wakadoshiyori junior councilors was the highest advisory body to the shogun
on matters affecting the clan, rather than the nation as a whole.
yakuza - Japan's criminal syndicates. In the Edo period, yakuza were a common
pert of the landscape, running houses of gambling and prostitution. As long
as they did not overstep their bounds, they were tolerated by the authorities,
a tradition little changed in modern Japan.
yoko-metsuke - A local inspoector, reporting up the chain of command to the
o-metsuke in Edo.
zanbatô -
zankanjô - A confession.
Vendettas were an accepted form of vigilante justice in the edo period. While
the killers knew the penalty for their act was death, they could exonerate
their reputations after death with a zankanjô explaining their actions.
zegen - Procurer. Prostitution was legal in the Edo period, and the procurer
was an essential link in the chain. Impoverished rural families would sell
daughters to zegen, who sold them in turn to urban brothels.
3x3 Eyes
Animerica Extra
Banana Fish
Baoh
buying manga
Cartoon Network
Dark Horse
Dragonball
Dragonball Z
Inu-Yasha
Kia Asamiya
Lone Wolf and Cub
Lone Wolf and Cub Glossary (unready)
Maison Ikkoku
Pulp
Ranma ½
Rumiko Takahashi
Super Manga Blast
Usagi Yojimbo
Viz
What's Michael?
And if you think that my reviews are shit (perhaps because they are) and want to have a go yourself, just write a review up in Microsoft Word and e-mail it to me. It should be up on the site within a week.