Glossary

This page last updated 24 January 2002

 

A-D

E-G

H-J

K-L

M-N

O-R

S

T

U-Z

A-D

ashigaru: foot soldier
bakemono: minor evil spirit, goblin
bikuni or  utabikuni: travelling preaching nun
biwa: flute
Black Lanterns [Yamichouchin]: criminal organization specialized in smuggling between the Crane and Phoenix lands.
bokken: wooden practice sword
bu: short for "ichi-bu", or weight of silver; silver coin worth 10 zeni strings.  Five bu make a ryo (or koku).  Looks like a rectangular silver tile, about 20 mm by 25 mm.
bugaku: court dancing
bugyo: magistrate
bunraku: puppet theater
bureli: burrowing wasp with biting mandibles and a stinger, about four inches (10 cm) long
bushi: warrior
Champion: the Clan Champion is the daimyo of the leading family of a clan, and therefore of the entire clan.
-chan: "little one", suffix added to the name of a child or lover, term of endearment (e.g., Mariko-chan)
chi: energy or life force.  Chi can be found in special places, flows through the earth and through the bodies of living beings, and can be shaped by powerful beings through sorcery, the self-discipline of martial arts, willpower, or innate powers.
cho: small district or neighbourhood of a city.  There are about 300 cho in Otosan Uchi, for example.
chonin: "townsmen;" merchants and artisans living in the city but not of samurai class
chonmage: samurai's topknot
chui: military rank roughly equivalent to lieutenant
daimyo: head of a noble family line, lord.
daisho: a bushi's two swords (katana and wakizashi)
danna: milord
-dono: suffix added as an honorific when referring to one's own lord
doro: road

E-G

Emerald Champion: the foremost magistrate of the empire, answering to the emperor himself.
eta: "non-human", lowest caste, tasked with handling the dead, picking up refuse, etc.
Fortunes and Winds: a dice game
Four Seasons: a poker-like tile game we know as Mah Jongg
furoshiki: travel bag
geisha: trained courtesan
gempukku or gempakku: coming of age ceremony for a samurai (bushi or shugenja)
geta: heavy clog-like sandals worn outside
go: game played on a board like checkers
-gozen: title added to a married noble lady's name (e.g., the famous female samurai Tomoe-gozen)
gunso: military rank roughly equivalent to sergeant

H-J

haiku: 17-syllable poem (5-7-5), often with themes from nature, always with a reference to the seasons.
hakama: long and wide pants of the samurai, part of ceremonial dress
hanri: unit of distance equal to half a ri (= 1.22 miles or 2 km)
hanto: peninsula
haori: vest worn over a man's kimono in formal dress, making the shoulders wider.
hashi: bridge
heigen: plain
heimin: the middle-class caste comprising farmers, clergy, artisans, and merchants.  This is the caste situated below the samurai.  The farmers occupy the highest heimin rank, followed by artisans, with merchants (who produce nothing but take a profit from the work of others) at the bottom.  Clergy is sort of parallel to that sequence rather than in it.
hidari: left
higashi: east
hime: princess/young lady of noble birth
himesama: daughter of a nobleman
hinin: the lower caste comprising teachers, actors, performers, and geisha.  Situated below the heimin.
iaijutsu: fast-draw technique of one-strike duel.  A fast draw is called an iai draw.
ichi-bu: see bu.
ikebana: flower arrangement
itachi: weasel, mink, stoat, ermine
itsutsu: five
itsutsu-toe: fifty
Jigoku: the afterlife, hell
jujutsu: martial art (wrestling) based on flexibility
junshin: pure, sincere (used derisively by the Scorpion to mean naive, gullible)

K-M

kabuki: popular theater (technically, kabuki won't be created in Rokugan for about another 600 years.)
kabuto: helmet
kago: palanquin carried on a pole by two bearers
kami-shimo: samurai's elegant dress, with the combination of vest (haori) and wide pants (hakama).
katana: the longer and most important of a bushi's two swords.
kawa: river
kendo: art of the sword practiced with wooden or bamboo swords
kenjutsu: swordsmanship
ki: chi, life force, spiritual energy
kisho: privacy screen
kita: north
koku: enough rice to feed one person for a year (approx. 180 L, 5 bushels, or 10 cubic feet).  The coin of that value (on average harvest years) is a ryo.  One koku's worth, or ryo, is equivalent to 5 bu.
kokyu: small stringed instrument played with a bow and held upright, somewhat like a cello.
koto: stringed instrument held horizontally and plucked
kutsukutsuboushi: type of cicada
kuwaga: a type of pine, the largest of Rokugani trees; grows to a hundred feet (30 m) high with its branches flat, fanning out like ferns.  Sheds it blue needles twice a year; the resin can be used to make a highly incendiary substance called "Isawa's Fire."
kyuden: palace
kyujutsu: archery

M-N

maedate: helmet crest
magistrate: combination police captain/investigator/judge
maho: dark magic, based on blood rituals.
mamori: a magical ward to protect a home from spirits
masu: measure/unit of volume (1.8 L)
meijin: master of an art
metsuke: the Emerald Champion's spies
michi: path
migi: right
minami: south
mizu-umi: lake
mon: emblem, heraldic device
mori: forest
mura: village
ninja: mythical assassins with quasi-magical powers.  Of course, there is no such thing as a ninja.
nishi: west
nikutai: military rank roughly equivalent to corporal
no or noh: classic theater
numachi: swamp

O-R

oban: large coin equivalent to 40 ryo (or koku), a heavy disk of gold.
obi: a woman's wide sash, worn over the long kimono.
o-jii-san or ojiisan, or jiisan: 'old man' or 'grandfather' (term of address)
okasan: mother; sometimes used for head of a geisha house, madame
okusama: polite term of address for wife/your wife/his wife, married lady, madam
okusan: honorific for wife/your wife/his wife, married lady, madam
oni: demon
onnamusha: woman warrior
otosan or otousan: father
oyabun: boss
reifujin: Mrs., Lady, Madam, your wife
reihaido: shrine
ri: unit of distance equal to 3.9 km or 2.4 miles.
roka: mountain pass
ronin: "wave man", masterless samurai
ryo: coin about equivalent to one koku's worth (on average harvest years); worth 5 bu.  Looks like a thick flat oval plate of gold, about 65 mm by 40 by 8.
ryu: dragon

S

saké: rice wine
-sama:  "lord", honorific suffix added for someone of higher station (e.g., Togashi-sama).  Can also be used by itself as a title of address (e.g., "Yes, sama.")
samisen: stringed instrument held like a guitar or lute
samurai: the warrior caste, includes both bushi and shugenja.
-san: honorific suffix added for someone of equal station (e.g., Ishi-san)
se: area measure, approximately 100 square meters/30 tsubo
sennin: hermit
senryu: 17-syllable humorous or satirical verse.
sensei: title of respect for a master/teacher, especially a martial arts master
seppuku: ritual suicide
shaku: Measure of distance roughly equivalent to 1 foot (30 cm).
shikibu: dame, lady; honorific title for a high-born noblewoman, added after the name (e.g., the famous novelist Murasaki Shikibu)
shinden: temple
shintao: The Way of Shinsei; study of Shinsei's teachings
shiro: castle
shogi: a chess-like game
shoji: sliding screen or wall made of paper on a wooden frame.
shoju or soju, or shochu: distilled liquor made of sweat potatoes, wheat, and/or millet (cheap and potent)
shugenja: both sorcerer and priest.
sincere: able to keep a straight face while feeding a line of BS.  It's not whether it's true, it's whether you can say it earnestly.
sumi-e: calligraphy set.
sumo: wrestling based on strength and weight
sugoroku: a board game similar to backgammon

T

tabi: short socks worn with sandals
taiko: ceremonial temple drum, varying in size but going from large to huge.
tatami: sleeping mat
tatetsubo: unit of volume, about 1.8 meters cubed or 100 to
tenji: maid of honor, lady in waiting
tetsu tsuru: "iron crane" - nickname of the Crab for the Daidoji family
to: a measure of volume; 18 litres or 10 masu
toe: ten
toji: lady, matron, mistress, housekeeper
tokkuri: small-necked sake bottle
tokonoma: an alcove in which the family's treasures are placed
tomo-dachi: "good friends", mixed plum wine and saké
tono: term of address for one's own lord
torid-e: keep or fort
torii: sacred gate placed near shrines and temples; passing under the torii allows cleansing of the spirit
toshi: city
tsu: brilliant blue fish-like amphibian with iridescent emerald fins and tails, weighing up to 60 lbs (28 kg); their eggs are a rare delicacy
tsubo: unit of area, equal to 3.95 square yards or 3.31 square meters

U-Z

uchikake: long garment worn by women over their kimono.
ukiyo-e: "pictures of the floating world", images of frivolous subjects (e.g., portraits of famous actors and courtesans, images of popular places, fashion plates); real-life ukiyo-e was used as a source of inspiration, but nothing like that will appear in Rokugan for several hundred years.
ume-shu: plum "wine"; actually a plum brandy made of plums macerated in shoju
wan: bay
wul: plant used as animal fodder and, when specially treated, as armour padding.  Similar to corn or wheat, grows to a height of three feet (one meter) and is orange in colour, with large kernels that are sometimes used to make dice.  [Hey, I don't make up that stuff, it's in the book.  And don't ask me why Rokugani don't use the letter "l", but it shows up in words like "Fu-Leng," 'bureli," and "wul"!]
yama: mountain
Yamichouchin: (see Black Lanterns)
yashiki: town manor or estate of a daimyo
yojimbo: bodyguard
yoriki: roughly equivalent to police lieutenant, magistrate's assistant
wagakimi: my lord
wakizashi: the shorter of a bushi's two swords.
zeni: copper coin.  Ten zeni strings make a bu.  For smaller denomination, the packages of zeni can be opened and the small copper pieces inside are used individually.  However, most zeni strings (or wrapped packages) are never opened; the seal on them is a garantee that they have not been tampered with.  A standard string contains 100 thin copper pieces, about 20 mm in diameter.
zori: sandals made of straw