Sayonara, Kamikaze, Harakiri – 3 Words that Japanese themselves seldom use.
- Sayonara. Well known in the West, but you will almost never hear it in Japan. That’s because it has a ring of finality to it, like I will NEVER see you again. Relationship breakup, someone passing away, seldom has a nice flavour to it. When casually parting company therefore Japanese themselves will chose terms like “Mata ne” meaning “see you again”.
2. Kamikaze (sometimes miss-pronounced in the West as “kamakazi”). Literally meaning Wind of the Gods, the phrase was coined in the 13th century to refer to the typhoon that decimated Kublai Khan’s invading armada. More recent theory suggests in fact that the defeat of the Mongols in western Japan was more due to the fact that, after charging across China, Asia and eastern Europe, the would-be invaders finally met their match in the military skills and determination of Japan’s samurai. The typhoon story was enhanced over the years in a smoke-screen cover-up to conceal Japan’s military ability (“the falcon conceals it’s claws). A spooking foreboding of the centuries to come.
The term Kamikaze was given extra meaning in World War 2 to refer to Japan’ suicide forces, particularly air, deployed in desperation towards the end of the conflict. However, it is a very deified term, and common usage deploys the word “toko”, literally (and euphemistically) meaning Special Attach Forces.
3. Harakiri (sometimes mis-pronounced in the West as “harrykarry”). Means the ritualistic self-assassination reserved for samurai class during Japan’s feudal years. Similar to Kamikaze though, Harakiri is a deified term, and common usage deploys the word “seppuku”.　Harakiri and seppuku deploy the same Chinese characters just in reverse, so Harakiri is literally “stomach cut” and seppuku is “cut stomach”.
Learn more about Japanese history and culture on Hike Hakone Hachiri.
Sayonara, Kamikaze, Harakiri – 3 Words that Japanese themselves seldom use.