Body Parts II

[Dave Lowry]

Joseiki? Danseiki?
Guys, guys, guys. I am disappointed. These few and feeble terms for genitalia in Japanese are the best you can manage? Surely not. When I was a youth, I started keeping a list of all the terms, literary, vulgar, and otherwise, I heard for both male and female genitals and I’m sure I must have more than three dozen for each. Should there be any interest, I shall look them up and post some, though it occurs we might wish to move this to the Men’s Lounge or whatever that restricted area is, lest we offend the eyes of some of the readership.

Cordially,

[renfield_kuroda]

I once reduced a native Japanese speaker to a crying mass of jelly by ripping into her in Japanese so horrendous it would make yakuza run in fear. I thought I had mastered the intricacies of bad language and good delivery...then I pissed my wife off, and she used words I didn't know existed, in phrases so creative and colorful, with a delivery so powerful and exacting I was both in awe and scared for my life.
Now I have mended my ways and am attempting to re-learn proper Japanese, lest some idiot closes the elevator door on my and I rip into him only to discover it's our company president.

While I am deeply curious about your list, Mr. Lowry, I am afraid that if I saw it I would be unable to contain myself, and get into even more trouble than I usually do when walking the late-night streets of Shibuya kicking over chimpira beers.

Regards,
renfield kuroda

[Earl Hartman]

That's a pretty good list. A lot I didn't know, a lot I had forgotten. Why "kizumono", though? That usually refers to a woman who has lost her virginity. Also, I am assuming that "bokkusu" is just a transliteration of the English word "box". "Waremechan" is good, as is "kegawa" (hah!), but I sort of like "chatsubo". (Maeana is just plain disgusting.) Another one, which has a little more class, perhaps, is "O-shimo" (Honorable Down There). "Inbu" (Place of Shadow, or Hidden Place) is another one, but I think that it actually is not slang but a real formal term for the female genitalia.

(Parenthetically, a co-worker once berated me, good-naturedly to be sure, as an "ikketsu shugi-sha" for being faithful to my wife.)

I have heard "ichimotsu" and "dankon" for the male member, although these are not really common slang terms, probably, snce they seem a little literary. A common one I heard all the time was "chinpoko", obvioulsy a variation on the more common "chinpo", and I sometimes heard people reverse it to "pokochin".

The best one is "musuko", though. It explains the relationship between a man and his member quite well, I think, and isn't that obviously vulgar.

Renfield: re: yakuza talk, on the train to work one day, we reach my stop, the door opens, and the guy behind me immediately starts elbowing me from behind, even though I'm at least 3-4 deep back from the door and the people in front of me haven't even started to move yet (kind of like being the 4th car back from the light and the idiot behind you starts honking the second it turns green). I completely lost it and I turned around and just lit into him with my best yakuza cursing. I thought he was going to keel over from a heart attack on the spot. It was GREAT.

[renfield_kuroda]

My favorite time on a packed Yamanote:
A woman is trying to ply her way through the bodies to get out the door, and every time she'd say "Sumimasen, orimasu!" I shouted "Ganbare!"
I couldn't see her, but I could hear her getting closer to the door every time she said "Orimasu!" and I followed up with "Ganbare!"

We did this about 5 or six times, and by the end, a bunch of other Japanese people had joined in shouting "Ganba! Ike! Faito!"

When she finally got out the door we heard "Orimashita! Arigatougozaimasu!" and a bunch of us replied "Omedeto! Otsukaresan!" and the doors closed and everyone immediately went back to staring at nothing and being totally silent.

Very surreal, but lots of fun.

Regards,

renfield kuroda



Originally posted by Earl Hartman
Renfield: re: yakuza talk, on the train to work one day, we reach my stop, the door opens, and the guy behind me immediately starts elbowing me from behind, even though I'm at least 3-4 deep back from the door and the people in front of me haven't even started to move yet (kind of like being the 4th car back from the light and the idiot behind you starts honking the second it turns green). I completely lost it and I turned around and just lit into him with my best yakuza cursing. I thought he was going to keel over from a heart attack on the spot. It was GREAT.

[Meik Skoss]

Wow. You guys must hang out in WAAAAY more interesting places than I ever did. The depth and breadth (you should pardon the expression) of this information is truly magnificent. But AKAmon? Eeeeeewww...

[Joshua Lerner]

I can't remember if inkei (yin stem) is a clinical or slang term for penis. Anyone? Anyone?

And I fail to see manko. Or is that too obvious to be worth mentioning?

I second Earl on "just plain disgusting" for maeana.

[Cody]

inkei is definitely clinical/ textbook terminology.

manko (or "omanko") seems to be (more or less) a childish way to say vagina. It also appears to be one of the more frequently used. The same goes for "chinchin" (sorry if you are from Quebac)

as with maeana... for some reason I don't see anything disgusting about it :rolleyes:

[gmellis]

Earl,
Ikketsu Shugisha??!! Holy bejesus. If someone used that to describe my wife and I (and /or he) wasn't completely plastered and unable to swing straight, I'd hang em by their scrotum on a meat hook and beat em with a frozen halibut (..with nails in it), or at least send anonymous edited pictures of them and farm animals around the office if they were bigger than me. Sheesh. Was this a coworker or something? One of the Pureblood Keiba/Enka Oyaji? "I show you ikketsu as I drive this horseracing form up your arse you little cave troll!"

[Dave Lowry]

Mr. Turner is getting closer to the spirit of it here, but what’s interesting about Japanese terminology for genitalia, classical and modern slang, is the attention to detail and the imagery. It varies from the fairly crude to the delicately elegant. For instance, a penis can be an ita-name (“floor polisher” or more literally, “floorboard licker”) or a hine daikon (“shriveled daikon root”). A gyokukai (“jewelled rod”) or a konseisama (“precious energy”). My personal favourite is kuromara, the kuro here being “black,” used in the sense of “experienced.” That’s why you also hear the term, especially in the Kansai region, ichi-kuro: “first-rate black.” In Nara, they talk about a jomara, a penis that has the three necessary qualifications, a karidaka (“head like a wild goose”), sori (“good curvature”) and kuromara: experience.

For female genitals, it’s incredible how detailed it gets. I’ve heard himitsu no hanazome (“hidden garden”), tani-ma no yuri (“lily of the valley”), yon-ju-hachi hida (“48 folds”) and the related Atago-yama, an oblique reference to the steps at a pilgrimage up a mountain right near Kyoto that I cannot explain without being too graphic here, and my favourite, hesoshita san-zun (“three sun-lengths below the navel”). One memorable night in a bathhouse, an old lady outside Nara told me a remarkably gynecological aphorism about women from Kyoto being uwatsuki and those from Kansai being shitatsuki but that women from Nara (of course) moving so well it doesn’t matter…

Cordially and we are eventually gonna get so busted by Mr. Lindsey or the moderator,

[Meik Skoss]

Yeah, Dave, but AKAmon? C'mon!

[Mekugi]

Cute words as well, Chinko or O'chinko (I think that is a kansai thing) and Boubo ( a variation from the Kanto accent maybe) for the vagina.

Originally posted by Yobina


Ok then, of course a lot depends on the class of person speaking and the dialect/area; but here are a few I can remember:

Words for PENIS:

atama
bo (bou)
boringu (bouringu)
bosan (bousan)
chako
bidenbo (bidenbou)
danbira
chinpo
chimaki
genyo (genyou)
bokken
dogu (dougu)
deshi
hidenbo (hidenbou)
aburenbo shogun
jiji
hoshin (houshin)

words for VAGINA:

akamon
chatsubo
chonko
bebe
bocho
fune
dappe
bokkusu
furusato
oma
mehi
mitto
kuromono
maeana
inro (inrou)
hizo (hizou)
ichi
hachi
momo
maku no uchi
omotemon
waremechan
shimo
pi
renge
suika
tsubo
uri
tako
nekochan
sato
tani
nada
osara
kegawa
kizumono
furo
ama

Naturally I know more words for vagina! :)

[Dave Lowry]

Dear Meik,
If you’re put off by the imagery of aka-mon (in Kinki-ben it’s usually aka-gai), you sure ain’t gonna like some of the really “earthy” terminology for kanojo no asoko . How about kuma no kawa (“bearskin”), kusa-mura or shigemi (both approximately, “thicket”), ke-muro (“hairy tub,” an Osaka classic), moya-moya no seki (“hair-covered barrier”), and the exceedingly vulgar ke-manju, the translation of which I shall leave alone.

I believe Mr. Lerner above was asking about the derivation of manko. It's Edo period. An earlier, archaic term for a girl was "me no ko." Gradually was shortened to "menko" with the honourific "o" added, probably as some form of wit, and came to refer not to girls but to just a certain part of them. It's still "omenko" in Osaka and around a lot of that region. Kanto people's genetic inablility to pronounce much of anything is the most possible reason the "men" was changed to "man" there.

Cordially,

[Joshua Lerner]

Dear Mr. Lowry,

Thank you for the etymology lesson. We met briefly at kagami biraki in Woodinville this last January, and I embarassed you by telling you that I spent my teenage years reading Autumn Lightning. What I did not tell you was that the aspect of the book that most encouraged me to go on to study Japanese was the chapter where you listed all of these terms and their derivations, and the circumstances under which you learned them. I can think of no more effective way to encourage teenage boys to undertake the study of Japanese. Kudos to you, sir.

Oddly, I have not seen that section in later editions of the book. Maybe it was just the first printing.

Regards,

[Earl Hartman]

So, anybody up for some chonko nabe? But seriously, folks.....:D

Greg: Well, he was my senpai at work, and he was being very good-natured about it. I actually thought it was sort of funny. Besides, I'm a pussy.:rolleyes:

Dave, scholarship is all well and good, but JAYzus......Also, can you tell me what the hell you were doing discussing genitalia with old women outide bathouses in Nara?:eek:

However, your post reminded me of some sushi-related terms I had forgotten: leering guys asking the waitress for some "nitari-gai" sushi or asking if she is interested in going out with them to eat "futo-maki".

[Joshua Lerner]

That just reminded me of my advisor in graduate school, an older Japanese gentleman who in addition to being well-known in the Buddhist studies field was also an accomplished kendoka, if I remember. There were a number of Buddhist monks and nuns from Asia in the program, and he used to really get a kick out of (repeatedly)asking one of the nuns if she likes to eat nikumanju. He seemed to find the implied double sin endlessly entertaining.

[Joshua Lerner]

and the exceedingly vulgar ke-manju, the translation of which I shall leave alone.

Dear Mr. Lowry,

I have been trying to figure out this term, but don't know which of the following kanji is being used for "ke", as all seem possible -

"flower, blossom, pearl"
"mysterious"
"fur"
"lunchbox"
"dry up, scab"
"tool grinder"

Any guidance you can spare would be appreciated.

Regards,

[Earl Hartman]

Joshua:

"Hairy dumpling".

"Tool grinder"? :eek:

[Joshua Lerner]

Hi Earl,

"Hairy meat dumpling" seemed the obvious choice, but I wouldn't go so far as to call it "exceedingly vulgar", so I kept on looking for other possibilities.

Personally, I prefer "tool-grinding meat dumpling". Although "meat dumpling in a lunchbox" has its charms.

Thanks,

[Kuseru]

I recommend checking out a copy of Peter Constantine's Japanese Slang Uncensored (ISBN 4900737038). It has a huge list of the different terms, though it concentrates on Japanese criminal activities, bad habits of monks, and other, non-body part subjects in addition to the obligatory body parts and sex slang.

It also includes a decent-sized thesaurus of the terms in the back, broken down into the following categories:
Alcohol
Anal Intercourse
Anus
Arrest, to
Arrested, to be
Arson
Arsonist
Breasts
Buttocks
Car
Cigarette
Condom
Condom, break
Condomless
Diarrhea
Drugs
Drugs, amphetamines
Drugs, heroin
Drugs, marijuana
Drugs, opium
Drugs, paint thinner
Drugs, pills
Ejaculate, to
Erection
Erection, loss of
Escape
Excrement
Fellatio
Fellatio, with condom
Fellatio, without condom
Flatulence
Goodbye
Gun
Handcuffs
Homosexual
Idiot
Kill, to
Knife
Lock Picking
Lock Piccking, tools
Masturbation
Masturbation, female
Menstruation
Money
Money, counterfeit
Penis
Penis, erect
Penis, impotent
Penis, large
Penis, small
Penis, special traits
Pensi, with long tight foreskin
Pimp
Police
Police Station
Prison
Prison, warden
Provincial Person
Pubic Hair
Razor
Sexual Intercourse
Sperm
Tampon
Tattoo
Telephone
Testicles
Testicles, special traits
Toilet
Urinating
Urinating, men
Urinating, women
Vagina
Vagina, medieval
Vagina, special traits
Wallet

As you can see, aside from some fairly lame areas of slang, the list is pretty long and varried. For instance, here's the list of the entries for Vagina (including medieval and special traits):
agura
akagai
akasubori
akamon
akamonmon
akamunmun
akebi
amaguri
amidanyorai
ana
anbachi
asoko
baimo
bakagai
bappe
bebe
becho
bekya
betcho
bii
biiba
biku
bo
bobo
bobojo
bocho
bokkusu
cha
chacha
chako
chancha
chanko
chatsubo
chia
chibi
chikin
chiya
cho
chonko
dappe
deruta
deruta chitai
emeru
enko
fuigo
fuiku
fuji-san
fukube
fukubebiri
fune
furusato
gama
gamaguchi
gen
hachi
hako
hama
hamehame
happe
hehe
heki
heko/hekko
heppe
hikeshitsubo
hizo
hobo
horagai
ichi
ichi no tani
ichi o osu
ichijiku
ichiki
ike
ikimi
inoshishi
inro
iwato
kai
kanete
kani
kannon
kanu
keburo
kebuton
kegani
kegawa
keman
kemanju
kemaru
kemomo
kiiga
kinchaku
kippin
kizu
kobako
kokyo
kubo
kubomi
kuma ana
kurebasu
kureta
kuromono
mito
maeana
maejiri
maku no uchi
mame
mamezo
manju
manko
mehi
meicho
meiki
meko
meme
meme-jo
meme-ko
meme-san
menko
miiman
mitto
momo
mon
moyamoya no seki
mukimi
nabe
naijin
namagai
nikuburo
nikutsubo
nukabukuro
numa
obake
ocha
ochanko
ochawan
ochaire
ochatsubo
ohachi
ohako
oka
okaigai
okame
okunoin
okuromono
oma
omanko
omanman
omatsuri
ome
omecha
omecho
omeko
omencha
omencho
omenko
omonmon
omotemon
omunmun
onkoto
onsugata
pi
pii
pushii
reishi
renge
rozu
ryufa
saikuba
sakazuki
sato
saya
seribako
shansu
shijimi
shimo
shimonoseki
shinzo
shita
shitaba
shitakuchi
shumon
soso
suiden
suika
sumitsubo
suribachi
suritto
tako
tachiusu
tani
tatsuware
tsubi
tsubo
tsunbi
umarezaisho
umeboshi
usu
uri
utsuwa
waraji
wareme-chan
yachi
yage
yagen
yake
yakeku
yajibako
yakihamaguri
yohamaguri

Medieval
aoda
ama no iwato
ashiwara
bokka
funadama-sama
hinado
hoto
horagai
ichimangoku
ikigai
keginchaku
kesetta
kewaraji
nada
okinoishi
okobako
onokizu
sora
shakogai
tachikizu
takenoko
tani
tare
waraji
yachi

Special Traits
akanabe
ama
anaguma
donabe
cherii furawa
furo
furoke
karasukai
kegawa
kawarake
kinchaku
kizumono
nikuburo
obenko
ochoko
ohachi
osara
ozara
otoshiana
pinku
saragai
sekohan
shijimi
shiofuki
suika no tanaochi
todana
yachihakui

These are just the slang words themselves, luckily every entry contains a short description telling you about the word, though a regional dialect origin is often the only entry for a word. You can also see several commonplace words that are used as slang references to the vagina, and a few English loan words slipped in there as well. But this book is one of the best resources I've seen for the dirtier slang of Japanese.


K. Straight

[Earl Hartman]

"Ikigai" as a term for the vagina?

Hmmmmmm.......yeah, I would have to agree 100%. Yep. Mm-hm. No question.

[Joshua Lerner]

Edited, for my own good.

[Mekugi]

Scribbles notes....hey did these lines ever work???
-R

Originally posted by Earl Hartman
However, your post reminded me of some sushi-related terms I had forgotten: leering guys asking the waitress for some "nitari-gai" sushi or asking if she is interested in going out with them to eat "futo-maki".

[Earl Hartman]

I SERIOUSLY doubt it, man.

[Dave Lowry]

Mr. Lerner,
Yep, the translations were on the money. Ke=hair, as in my favourite Japanese term for us foreigners, ketojin. Manju=manju. So it’s “hair bean jam pie.” Anything related to female genitalia and beans of any kind is extremely crass. Hence the very sleazy invitation to ask if a woman is ready for sex by inquiring “Mame wa pin-pin desu ka?” (“Are your beans jumping?”) that is still heard out in the country, spoken by rough, crude speakers.

Since you brought up the sushi connexion, Mr. Hartman, another one: kazunoko tenjo, which refers to the interior walls of the vagina being of the same texture as kazunoko.

And it wasn’t outside the bathhouse that I heard about the alleged anatomical distinctions between Kansai and Kanto women. It was in the bathhouse. Neighbourhood bath near my sensei’s house. The old lady was considered the authority in the neighbourhood on Japanese traditions and old stuff. She told me some rather interesting stories of local cases of dog-spirit possession. I don’t remember how the subject of o-soso (another Kinki word that’s now used in other parts of Japan) came up, but that’s when she gave me the above-mentioned aphorism, cackling gleefully about it, her accent so thick that even if she’d had teeth I couldn’t have understood it and another bather had to translate. It was one of many moments, as I’m sure you know well, when one thinks, “We’re not in Kansas anymore, Toto.”
In fact, that might be a worthwhile subject for another thread. When and what were the circumstances under which you realised just how really, really different Japan can be?

Cordially,

[Joshua Lerner]

For anyone who is interested, I took Mr. Lowry's suggestion and started such a thread under "History and Tradition".

Hope others will play,

[Earl Hartman]

What is so crass about the female genitalia/bean connection?

One of my first realizations about not being in Kansas anymore was when I discovered that people got seriously angry if you refused to accept alcohol from them, even if you didn't want it, politely refused, tried to beg off, said you had had enough, were already drunk, etc. Nothing worked, and while not a teetotaler (sp?) I am also not an especially strong drinker, and so for a while I had some serious problems, compounded by the fact that I simply could not develop a taste for nihonshu (absolutely vile stuff, only otdone by shochu IMNSHO) no matter how hard I tried. As I was wondering what sort of a culture it was that had institutionalized the concept of forced alcohol poisoning, a more experienced drinker mercifully informed my that I didn't need to drink the whole glass/cup to accept more from someone, I just had to pretend to drink a little and so leave just enough room in my glass for the honor of the pourer to be satisfied.

A pretty good introduction to concept of tatemae and honne, actually.

Oh, yeah: any particular reason for your penchant for British spelling?

[Mekugi]

Say no two tiems to the drink offered, on the third time say yes and then sip it; it will go unoticed.
Also, the keitai/izakaya trick. Set your phone alarm to go off just before you think someone will offer you a drink (this takes careful planning).
After it goes off, pretend to answer and say "hello? hello?" (This is done, hopefully, just as they poured you the drink). Pretend the reception is bad, plug your ear with one finger. Stand up and move to various locations trying to get a good spot. Eventually, end up outside the Izakaya, where you run down the street tie and arms flailing.

Dunno, worked for me :)

Originally posted by Earl Hartman
What is so crass about the female genitalia/bean connection?

One of my first realizations about not being in Kansas anymore was when I discovered that people got seriously angry if you refused to accept alcohol from them, even if you didn't want it, politely refused, tried to beg off, said you had had enough, were already drunk, etc. Nothing worked, and while not a teetotaler (sp?) I am also not an especially strong drinker, and so for a while I had some serious problems, compounded by the fact that I simply could not develop a taste for nihonshu (absolutely vile stuff, only otdone by shochu IMNSHO) no matter how hard I tried. As I was wondering what sort of a culture it was that had institutionalized the concept of forced alcohol poisoning, a more experienced drinker mercifully informed my that I didn't need to drink the whole glass/cup to accept more from someone, I just had to pretend to drink a little and so leave just enough room in my glass for the honor of the pourer to be satisfied.

A pretty good introduction to concept of tatemae and honne, actually.

Oh, yeah: any particular reason for your penchant for British spelling? :D

[Dave Lowry]

Mr. Hartman,

Not sure of the origins of the vulgar connexion with the beans; will look around and see if I can find anything about it.

British spelling? I always assumed it was rather that the British spelt as I do.

Cordially,

[Ellis Amdur]

As usual, Dave's scholarship and erudition far exceeds my own humble efforts. I can only wonder if, to use Donn Draeger's terminology, his research was emic or etic.

I can only add that in some ryu, when one penetrates to the okuden, one is sometimes fortunate to be initiated in the ultimate gokui - "mimizu sembiki." With sufficient shugyo, all those little muscles can be moved independently, and there, as you rest in ultimate stillness, the universe is a swirling mass of energy.

Ellis Amdur

[Mekugi]

The Clitoris is also called mame....


Originally posted by Dave Lowry
Mr. Hartman,

Not sure of the origins of the vulgar connexion with the beans; will look around and see if I can find anything about it.

British spelling? I always assumed it was rather that the British spelt as I do.

Cordially,

[Dave Lowry]

Dear Ellis,

"No man's knowledge here can go beyond his experience."

--John Locke


Cordially,

[Ellis Amdur]

Returning for a moment to "manko," (and how long do we desire to leave), I was teaching jr. high English in Japan, and in the first class, offered the students to ask me any question they liked, as long as it was in English. So, of course, the first question was, "Sensei, whatto fruitsu do you like?" I replied, with considerable relish, "Oh, my favorite fruit is mango."

Well, this was jr. high. Every kid in the class, boy and girl alike, heard me say . . . something different. There was wide-eyed, dead silence, jaws agape, sidelong glances, and then gradually, nudges and giggles. I couldn't figure it out of a second, and then it came to me - and I realized that this was definitely the turning point of my teaching career. How I handled this situation would determine the discipline, the respect, every moment of my time in this school.

So I said, "Ah, wakkatta. (long pause) Sore mo oishi." (Oh, I got it.....well, that's delicious too.)


Ellis Amdur

[Earl Hartman]

Well, I asked my wife about her beans last night and got a blank stare for my efforts. Must be a good deal more regional than I thought. Of course, since she is not a vulgar person, never having frequented the akachochin on Shonben-Yokocho, perhaps she had never been exposed to this particular expression.

Ah, mimizu-senbiki. Indeed, the okuden of okuden, the gokui of gokui. Clearly, a waza that men can only experience, if they are lucky, but can never master, not having the appropriate dogu. Just out of curiosity, does anyone know (this means you, Dave) of any comparable male ability?

Very funny story about junior high, Ellis. How long did you keep your job after that?

[Ellis Amdur]

Earl -

Three years more - and they gave me a several thousand dollar going away present when I left.

When I introduced myself to the principal when applying for the job, I somehow used an archaic formal form of request in asking for employment - in my going away party, he said that it sent shivers down his back - and from that moment on, I was inviolate - no one ever intruded on my class.

Ellis

[Earl Hartman]

Ellis:

Wow. Do you remember what it is you said?

Well, I'll bet that after that little escapade your students thought you were cool, anyway.

[Mekugi]

While discussing 'mame on the phone with a friend of mine last night, we both concluded that the mame is indeed the clitoris. However, we also concluded that those of you who do not know of the mame, or have female counterparts that know of the mame, perhaps need to practice a little more foreplay...just a thought ;)

Ohh yeah, Inari is another word for the gonads.....


-R

[Steve Delaney]

Yup, Oinari san.

[Earl Hartman]

Am aware mame=clitoris. Was confused by Dave's use of the plural in his English translation.

"Is your bean jumping?" makes a lot more sense.

[Mark Tankosich]

Wow! I thought I knew a little something about the Japanese language! You guys are amazing (or need to spend more time training and less time....doing whatever it is that makes you so kuwashii about this stuff!;) )

Truly Impressed,

Mark

[ChrisMoon]

Normally I would find this way to crude to ask, but with the history of this thread what the hell.
Whats the correct wording for "I am well endowed" in Japanese?

I just spent three weeks on the mainland and now that I am back home I want to hit the hot spots in Waikiki.


Now I am going to go hope like hell that Chambers and Muromoto Sensei do not hop onto E-Budo anytime soon.