BS: Japanese word?

Subject: BS: Japanese word?
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 11 Jul 03 - 10:44 PM

What's the Japanese word for "frog" I learned it from some visiting musicians, and now I've forgotten.

Subject: RE: BS: Japanese word?
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 11 Jul 03 - 10:45 PM

I mean the small animal, the amphibian, not a frog like on an Oriental coat.

Subject: RE: BS: Japanese word?
From: GUEST,pdc
Date: 12 Jul 03 - 12:02 AM

Kaeru.

Subject: RE: BS: Japanese word?
From: LadyJean
Date: 12 Jul 03 - 12:57 AM

I don't know about frogs, but Dr. Ihara at Transylvania College, who played a wicked bluegrass banjo said that banjo was close to the Japanese word for bathroom. He said he played the five string bathroom, and he played it very well!

Subject: RE: BS: Japanese word?
From: masato sakurai
Date: 12 Jul 03 - 01:30 AM

"Kaeru" is the common word for "frog" or "toad."

LadyJean, it's "benjo", meaning "bathroom" or "rest room." However, we usually use the word "toire" (from "toilet") for it.

~Masato

Subject: RE: BS: Japanese word?
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 12 Jul 03 - 03:35 AM

"toire" - use it for the bathroom or for the banjo?????

Sorry masato, the meaning was clear, but I read it like anyone who likes banjo jokes on the first pass.

John

Subject: RE: BS: Japanese word?
From: Mr Red
Date: 12 Jul 03 - 10:02 AM

JohnInKansas LOL

Subject: RE: BS: Japanese word?
From: Homeless
Date: 12 Jul 03 - 12:54 PM

Since the question of Japanese words has come up, I have a question.
I received a close out catalog in the mail a couple days ago, and in it there are grab bags of stuff. They call them "Fukubukuro," claiming that "fuku" means happy and "bukuro" means bag, thus Happy Bags. However, when I first saw it I read it as "F**k you, buckaroo." (which I think is usually pretty apt for grab bags.)
Masato, can you verify the meanings of fuku, bukuro, and fukubukuro? I'd like to know if this is real, or if someone writing the catalog got taken in by a bad joke.

Subject: RE: BS: Japanese word?
From: masato sakurai
Date: 12 Jul 03 - 06:49 PM

Homeless, you're right. See THIS PAGE.

Subject: RE: BS: Japanese word?
From: LadyJean
Date: 12 Jul 03 - 11:34 PM

Dr. Ihara was a Japanese American who taught political science at Trannsylvania College. (I am not making this up.) He was a better banjo player than a prof. He always began his concerts with the joke about banjos and bathrooms.

Subject: RE: BS: Japanese word?
From: masato sakurai
Date: 13 Jul 03 - 12:14 AM

Benjo is an uneuphemistic word; the literal meaning is "a place for feces". That's why we use other words instead: for example, otearai ("place for washing hands"), toire (some women say a more polite word o-toire), or keshoo-shitsu ("dressing room", usually for public convenience).

Subject: RE: BS: Japanese word?
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 13 Jul 03 - 08:15 PM

Masato: the last keshoo-shitsu seems to fit in well with the English in case of shits you
Any connection with the dog breed often pronounced as a 'shit su' ?

Nigel

Subject: RE: BS: Japanese word?
From: Mark Cohen
Date: 13 Jul 03 - 09:09 PM

Keshoo-shitsu sounds like a place where you go when you have to sneeze and defecate at the same time...

leeneia, was that word in this round?

Kaeru no utaga
Kiko ete kuruyo
Gwa Gwa Gwa Gwa
Gero, gero, gero, gero, gwa gwa gwa

That was one of a series of "frog rounds" that I think I learned at the first Portland "Singtime Frolics"

(Apologies for muddling the Japanese)

Aloha,
Mark

Subject: RE: BS: Japanese word?
From: masato sakurai
Date: 13 Jul 03 - 10:46 PM

Mark, it's "Kaeru no Gasshoo" (Frogs' Chorus), popularly titled as "Kaeru no Uta" (Frogs' Song). Lyrics & sound clip are HERE. I think it's not a traditional Japanese round (possibly German).

~Masato

Subject: RE: BS: Japanese word?
From: Strupag
Date: 14 Jul 03 - 07:01 PM

ohio masato,
when I in Japan with the merchant navy, I was always amused by the phrase for "just a minute"
It sounded almost the same "Jotamati"
Have I got that right?

Subject: RE: BS: Japanese word?
From: CraigS
Date: 14 Jul 03 - 07:16 PM

I think the English would call it a Lucky Bag
Wing Wah is Chinese for green frog, N'est ce pas?
Nankidesko

Subject: RE: BS: Japanese word?
From: Banjer
Date: 14 Jul 03 - 07:58 PM

One of the jokes when I was going to school, (many, many, years ago) if threatened by a bully take the 'Karate stance' and warn him that you knew, karate,judo,tae-kwando and seven other Japanese words!! I do so love the current explanation for the term 'Karaoke' meaning in Japanese, 'Can't carry a tune!'

Subject: RE: BS: Japanese word?
From: GUEST,cookieless Masato
Date: 15 Jul 03 - 05:50 AM

Strupag, the Japanese for "Just a minute" is Chotto matte (kudasai). "Ohio" sounds like Ohayo ("Good morning").

Banjer, karaoke is derived from kara ("empty", which means "without singing") and oke (short for "orchestra").

~Masato

Subject: RE: BS: Japanese word?
From: GUEST,Chicken Charlie
Date: 15 Jul 03 - 02:01 PM

Kawazu.

As in the famous haiku of Basho:

Furuike-ya
Kawazu tobikomu.
Mizu no ono.

Translation: There is an old pond. A frog jumps in. Sound of water.

PS. This is no bull. There may be other words, but kawazu is one.

CC

Subject: RE: BS: Japanese word?
From: masato sakurai
Date: 15 Jul 03 - 10:37 PM

Indeed, I know the word kawazu, but in my opinion it's archaic or poetic (or it might be dialectal) except for some quotations as from the Basho haiku or in a proverb: i no naka no kawazu taikai wo shirazu, meaning "A frog in the well knows nothing of the great ocean," a warning about insular views.

Subject: RE: BS: Japanese word?
From: Strupag
Date: 16 Jul 03 - 04:53 AM

Arregato Masato,
When I was there ( In Shizouka near Fuju Shi) I learned some of the words of Sakura. I know that Sakura is Cherry Blossom but do you have a translation for the rest of the song? The song has a beautiful melody. Is it an old folk song?

Subject: RE: BS: Japanese word?
From: masato sakurai
Date: 16 Jul 03 - 08:59 AM

"Sakura, Sakura" (sakura is repeated in the common title) is said to be koyoo ("an old song"); it's traditional, but not a folk song in the strict sense of the word. Lyrics & translation of are HERE (midi is not recommendable); pronunciaton guide (not an orthographical transcription), free translation, and sheet music are HERE; lyrics & unpoetic translation, with a good arranged midi, are HERE; and a less common version (lyrics, translation, & a good koto- & shakuhachi-sounding midi) is HERE.

Subject: RE: BS: Japanese word?
From: Strupag
Date: 16 Jul 03 - 05:58 PM

Domo Arregato Masato.
The words are really beautiful and that tune is really haunting. I just can't thank you enough. I'm certain that other Mudcatters will also enjoy it.

Andy