Word origins

• awamoriA Japanese alcoholic beverage made from rice via distillation.
• AyaseA city in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan.
• AyukoA female given name from Japanese.
• bad ajiA lingering weakness in a player’s position in some part of the board, which may trouble them, especially by facilitating a later attack, by hampering their play there or by the effort required to repair it.
• bakanaeA disease of rice plants, caused by the fungus Gibberella fujikuroi, whose metabolism produces a surplus of gibberellic acid that causes hypertrophy in the plant.
• bake-danukiA yokai that is commonly associated with the Japanese raccoon dog or tanuki, sometimes reputed to be able to shapeshift into other things or people and possess human beings.
• BakumatsuThe final years of the Edo period, between 1853 and 1867, when Japan ended its isolationist foreign policy and changed from a feudal Tokugawa shogunate to the pre-modern empire of the Meiji government.
• bakunyuuA pair of very large breasts.
• banchaA type of low-grade Japanese green tea.
• banzai chargeA human-wave suicide attack performed by Japanese soldiers during World War II.
• banzukethe document, published six times a year, before each basho, showing the official rankings of all rikishi
• barazokuSynonym of bara.
• basashiA Japanese dish of sliced raw horsemeat.
• beach sandalA flip-flop (footwear).
• be a hundred years too earlyTo be so immature and unprepared as to have no hope of achieving an accomplishment.
• beigomaA traditional Japanese spinning top.
• bekkoA koi carp with black markings on white, red or yellow skin.
• bellybandA strap around the belly of a horse or other draft animal used to secure a saddle or the shafts of a cart.
• benshiA Japanese performer who provides live narration for silent films.
• Benzaiten(Also known as "Benten-sama") The Hindu goddess, Saraswati, of knowledge, art and beauty, music, language, wisdom, poetry and rivers.
• BibaiA city in Sorachi, Hokkaido Prefecture, Japan.
• bicchuliteAn isometric-hextetrahedral colorless mineral containing aluminum, calcium, hydrogen, oxygen, and silicon.
• binchotanA kind of oak charcoal used in traditional Japanese cooking.
• bintsukeA wax, derived from soy, used in cosmetics, and to groom the topknot of a sekitori.
• BishamontenThe Japanese name for the Buddhist god Vaiśravaṇa, guardian of the North and a patron god of warriors in Japan.
• black beltThe highest belt colour in various martial arts.
• black mistPolitical corruption.
• blind tigerA speakeasy.
• bojutsuA martial art that focuses on the use of the bō (longstaff).
• bokashiThe use of a mixture of microorganisms to cover food waste to decrease smell, based on an old Japanese farming practice.
• bokkeSynonym of sea raven (“fish”).
• bokutobokken, a wooden katana used for practice.
• bonenkaiA Japanese drinking party held at the end of the year, generally among groups of co-workers or friends, to forget the woes and troubles of the past year and look to the future.
• bonkeiA temporary or permanent three-dimensional depiction of a landscape in miniature, portrayed using mainly dry materials like rock, papier-mâché or cement mixtures, and sand in a shallow tray.
• bonsekiThe ancient Japanese art of creating miniature landscapes on black lacquer trays using sand and pebbles.
• bonshoA very large bell used in Buddhist temples in Japan to mark time and call monks in for prayer.
• booruA form of imageboard where images are categorized with tags.
• borrowed sceneryThe principle of incorporating background landscape into the composition of a garden found in traditional East Asian garden design.
• botamochiA Japanese sweet made by soaking sweet rice and forming it into balls with azuki bean paste packed around them.
• botan riceSynonym of glutinous rice.
• broconStrong attachment or attraction to one's own brother.
• brolicHaving large, well-developed muscles.
• buchikamashiThe heavy collision of the two rikishi during the tachiai at the start of a sumo bout.
• bugakuA Japanese traditional courtly dance, with slow, regal movements.
• bullet climbTo climb Mount Fuji during the night, in order to see the sunrise at the peak.
• BunkyōA special ward of Tokyo prefecture, Japan that is surrounded by (clockwise from north) Kita, Arakawa, Taitō, Chiyoda, Shinjuku, and Toshima special wards.
• burakuThe burakumin, a Japanese minority group descended from feudal outcast communities
• burakuminA member of a Japanese social minority group, descendants of feudal-era outcasts.
• burikkoAn adult woman who behaves childishly, especially a Japanese woman or a woman involved with Japanese culture.
• buruseraGirls' used underwear and/or school uniforms, which are bought and sold by sexual fetishists.
• butadonA Japanese dish consisting of a bowl of rice topped with braised or grilled pork; pork donburi.
• butsudanA Buddhist shrine, comprising a wooden cabinet with doors that enclose and protect a religious icon.
• byobuA type of folding screen
• byoyomiA system of time control in some board games, especially go and shogi, in which the player is assigned a number of additional periods (of a fixed time per move) when their initial allotted time runs out.
• chabudaiA short-legged Japanese table.
• CHAdeMOA DC (“direct current”) fast charging and charger standard for charging plug-in electrified-drive vehicles created by a consortium of Japanese automakers and promulgated by the Japanese and South Korean automotive industry, circulated worldwide.
• champonAn Asian noodle dish with pork, seafood, and vegetables in a soup.
• -chanAppended to a person's name (usually a female, child, a close friend, or an intimate) to add politeness. It is sometimes used to denote cuteness or familiarity.
• chanbaraA Japanese genre of period action film about samurai.
• chankonabeThe staple diet of rikishi: a stew of meat, seafood and vegetables.
• chanmerya non-alcoholic carbonated drink with a flavor similar to champagne, usually designed for children to enjoy during Christmas and other celebrations
• chanoyuA traditional Japanese tea ceremony in which matcha is prepared and presented.
• chanpuruAn Okinawan stir-fry dish, generally of tofu combined with a vegetable, meat, or fish.
• chashitsuAn architectural space designed for Japanese tea ceremony gatherings, typically having shoji windows and sliding doors made of wooden lattice.
• chawanmushiA Japanese savoury egg custard dish containing ginkgo seeds.
• chazukeA simple Japanese dish made by pouring green tea, dashi, or hot water over cooked rice.
• ChichibuA city in southwestern Saitama Prefecture in Japan.
• ChigasakiA city in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan.
• chikara gamiSheets of paper used by rikishi to wipe their lips after the ritual cleansing with chikara mizu.
• chikara mizuWater used by rikishi to ritually cleanse the mouth before a match.
• chikuwaA tube-shaped fish-paste cake from Japan.
• chindoguAn ingenious but impractical gadget intended to solve an everyday problem.
• chirashizushiA form of sushi consisting of rice topped with a variety of raw fish and vegetables or garnishes.
• chirimenJapanese raw silk crêpe, widely used to make kimono.
• chirinabeA Japanese hot pot with fish and vegetables.
• chiroriA bottle in which saké is heated.
• ChisaA female given name from Japanese.
• chitoseameA type of long candy eaten by Japanese children during the festival of Shichigosan.
• chiyogamiThe repeating pattern found in many origami papers, originally applied with wood blocks, but now mainly using silkscreen techniques.
• ChiyokoA female given name from Japanese.
• chokaA Japanese poem, a form of waka that consists of 5 to 7 on phrases repeated at least twice, and concludes with a 5-7-7 ending.
• chokoA small handleless cup in which saké is served.
• chongakeA kimarite in which the attacker hooks his heel behind that of his opponent from the inside, pulls the leg towards him, grabs the opponent's arm on the same side and twists him sideways and backwards.
• chōninA member of a social class of merchants and craftsmen in Japan.
• chonmageA traditional Japanese topknot haircut worn by men, traditionally associated with samurai and more recently with sumo wrestlers.
• chorogiThe Chinese artichoke or crosne, Stachys affinis or S. sieboldii, an herbaceous plant of the family Lamiaceae.
• ChūbuA region of Honshū, Japan.
• chukamenA type of thick Japanese egg-based ramen noodle.
• ChūōA special ward of Tokyo prefecture, Japan that is surrounded by (clockwise from north) Taitō, Sumida, Kōtō, Minato and Chiyoda special wards as well as Tokyo Bay.
• chu shogiA Japanese board game, a form of shogi (Japanese chess) played on a 12×12 board.
• chuubaSynonym of virtual YouTuber.
• city popa form of Japanese pop music that emerged in the late 1970s and peaked in popularity during the 1980s, including influences such as funk, disco, R&B, AOR, soft rock, and boogie, and associated with the country's nascent economic boom and leisure class.
• cup noodlesAny dried, instant noodles (usually ramen) that are sold in and eaten from waterproof polystyrene cups.
• curry rouxRoux with curry powder.
• dad jokeA (usually deliberate) unfunny or corny joke, typically containing a pun and often in question/answer format.
• DaibutsuA large statue of Buddha.
• daifukuA Japanese dessert consisting of a large mochi stuffed with red bean paste.
• daigappeia jungyo tour that features all the rikishi of jonidan rank or higher
• DaikokutenThe Japanese name for Mahākāla, a Buddhist god of wealth, commerce and trade. In Japanese folk tradition, he is one of the seven gods of luck. In Shinto, he is syncretized with the deity Ōkuninushi. Daikokuten is often depicted paired with Ebisu in statuary or in the form of masks on the walls of small retail shops.
• daikyuA Japanese longbow.