Questions people actually ask

A maiko trains for about five years before becoming a full geiko, and the lessons never stop after that. Dance teachers in this world are often people in their seventies and eighties.

A maiko wears a long trailing obi, tall wooden clogs, and flowers in her own hair. A geiko wears a shorter obi, plainer hair, usually a wig, and much less decoration.

Yes, historically the first geisha were men, and a small number of male entertainers called taikomochi still work today. They are now rare enough that most Japanese people have never met one.

Because the garden is composed of form, texture and the changes of the season rather than color. Moss, stone, water and evergreen give a picture that works all year, and flowering trees are used as a brief event rather than the main subject.

It is the technique of framing a mountain, forest or distant temple outside the garden so it reads as part of the composition. Trees and walls are placed to hide everything between, so the borrowed view seems to sit just beyond the garden.

Japanese counts sound units, which are shorter than English syllables, so seventeen English syllables generally carries far more content than a Japanese haiku. Many English poets deliberately write shorter, aiming for the effect rather than the count.

It is usually classified as a different form. A seventeen-sound poem without a season word, often about human affairs and frequently humorous, is called senryu, and Japanese competitions keep the two categories separate.

Yes. A single-sheet print cost about the same as a bowl of noodles, which is why so many were made and why so few survive in good condition. People pinned them up, used them and threw them away when they faded.

Four roles, at minimum. The publisher commissioned and financed it, the designer drew it, the carver cut the blocks, and the printer inked and pressed each color. The designer's name is the one we remember, but the carver's skill decided how fine the lines could be.

It is generally understood as a large offshore wave rather than a tsunami, with boats caught beneath it and Mount Fuji small in the distance. The print is one sheet from a series of views of the mountain.

Most species, no. Pines, maples and junipers need outdoor conditions including winter cold, and they decline quickly indoors. A few tropical species such as ficus can live inside, so ask which one you have before deciding where to put it.

Growers would say it is intensive care rather than harm. The tree is watered daily, fed, repotted and treated for pests, and well-kept bonsai often outlive the same species growing wild. Bad practice certainly can kill a tree.

The traditional way of making the largest ones is to hollow a single trunk, usually zelkova, and that is why they are expensive and why large trees suitable for it are scarce. Smaller and modern drums are also made from staves.

Yes, and it is worth doing. Summer festivals almost always include drumming, often from a tower in the middle of the dancing, and the players are local people rather than professionals.

The basic strike is simple and the endurance is not. Community groups teach adults from scratch, and the usual first lesson is stance, grip and how to strike without tightening your shoulders.

Partly to clean it, partly as an offering. Water is a basic offering in Buddhism, and in some interpretations it is said to relieve the thirst of the dead. Both explanations are given, and most people do not distinguish.

Usually not. A family grave holds the cremated remains of many generations, and the family name is carved on the stone rather than an individual name. Individual names go on a separate side panel.

This is a growing problem. Graves with no one to tend them are called muen-baka, and with the falling birth rate many families are closing their graves and moving ashes to collective or tree burial sites.

Almost never. A few pagodas open the ground floor for a limited period, but there is no staircase for visitors and nothing to see above. The building is meant to be looked at, not entered.

Odd numbers are preferred, and the five are commonly explained as earth, water, fire, wind and sky. Three-storied pagodas are just as traditional and far more numerous; a five-story tower usually means a wealthy temple.

Something is enshrined beneath the central pillar, usually in a stone chamber, but what it is varies. Actual relics of the Buddha are rare; crystal, scriptures or a substitute stand in for them at most temples.

No. Clapping belongs at Shinto shrines. At a Buddhist temple you put your hands together quietly, bow your head, and that is all. Clapping at a temple is the mistake visitors make most often.

For most people, no. It has become a habit taught in childhood and at school, and the words said with it thank everyone and everything involved in the food rather than addressing a deity. Some families do mean it religiously.

Yes. Many temples run open sessions, often early in the morning, sometimes with English guidance. You will be shown the posture, the breathing and how the session is timed, and sitting for twenty or thirty minutes is normal for a first visit.

A flat wooden stick is used in some halls, but it is not punishment. A sitter who wants it bows to request it, and it is a sharp tap on the shoulder to break drowsiness or tension. You will not be struck without asking.

No. Japanese Buddhism has many schools, and Pure Land traditions have far more adherents by household affiliation. Zen is influential culturally and well known abroad, which makes it look larger than it is.

It was originally housed in a hall, which was destroyed by storms and, according to records, a great wave in the late fifteenth century. It was never rebuilt, and the statue has sat in the open ever since.

At Kamakura, yes. A small entrance in the side lets you climb into the hollow bronze and see how the sections were cast and joined. It is a short visit and there is usually a queue.

They are the most famous, not the tallest. Several modern statues built in recent decades are far taller. Nara and Kamakura are significant for their age, their history and their craftsmanship rather than their height.

Traditionally 538 or 552, when the king of Baekje sent an image and sutras to the Japanese court. The two dates come from different chronicles, and textbooks usually give both.

Because of a seventeenth-century policy requiring every household to register with a temple, partly to prove they were not Christian. The relationship became hereditary, and the funeral role outlived the policy.

Yes. Temples are open to anyone, most charge only for the garden or hall, and nobody asks about your beliefs. Offering incense and putting your hands together is welcome and commits you to nothing.

Jizo is a bosatsu but is shown as a traveling monk on purpose, with a shaved head and a staff, because the point of the figure is that it walks the world helping people rather than waiting in a temple.

Nio, guardian kings of the ten rank. One has an open mouth and one a closed mouth, said to be sounding the first and last letters, and together they stand for everything from beginning to end.

Usually not inside a hall. Many temples allow photography of the grounds and the gate guardians but not of the main image, and some images are only shown a few days a year. Look for the signs and ask if unsure.

No, and it would be confusing. Seating is divided, the home section cheers only when its own team bats, and the away section does the same. Pick a side, sit in that block, and follow what the people around you are doing.

Usually yes, though cans and bottles are often refused and drinks are poured into paper cups at the gate. Many people bring a bento. Inside, staff walk the stands selling beer from kegs on their backs.

The rules are nearly the same, but games can end in a tie after twelve innings in the regular season, the ball and strike zone differ slightly, and sacrifice bunts and small-ball tactics are used far more than in the American game.

It changes by rank: wrestlers below the top two divisions wear a plain cotton mawashi for both practice and matches, while sekitori, wrestlers in the top two divisions, switch to a heavier silk one for official bouts and add an elaborate embroidered version just for the ring-entering ceremony.

Wrestlers don't think of it that way; the mawashi is treated as proper sporting dress within sumo, not as undress, and its main practical role is giving both fighters something secure to grip during the match.

Grabbing a solid one- or two-handed grip on the opponent's mawashi lets a wrestler control their balance, drive them backward out of the ring, or execute one of several dozen named throwing techniques, so most matches are effectively decided by who gets the better grip.

In some sectors, yes, routinely. Construction sites, factories and some offices start the day with it, partly as a warm-up against injury and partly as a way of getting everyone present and attentive at the same moment.

It is an attendance card run by the neighborhood association. Children come to the park each morning, do the routine, and get a stamp, and a full card earns a small prize at the end of the holiday. The real purpose is a regular waking time.

That's part of it, since a sudden loud shout can genuinely startle someone for a fraction of a second, but the main function is physical: a forceful exhale timed with the strike is thought to add power and tighten the body correctly.

Most striking arts and sword arts use it in some form, karate and kendo especially, though the exact sound, timing and how much emphasis is placed on it varies a lot between schools and even individual teachers.

In kendo, a scoring strike is supposed to show clear commitment and follow-through, and a weak or missing kiai can be read as a hesitant, poorly committed technique rather than a clean, decisive one.

It builds correct stance, balance, timing and breathing so precisely that they become automatic, which is meant to show up in sparring and real technique even though kata itself is performed without resistance.

It's related in that both are memorized and repeated exactly, but kata is built from techniques meant to work in an actual encounter, and advanced practitioners are expected to understand the combat meaning, called bunkai in karate, behind each movement.

Most traditional Japanese martial arts have some form of kata, including judo, kendo, aikido and iaido, though the specific forms, their number and how central they are to grading vary a lot by art and school.

It's a short sword, not used in the match itself. One account traces it to samurai who once served as referees for sumo-loving warlords, and by the Edo period it had become a symbol of the gyoji's readiness to take responsibility for a wrong call — though no referee has ever actually been made to answer for one that way.

Yes. Five judges sit around the ring, and if any of them disagrees with the gyoji's call, they can stop the next bout and hold a mono-ii, a brief conference to review what happened, sometimes using video, before confirming or reversing the decision.

By the color of the tassel hanging from his fan and the pattern woven into his kimono — both change as a gyoji is promoted, with the most senior rank, tate-gyoji, wearing a purple or purple-and-white cord and carrying the short sword.

Jujutsu is the older family of battlefield-derived techniques. Judo is one system built from them, with the most dangerous techniques removed so that free sparring is possible. Brazilian jiu-jitsu descends from judo ground technique.

The traditional judogi is white for simplicity and cleanliness. Blue was introduced for international competition so that judges and spectators can tell the two competitors apart, and it caused some resistance in Japan.

Martial arts became a required part of junior high physical education in 2012, and schools choose between judo, kendo and sumo. Safety in school judo has been a serious debate after a number of head injuries.

To purify the ring. Salt is used for purification throughout Shinto, and the same idea appears at the entrance of restaurants and after funerals. Only wrestlers in the top divisions do it.

No, and this is a live controversy. The association maintains the ring as a sacred space under traditional rules. The issue drew wide criticism in 2018 when women giving first aid to a collapsed man were asked to leave the ring.

Chanko-nabe, yes, in very large quantities, along with rice and beer, and traditionally they eat after training and then sleep, which is part of how they gain weight. Retired wrestlers often open chanko restaurants.

Ask at the door rather than walking in. Most places are happy to have visitors watch a session, but they will want to seat you somewhere appropriate and tell you the rules about photography and about not walking across the training area.

They are bowing to the upper end of the hall, which represents the tradition being practiced, not a god you are being asked to believe in. Guests are not expected to bow, though standing quietly while others do is appreciated.

Judo involves constant grabbing, gripping, and throwing, so the fabric has to survive being pulled without tearing. Karate relies on strikes, not grabs, so a lighter uniform works fine.

No. Each art and even each school sets its own color system, so a brown belt in one style isn't automatically equal to a brown belt in another.

No, that is normal. The ends are cut, not hemmed, so loose threads come away for the first several washes and then the edge settles. Trim the long threads with scissors rather than pulling them.

Look at the back. In the traditional dyeing method the dye goes through the cloth, so the pattern is nearly as clear on the reverse. A screen-printed souvenir is white on the back and often feels stiffer.

The general view in Japan is no, and rental shops exist specifically for visitors. Wearing it correctly and respectfully is welcomed. The objection people do have is to costume-style versions worn as a joke.

Left over right, always, for everyone regardless of gender. The right-over-left wrap is reserved for dressing the dead, and it is the one mistake nobody will miss.

The best are woven and dyed by hand, sometimes taking months, and the obi alone can cost more than the kimono. Rental and second-hand markets exist for exactly this reason.

Here "mae" means "earlier," not "on top." The right side goes on first, so it ends up underneath.

No, men and women cross it the same way. That surprises many visitors who are used to Western clothing.

Nothing serious, but people will notice because it looks like funeral dress. Someone may politely point it out, so just rewrap it.

No, that's the whole point of a rental shop. A staff member dresses you as part of the price, and most first-time wearers couldn't manage the obi alone anyway.

Most shops offer plans by the hour or for a full day, and you simply return everything to the same shop before closing time.

Many schools split everyone into a red team and a white team, and the headband shows which side you are on. Red and white are also a traditional pair of colors for contests in Japan, as in the New Year's Eve singing show.

No. Girls wear them at sports day, and women wear them at festivals and in sports teams too. The image of a man with a twisted headband is common, but anyone can wear one.

No. In formal gift giving the cloth is the giver's, used to keep the box clean on the way. They untie it at the door and take it home. If someone does give you the cloth as well, they will say so clearly.

Around seventy centimeters square handles most everyday things, including a bento or a bottle of wine. A hundred centimeters or more makes a usable shoulder bag. Very small ones are for wrapping a lunch box only.

A yukata has no lining, is made of cotton, is worn without the under-layers, and needs far less equipment. A formal kimono is silk, layered, and usually needs someone else's help to put on.

Left over right, always. Right over left is only used when dressing the dead, so it is a mistake people spot instantly, and it is the one thing to get right.

In a hot spring town, yes, and people walk the streets and visit shops in them. Outside such towns it would look like wearing pyjamas in public.

It is deliberately unspecified. It can mean the listener, everyone who helped, circumstances, or in a religious register the gods and buddhas. Not naming the source is part of the phrase, and asking whose help is meant would miss the point.

Yes, and people do constantly. It is not a false claim that they helped, it is a way of declining to credit yourself. Using it with a stranger who just asked how you are is completely normal.

The difference is that it does not depend on payment. Staff in a convenience store and staff in a luxury hotel behave the same way, and neither is hoping for a tip. It is treated as the standard, not as an extra.

Money would suggest the service was a transaction, which is the opposite of the idea. Saying thank you clearly, and taking your rubbish with you, is how people here say it. Some staff will chase you down the street to return the money.

Yes, and Japanese people say so too. The pressure to anticipate everything can be exhausting for workers, and there is an ongoing problem with customers who treat it as license to be rude. There is even a word for that now.

When someone thanks you for a favor, or apologizes for troubling you. It fits ordinary mutual help between people who know each other, and it would sound odd from a shop assistant to a customer.

Thank them once more and let it go. Insisting that you will repay, or immediately producing a gift, pushes the exchange back into accounting, which is the thing the phrase was trying to avoid.

They are a pair in spirit. Okagesama de spreads credit outward so good news is not a boast; otagaisama spreads obligation outward so a favor is not a debt. Both keep things from resting on one person.

Yes, and being invited is exactly when you say it. It is not asking permission; you say it as you step up, after the host has already told you to come in.

Douzo, meaning please go ahead, or agatte kudasai, please come up. Some will say irasshai, a welcome. You do not need to respond further.

No. You use it entering someone's office, a room where others are working, or a shop's back area. Anywhere the space clearly belongs to someone else.

Loosely, it echoes Shinto's sense that natural things like the sun can be treated with reverence, but it functions mainly as a secular moral reminder used by religious and non-religious families alike, closer to a folk saying than a prayer.

Most often to a child who thinks a small dishonesty or laziness will go unnoticed, but adults also say it to themselves half-jokingly when tempted to cut a corner while genuinely alone, as a way of holding themselves to a standard.

Yes, the idea that some ever-present, impersonal witness sees all wrongdoing appears widely, though the specific image of the sun as that witness, rather than a god or one's own conscience, is a distinctly Japanese framing.

Muri shinaide, meaning don't push yourself, or muri shinaide ne. It is the standard alternative, and using it shows you have noticed their state rather than just cheering.

Because the literal sense is closer to try hard. Translating it as good luck smooths that over, but the Japanese word really does point at effort, and that is why it can land badly.

Ganbarimasu, meaning I will do my best, or arigato. Between friends a simple un, yeah, is enough. There is no elaborate response expected.

Constantly. Committees use it to assign roles, colleagues use it for the last piece of food, and broadcasters have used it to decide the order of appearances. It is treated as a legitimate method, not a joke.

Jan-ken-pon, throwing on pon. For a draw, aiko desho and throw again. Some regions start with saisho wa guu, meaning first comes rock, to synchronise the timing.

From earlier Japanese hand games that came through China, with the three-sign version taking its current form in the nineteenth century. It spread worldwide from Japan in the twentieth century.

Not rude exactly, but it feels like leaving a sentence unfinished. Children are corrected for not answering, and in a family the reply usually comes automatically from another room.

Ittekimasu from the person leaving, meaning I will go and come back, and itterasshai from the person staying, meaning go and come back. Both assume you are returning.

Many do. It is often described as marking the switch from outside to inside, so the habit persists regardless of whether anyone hears it.

No. It applies to anything not used to its full value, including time, ability and opportunities. Telling a talented person that not using their skill is mottainai is completely normal.

The word is written with characters meaning roughly that a thing's essence is lacking, and it was used in old texts to mean irreverent or undeserved. The sense of respect for objects fits Buddhist and Shinto ideas, though the modern everyday use is simpler than that.

Not as much as the word suggests. Japan throws away a large amount of food every year and uses a great deal of packaging. The value is genuine, but daily practice does not always match it.

You replace it rather than translate it. "Thank you in advance" or "I look forward to working with you" fill the same slot. Translating it literally produces something that sounds like a plea.

Yoroshiku alone is casual, for friends. Yoroshiku onegaishimasu is the standard polite form. Adding douzo at the front makes it more formal again.

Because you are asking the other person to carry something for you. The phrase acknowledges that you are placing a burden on them, rather than simply issuing an instruction.