Japanese wordplay relies on the nuances of the
Japanese languageis a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family. There are a number of proposed relationships with other languages, but none have gained general acceptance...
and Japanese script for humorous effect.
Japanese double entendres have a rich history in Japanese entertainment, because of the way that Japanese words can be read to have several different meanings and pronunciations (homographs). Also, several different spellings for any pronunciation and wildly differing meanings (homophones).
Japanese wordplay relies on the nuances of the
Japanese languageis a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family. There are a number of proposed relationships with other languages, but none have gained general acceptance...
and Japanese script for humorous effect.
Japanese double entendres have a rich history in Japanese entertainment, because of the way that Japanese words can be read to have several different meanings and pronunciations (homographs). Also, several different spellings for any pronunciation and wildly differing meanings (homophones). Often replacing one spelling with another (synonyms) can give a new meaning to phrases.
Goroawase
is an especially common form of
Japaneseis a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family. There are a number of proposed relationships with other languages, but none have gained general acceptance...
wordplay whereby homophonous words are associated with a given series of letters, numbers or symbols, in order to associate a new meaning with that series. The new words can be used to express a
superstitionSuperstition is a credulous belief or notion, not based on reason, knowledge, or experience. The word is often used pejoratively to refer to folk beliefs deemed irrational. This leads to some superstitions being called "old wives' tales"...
about certain letters or numbers. More commonly, however,
goroawase is used as a
mnemonicA mnemonic device is a mind memory and/or learning aid. Commonly, mnemonics are verbal—such as a very short poem or a special word used to help a person remember something—but may be visual, kinesthetic or auditory. Mnemonics rely on associations between easy-to-remember constructs which can be...
technique, especially in the memorization of numbers such as dates in
historyHistory is the study of the human past, with special attention to the written record. Scholars who write about history are called historians. It is a field of research which uses a narrative to examine and analyse the sequence of events, and it often attempts to investigate objectively the patterns...
, scientific
constantA physical constant is a physical quantity that is generally believed to be both universal in nature and constant in time. It can be contrasted with a mathematical constant, which is a fixed numerical value but does not directly involve any physical measurement.There are many physical constants in...
s, and phone numbers.
Numeric substitution
Every digit has a set of possible phonetic values, due to the variety of valid Japanese (kun'yomi and on'yomi), and
EnglishEnglish is a West Germanic language that developed in England during the Anglo-Saxon era. As a result of the military, economic, scientific, political, and cultural influence of the British Empire during the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries, and of the United States since the mid 20th century,...
-origin pronunciations for numbers in Japanese. Often readings are created by taking the standard reading and retaining only the first syllable (for example
roku becomes
ro).
Goroawase substitutions are well known as mnemonics, notably in the selection of memorable telephone numbers for commercial services, and in the memorization of numbers such as years in the study of history.
Mnemonics are formed by selecting a fitting reading for a given number from the list below.
| Number | Japanese kunyomi readings | Japanese onyomi readings | Transliterations from English readings |
|---|
| 0 |
maru, ma |
rei, re |
o, zero, ze |
| 1 |
hitotsu, hito, hi |
ichi, i |
wan |
| 2 |
futatsu, fu, futa |
ni |
tsū, tū |
| 3 |
mitsu, mi |
san, sa |
surī |
| 4 |
yon, yo, yotsu |
shi |
fō |
| 5 |
itsutsu, itsu |
go, ko |
faibu, faivu |
| 6 |
mutsu, mu |
roku, ro |
shikkusu |
| 7 |
nana, nanatsu, na |
shichi |
sebun, sevun |
| 8 |
yatsu, ya |
hachi, ha, ba |
eito |
| 9 |
kokonotsu, ko |
kyu, ku |
nain |
| 10 |
tō |
ju, ji |
ten |
As mnemonics
1492 (the year of discovery of America) can be memorized as:
iyo! kuni ga mieta! (derived as follows:
i (1)
yo (4)!
ku (9)
ni (2)
(ga mieta)!), meaning: "Wow! I can see land!" or
i (1)
yo (4)!
ku (9)
ni (2), It's good country.
23564 (23 hours, 56 minutes, 4 seconds, the length of a sidereal day) can be read "ni-san-go-ro-shi", which sounds very similar to "nii-san koroshi" (兄さん殺し), or in English
killing one's brotherFratricide is the act of a person killing his or her brother....
.
Other examples
4649 "
yoroshiku" (derived as follows: "
yo" (4) "
ro" (6) "
shi" (4) "
ku" (9)) means: "Nice to meet you."
18782 can be read "i-ya-na-ya-tsu" (いやなやつ) – meaning
unpleasant guy
37564 can be read "mi-na-go-ro-shi" (みなごろし), meaning
massacre, or
kill them all.
893 can be read "ya-ku-za" (やくざ) or
Yakuza, also known as and violence groups, are members of traditional organized crime syndicates in Japan.-Etymology:The term Yakuza comes from a Japanese game, Oicho-Kabu . The worst hand in the game is a set of eight, nine and three...
. It is traditionally a bad omen for a student to receive this candidate number for an examination.
573 stands for "ko-na-mi" or
Konamiis a Japanese leading developer and publisher of numerous popular and strong-selling toys, trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, slot machines, arcade cabinets and video games...
. This number appears in many Konami telephone numbers and as a high score in Konami games.
765 stands for "na-m-ko" or
Namco, is a Japanese corporation best known as a former video game developer and publisher. The company is most famous for creating Pac-Man, the best-selling arcade game in history...
. Derivatives of this number can be found in dozens of Namco produced video games.
.59 "
ten go ku" is the title of a song from the Konami game
beatmania IIDXis a series of rhythm video games that was first introduced by Konami in Japan on February 26, 1999. IIDX has since spawned over 17 arcade releases and over 15 console releases on the Sony Playstation 2...
. "Tengoku" (天国) means
heaven.
3923 "
san kyu ni san", or "Thank you Nissan!"(Nii-san means elder brother, so it more like "Thank you, brother."). Found in the Online Comics of NBC TV Show Heroes, for which Nissan is a sponsor.
634 "
mu sa shi", intentionally set the height of Tokyo Sky Tree sounds like
Musashi Provincewas a province of Japan, which today comprises Tokyo Prefecture, most of Saitama Prefecture and part of Kanagawa Prefecture, mainly Kawasaki and Yokohama. Musashi bordered on Kai, Kōzuke, Sagami, Shimōsa, and Shimotsuke Provinces....
or
Miyamoto Musashi, also known as Shinmen Takezō, Miyamoto Bennosuke, or by his Buddhist name Niten Dōraku, was a Japanese swordsman famed for his duels and distinctive style...
, easy to remember among Japanese.
In popular culture
Goroawase is used extensively in Mahou Shoujotai Arusu, where the main character introduces it as a method to more easily remember and cast spells.