Yokai is very popular motif for TV shows in Japan. And I’m watching one, too. Do you know “Natsume Yujin-cho (夏目友人帳)”? Its very calm, lay back and a little bit creepy atmosphere is nicely unique. You can see the today’s Japanese country side life and scenery.
And of course, highlight of this show is Nyanko-sensei’s UGLY cuteness…. His design is based on real Japanese traditional cat figurehead “maneki-neko”.
招き猫 (manekineko): Lucky Figurehead for Prosperous Business
Well, then let’s talk about kanji that I noticed in this show.
Yokai Trick and Japanese Kanji
In “Natsume Yujin-cho”, so many human-shape yokais are covering up their eyes like this. She used to be a bird and now she can shift into human-shape. The symbol on the cover is not kanji but it looks like “鳥(tori: Bird)”.
In that episode, to go into the group of yokais without getting noticed, a yokai did similar trick to Natsume. The yokai mixed his blood into the ink and wrote a kanji, then covered Natsume’s eyes. The letter “目” means “Eye(s)”.
Now, yokais never notice that Natsume is human. ( ﾟДﾟ)
Natsume’s friend got the same trick to hide his identity too.
By the way, the kanji on the bottle “酒” means “Sake (rice wine)”.
If you want to know the meanings of any Japanese kanji that you don’t see English subs for in a particular animation or live action movie, tell me “Name of the Show”, “Season and Episode #” and “the Exact Moment (Minute: Second)”! I can’t promise to reply to everyone but I’ll try my best!
Email to: info@kansaichick.com
- Tags
- Calligraphy, Japanese, Kanji, Natsume Yujin-cho, anime, meaning
