＜prologue＞
I started a blog called “The Baby Boomer Generation’s Miscellaneous Blog”（Dankai-sedai no garakutatyou:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳） in July 2018, about a year before I fully retired. More than six years have passed since then, and the number of articles has increased considerably.
So, in order to make them accessible to people who don’t understand Japanese, I decided to translate my past articles into English and publish them.
It may sound a bit exaggerated, but I would like to make this my life’s work.
It should be noted that haiku and waka （Japanese short fixed form poems） are quite difficult to translate into English, so some parts are written in Japanese.
If you are interested in haiku or waka and would like to know more, please read introductory or specialized books on haiku or waka written in English.
I also write many articles about the Japanese language. I would be happy if these inspire more people to want to learn Japanese.
my blog’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳 | 団塊世代が雑学や面白い話を発信しています
I previously wrote an article about the origins of words like “omocha” (toy), but there are many other fascinating etymologies in Japanese.
I previously wrote an article titled “The Joy of Reading a Japanese Dictionary,” and learning about word origins can also help you gain a deeper understanding of the Japanese language, so please feel free to read it.
1. Omoshiroi (Interesting)
In archaic Japanese, “omoshiroshi” (interesting) was used in roughly the same sense as the modern “omoshiroi” (interesting). The following theory about the origin of the word is the most likely.
“Omo” means in front of you, and “shiroi” means bright and clear. From there, it came to refer to a state in which the world is bright, and to the beauty of the scenery in front of you.
Furthermore, it came to mean things like “fun” and “comfortable,” and has come to be used in a broad sense as a word to express cheerful emotions.
One theory is that it comes from “long ago, when people were talking around a fire, when something interesting came up, they would all look up at once, and their faces would stand out white in the light of the fire,” but this is a later myth created from “omo” and “shiroi.”
2. Omokuroi (black-faced)
This word was used to mean both “interesting” (omoshiroi) and “boring” (tsumaranai) .
Connoisseurs and craftsmen in early modern Edo used it to mean “interesting,” while in haiku and senryu it was used to mean “boring.” It is also used in the Edo period humorous book “Tokaidochu Hizakurige” by Jippensha Ikku, in the line, “This guy has a black face, so he puts on those geta and goes into the bath…”
The “interesting” version is a pun on the original word, playing on the “white(shiro)” in “omoshiroi” by making it “black(kuro).” The “boring” version, changing “white(shiro)” to “black(kuro),” conveys the opposite meaning, and is a commonly thought-of expression.
3. Trivial (kudaranai)
In addition to meaning to move from a higher place to a lower one, “kudaru” can also mean to pass through. Even today, when someone has a regular bowel movement, they say “Otujhi ga aru” (I have bowel movements), and there is also the expression “hara wo kudasu” (having diarrhea). By negating this with “nai,” it came to mean “meaningless” or “illogical,” and evolved into the meaning of “inconsequential.”
Also, goods sent from Kamigata to Kanto were called “kudarimono,” and of these, sake, which originated in Nada and Fushimi, was called “kudari-zake.” Conversely, sake from Kanto was known as “kudara-nu-sake” (descending sake) because it tasted worse, and one theory is that this evolved into its current meaning. However, this is just a popular myth, as the word “kudara-nu” was in use before it was called “kudari-mono.”
Another theory is that it was the people of Baekje, in what is now Korea, who introduced farming to Japan, and because Baekje people were considered intelligent, people who were stupid and difficult to communicate with were called “people who are not from Baekje,” and the word “kudara denai-hito” was shortened to “kudaranai.” However, I don’t think this is plausible.
Another theory is that in Buddhism, there are nine teachings called “dara,” and an action that does not include any of these teachings is called a “kudara ga nai kodo(action without kudara),” and that this is where the word “kudaranai” came from.
I’m not an expert on Buddhism, so I’m not sure, but could it have something to do with the “mandala(「曼荼羅（まんだら）」),” “Dharani Sutra(「陀羅尼経（だらにきょう）」),” or “Crossing the Sea to Potalaka(「補陀落渡海（ふだらくとかい）」)”?
4. Itadakimasu (Thank you for the meal)
“Itadakimasu” is a greeting used when starting a meal or buying something.
“Itadakimasu” is the conjunctive form of the verb “itadaku” (to receive ). Just as the highest point of a mountain or head is called “itadaki” (the peak, the top of the head), “itadakimasu” originally meant to refer to placing something on one’s head.
From the Middle Ages onward, when receiving something from a superior, one would place it on one’s head, which led to the humble usage of “itadakimasu” meaning “to receive.”
Eventually, when eating or drinking something given to one by a superior or something offered to a god or Buddha, one would also place it on one’s head, leading to the humble usage meaning “to eat or drink.” This led to the saying “itadakimasu” as a greeting when starting a meal.
Incidentally, there is no English equivalent to “itadakimasu” as a greeting that is always said when starting a meal. While it’s true that Japanese people sometimes praise food by saying things like, “Wow, it looks delicious! Let’s eat!” or “It looks very yummy! Let’s eat!”,…
I believe that the Japanese “itadakimasu” (thank you for the meal) is imbued with gratitude toward the person who provided the food and toward those involved in the farming, labor, and cooking. I’d even go so far as to say that it also broadly encompasses gratitude toward the life that became the ingredients.
The “gochisousama deshita” (thank you for the meal), a greeting always said at the end of a meal, is a uniquely Japanese phrase that, like “itadakimasu,” conveys gratitude toward the person who provided the food and those involved in the farming, labor, and cooking, as well as gratitude toward the life that became the ingredients. It has no equivalent in English.