Japanese-English Tea Glossary

[Drax]

That's great, Drax, thank you!!
Maybe you could also enlighten us on the rules regarding which syllable to put the emphasis on? This sometimes seems unusual and irregular, but I assume there is some sort of system behind it?

For instance, news reporters have been saying Fukushima at least 3 different ways, each emphasising a different syllable; FU-ku-shi-ma, fu-KU-shi-ma, fu-ku-SHI-ma. I figured at one point some of them must have been told the correct way of saying it.

Ahhhh, well I did forget to talk about emphasis, didn't I? Okay, to be honest, I didn't forget, it's just a bit more complicated. And I'll add up front that I'm much less familiar with the finer details of it, but.....

The short version is that there is technically no emphasis in Japanese, at least, not in the syllabic stress. All syllables should be pronounced with the same emphasis.

However, Japanese does have a tone system. It's not as complicated as Chinese, though, and only covers 'high' and 'low.' Words have a high/low structure to them that dictates when one should swap tones or stay. If you listen to a Japanese person speak, listen past the words to the 'background' tone and you should be able to key in on it going up and down.

It gets a little more complicated when stringing together a bunch of words, but I'll leave it there. This nuance of the language is probably one of the last things that I'll ever accomplish...!

[Stentor]

Thank you for explaining this! It sounds like something that is hard to "get" without a lot of practice listening as well as talking to native speakers.
I'm quite intrigued about the language, I must say.
I should add "study Japanese" to my bucket list!

[m147]

very nice. this is a great list. very helpful.

[Drax]

Thanks

I remembered that I wanted to add a pronunciation bit on doubled consonants (most relavant to "matcha"), so I added it to the first post, but have also copied it below.

Doubled consonants (kk, ss, tch, +others) are indicative of a gemination (held slightly longer). In Japanese, it arises due to use of the sokuon: っ -- sometimes called a "small tsu" (つ). I sort of liken it to saying the word "headdress" -- if you say "headdress" properly, you have a slight pause on the "dd" before continuing the word. An example tea word is "matcha" (まっちゃ) -- "matcha" is not a quick 2-syllable word, but it has a slight pause in the middle.

[eyvind]

This list is great! I have been looking for the kanji of various tea names, equipment and so forth for a while and you have put them in a consolidated place. Thanks.
Do you have the kanji for other tea varieties such as okumidori, yamakai, et cetera? It seems that many of the tea merchants targeting English speakers just give the romaji of the tea names which is disappointing because the names are often colorful and poetic.
Also a list of tea growing regions with kanji would be helpful.

[Drax]

This list is great! I have been looking for the kanji of various tea names, equipment and so forth for a while and you have put them in a consolidated place. Thanks.
Do you have the kanji for other tea varieties such as okumidori, yamakai, et cetera? It seems that many of the tea merchants targeting English speakers just give the romaji of the tea names which is disappointing because the names are often colorful and poetic.
Also a list of tea growing regions with kanji would be helpful.

Always happy to oblige!

I found there were so many names that I was going to wait for people to provide a list (or ask) to have certain ones translated.

Names (even of tea varieties) can be tricky. For example, yamakai is likely the Japanese word for river or gorge (山峡) but these kanji appear to be more commonly pronounced "sankyou." ("kai" here is apparently an archaic word/pronunciation). If it's not this old word, it gets worse, because "kai" could mean about 20 other things in Japanese, probably 5 of which could be reasonable choices. In these situations, any screenshots of packaging or something that might gives clues can provide a big help.

Okumidori is likely 奥緑, which would mean something like 'interior green.'

Names of growing regions are much easier, as I can look those up on a map (Shizuoka, Fukushima, Uji, etc). But if you can still provide a list, that would be useful so that I hit the ones you're interested in

[eyvind]

I realize this thread has been cold for a while but I wanted to add some more vocabulary.

Artists

憲児　Kenji
玉光　Gyokko

Techniques

飛び鉋　Tobikanna. This is were the clay is scored with with a chattering tool as it is turned on the wheel to make a repetitive series of marks. The tool is called "biri" (びり　or　ビリ).

練込 Nerikomi. This is the marbled effect in the clay. It is created by pigmenting the clay with different minerals and kneading them together to form layers or striations.

梅花皮 Kairagi. This is the "shark skin" crawling glaze used mostly in Hagi ware.

I asked a teaware vendor based in Japan for the kanji for several names and techniques and thought I would share.

[Chip]

Thank you kindly!

[chrl42]

Works done beautifully, thanks all.

How do 唐物 (Japanese calling for Yixing teapot) and 巨輪珠 (also Yixing) sound like? So next time I visit Japan..can directly ask..

[chrl42]

Gyokuro (玉楼、ぎょくろ)

Correct me if I'm wrong..

But shouldn't Gyokuro to be 玉露(jade-dew) than 玉楼(jade-building)? I must have mistaken as well

[Puerlife]

Great thread! Yunomi.us has lots of good language info as well. On the main page, hover your cursor over "Green Tea" for translations with kanji of the main kinds of tea.
They also have a Japanese Tea Glossary with lots more info but no kanji. As for tones in Japanese, for many lexical items there are regional differences so it depends on where you are but, in general, accenting the right syllable is less important in Japanese than it is in English.

[eyvind]

Gyokuro (玉楼、ぎょくろ)

Correct me if I'm wrong..

But shouldn't Gyokuro to be 玉露(jade-dew) than 玉楼(jade-building)? I must have mistaken as well

I believe you are correct.
The package I have has 玉露 written on it. Not sure a "jade-building" is for drinking but it sounds like the name of a Muromachi-era pavilion.

[Drax]

Eyvind -- thanks for the additions! I've updated the first post with those terms.

Chrl -- thanks for the catch on the gyokuro, you're correct.

As for your question about 唐物 and 巨輪珠...

唐物 is coming up as meaning "imported goods," so that might be too generic. Even so, it's pronounced either "karamono" or "toubutsu." Again, sounds very generic.

And just a gut feeling, but I don't think you're going to have any luck with 巨輪珠. I searched for a bit and couldn't find any Japanese sources using this term. If I were to try to pronounce it (!), I would guess "kyorinshu."

You might try "shudei" (朱泥), or "red mud." I've seen Katsuragi on eBay refer to the Yixing pots as shudei. If you want to be more specific, you could say 中国の朱泥 (chuugoku no shudei), or Chinese red mud. Maybe add a "yaki" or "yakimono" at the end.... good luck!

Sorry for the delay, I don't read the green tea forum as frequently as I used to (shame on me!).

[JBaymore]

Amongst potters, the term 唐物 (karamono) is used pretty "generically" to refer to any pottery (relative to Japan) coming from China.

best,

.............john

[chrl42]

Very thanks for two of you, that's more than I actually expected

Blessings,
C.