Japanese Words
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Language is an important reflection of how things, ideas
and people are valued in the culture. There are words used to denote things
as important or unimportant, the absence or non-use of words considered
offensive or tabu, the avoidance of topics in conversation or writing,
the disappearance of people from history books. Therefore, the way in which
women are referred to, the way in which the activities and roles of women
are designated and the nature terms used to refer to women (sexualized
and gendered terms) tell us alot about the status of women in the culture
and the value placed on the efforts and thoughts of women. |
Here is a list of words used about women in Japanese taken from Kittridge Cherry's book Womansword. What do these words tell us about how women are seen in the culture?
1. kafu in somaru
- "dyed in the tradition of the house"
2. yome ni iku - "go
as a bride"
3. ryosai kenbo -
"good wives and wise mothers"
4. hanayome shugyo
- "bride training" woman's education
5. okusama - "inside
person" wife
6. shokuba no hana
- "office flowers" decorative in public
7. mibojin - "woman
without a husband" - widow, means: useless
8. haku iri musume
- "girl in a box" means: innocence
9. onna rashii - "girl-like"
-femininity
10. umazume "stone
woman" infertility
11. burikko "virginal
child" pretending to be a child, maleable therefore attractive to
men.
12. mamagon "Mama-saurus"
dominating mother
13. kyoiku mama -
"education mother" a woman who prods her children to educational
success or gains personal status by the success of her children
14. kokeshi - "child
erasure" the name of simple wooden dolls that have sweet female child
faces (aborted fetuses mainly female)
15. Ofukuro - "honorable bag" sons use to talk about their own mothers.