Jisho
Glossary
| Japanese Word | English Meaning |
| Ashiko | Straight metal claws used in the feet to add traction when walking or running in slippery terrains. |
| Bakahatsugama | It is a kind of Kusarigama but the chain was concealed inside the handle. |
| Bansenshukai | Collection of five books (like an encyclopedia) written by Fujibayashi Nagato describing details of the ninja traditions. |
| Bo | General name for the wood stick, when used as just bo, it usually refers to the bigger of them, but the word alone refers to all of the wooden sticks. |
| Dai | Long, large, big |
| Daisho | Two samurai swords set in which one is longer than the other (see Dai, Sho). |
| Iga | Province in ancient Japan where the Togakure Mountain lies (near present day Tokyo). |
| Katana | Curved bladed sword commonly used by the samurais while in battle of about 40 inches long, also known as Daito (see Dai). |
| Kusarifundo | Long chain of about 36" with a weight attached to each end, used as a concealed weapon by the ninja. |
| Kusarigama | Special weapon consisted in a handle with a chain in its end and a perpendicular curved blade on the other end. |
| Manrikigusari | Short chain that used to measure about 24" long with a 6" weight on each end, used by the samurais. |
| Meiji Restoration | The Meiji Restoration is a series of amendments made by the Emperor Meiji during the 19th century that affected the Japanese social, economical and political rules. Those rules abolished the title of samurai and Shogun. |
| Mie Prefecture Iga Ueno | Ninja museum in the province of Iga, Japan. For more information about this museum, click here. |
| Ninja | Person who practice the ninjutsu |
| Ninjutsu | The art of invisibility, it is the martial tradition of enduring the environment while pursuing a goal until completion. |
| Roku | 6, the number six |
| Roku-Shaku Bo | Wooden stick of about six feet, see roku, shaku |
| Ronin | Master less samurai. When the samurai wanted to gain combat experience or survival skills they used to go traveling without any specific path or road fighting his way. The most known ronin ever known was Miyamoto Musashi, the author of the Go Rin No Sho (The Book of the Five Rings) about combat strategy. |
| Ryu | School of style of martial art. |
| Samurai | Literally means "who serve" (if you have not still watched The Last Samurai). They were soldiers that eventually transformed into a powerful social level even more important than the nobles who wanted to become Shogun. |
| Saya | Sword sheath. |
| Shaku | Measure units of about 11.5 inches |
| Shinobi | Title granted by an early age emperor to the people of some village near Iga for their effort and work of information gathering. It is a Japanese word that means stealth. |
| Shirasaya | Literally means "white sheath", it is a certain kind of sword in which the blade is hidden inside a simple sheath. Usually this was a method used by the sword smith to carry a recently finished blade to evade the rust. They used a single piece sheath in which they stored their blades, sometimes it was not a sheath at all but the mold used to made the blade. The ninjas used this storage case to conceal weapons in their behalf. |
| Sho | Short, small, little |
| Shogun | Military title granted to the higher officer (general), like the US Secretary of Defense, but with more power than him. It was so powerful that even the emperor was under his command. This title was abolished in the 19th Century while the Meiji Restoration. |
| Shuko | Curved metal claws used by the ninja as weapons against swords attacts. |
| Shuriken | Bladed weapon used to be thrown at the oponent but there were several kinds of them. The ones that look like a double edge knives are known as shuriken. But there are some kind of them that looks like straight darts and are known as bo-shuriken. The most known of them are the star-shaped ones that are known as hira-shuriken. |
| Soke | Leader of the ninjutsu tradition. The name of the current soke is Masaaki Hatsumi and its main duty is to safeguard the tradition and to establish the rules and principles that are going to be taught in world-wide schools. |
| To | A generic term for sword, it is used when no other distinction about the weapon is used. The longer samurai katana is known as the Dai-To or long sword, and the shorter one is called the Sho-To. |
| Togakure | A mountain at the south-west of the Iga Provice (present Tokyo) |
| Tori | A person who defend himself |
| Ude | The person who make an attack |
| Wakisashi | Short samurai sword meant to be used inside buildings where there was no room for the large sword. It used to measure around the 30" and is also known as Shoto (see Sho). |
| Yamabushi | Japanese monks that used to live a very sacrificed life. Their only purpose were to work for their food and practice martial arts. They seem to be counterparts of the Chinese Shaolin monks. |
| Yon | 4, the number four |
| Yon-Shaku Bo | Wooden stick of near four feet, see yon, shaku |