JapanesePod101.com Blog

Welcome to summer! With the longest days upon us, it seems fitting to take a look at the character for “long”:

長 (CHŌ, naga(i): long)

This kanji can also mean “chief, head, leader,” but today, for the most part, I’m only interested in its length. I love how 長 elongates the following things in the most charming of ways:

穴   (ana: hole)		長穴   (naga-ana: slot)
円   (en or maru: circle)		長円   (chōen: ellipse, oval)
靴   (kutsu: shoes)		長靴   (nagagutsu: boots)
椅子   (isu: chair)		長椅子   (nagaisu: couch)

The compound 椅子 (isu: chair) breaks down as chair + noun suffix relating to objects such as furniture. Wow, that breakdown was long even without 長 there to elongate it!

Here’s my favorite 長 transformation:

芋     (imo: potato)

長芋             (nagaimo: yam)

Yes, that’s true! A yam is longer than a potato! I’d never thought about it before.
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Hello fellow JapanesePod101.com Users!

Today’s title means, “clap your hands twice!” (thanks for your help with that Ben!) This is a reference to practices performed at a Buddhist jinja, or shrine. This should give you a hint for today’s topic.

At the top is a photo of one of the many shrines found in Ueno Park. Below is a photo of the Meiji Shrine. The Honden is visible just through the large entryway. [Photos by Emily Carsch]

I did quite a few podcasts this morning! Covered in JapanesePod101.com’s Survival Phrases were lessons 37-40 and in SurvivalPhrases.com Japanese I covered lessons 35-38. While these podcasts touched on many subjects, the one I’m going to address today is shrines.

Here in Tokyo, there are shrines and temples everywhere! On my first day in Japan, I went to Harajuku to see the Meiji-Jinga, or Meiji Shrine. It’s a huge area filled with gardens, walkways, streams, and areas for different activities and events.

Because it was already close to night, I didn’t have much time to spend, so I went straight to the shrine itself. It was really beautiful and looked exactly like it was from a Japanese postcard or travel book. We walked around the perimeter a bit before actually approaching the main building of the shrine, or the honden.

The small group I had gone with approached with me. We were all cautious, not really knowing what to do, as none of us are Buddhist, or so I thought. One of the girls in my program started whispering to us exactly what was going on with the clapping and bowing. She told us she was Buddhist and taught us the entire premise of the actions we saw happening before us.

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