In today’s culture class we learn about Japanese superstitions and related vocabulary. With yesterday being Friday the 13th, we know quite a few of you are feeling pretty superstitious. For that very reason, today we take a look at Japanese superstitions and see what spooks them. This lesson was so interesting and fun, we doubled the allotted time to bring it you in its entirety. You don’t want to miss this one.
This entry was posted on Saturday, January 14th, 2006 at 5:30 am and is filed under Japanese Culture Classes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
27 Responses to “Japanese Culture Class #2 - Japanese Superstitions”
Peter says:
January 14th, 2006 at 7:06 am
皆様 お元気ですか？
Hope you liked today’s lesson. I really enjoyed this one, as I found out some really interesting things in researching it. Please let us know about any superstitions unique to your country!
japanesepod101.com says:
January 14th, 2006 at 9:03 am
Key vocab can be found in the notes for this lesson on your ipod. How to get them? Once this episode has begun to play, click the center button on your ipod and scroll down! Key vocab will be waiting for you.
Paul says:
January 14th, 2006 at 1:25 pm
Thanks for another great lesson. I am happy to finally learn the real name (招きに猫） of my “Lucky Kitty”. I would have to say that in the states the Beckoning Cat and the Daruma Doll are the most common Japanese charms.
Can you fill us in on on the Daruma Dolls and thier history? All I know is that you make a wish and fill in one eye and when the wish comes true you fill in the other.
Paul
Peter says:
January 14th, 2006 at 4:25 pm
大変失礼しました！
The PDF and lesson notes have just been corrected. In the PDF and ipod notes there is an extra に in the hiragana version of 招き猫.
深くお詫びしたいと思います。Very sorry about that.
The romaji and kanji versions are correct, and the hiragana version was just corrected. Sorry for any inconvience.
Paul-san, you can find out more about the Daruma Dolls here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daruma
In addition, I will see what else I can find out for you. Shibaraku o-machi kudasai. しばらくお待ち下さい。Please give us a little time.
Michael-san, thank you very much. Seems like your on the fast track to taking my job! 
Please keep sharing your, obvious, deep knowledge of this language.
chanuntaidesu (baka4Areason) says:
January 14th, 2006 at 7:12 pm
I love the show notes on my iPod, very convenient!! 
Sophie says:
March 11th, 2006 at 1:41 am
French saying about spiders :
“araignée du matin chagrin, araignée du midi souci, araignée du soir espoir”
“spider in the morning, sorrow; spider at noon, worry; spider in the evening, hope”
The meteorological explanation I found : if spiders weave in the morning it means there’s no dew (which in turn means it’s going to rain). If they weave at noon (contrary to their habit), it means a storm is approaching. If they weave in the evening, that means the atmosphere is calm and the weather will remain nice.
Patrick says:
March 17th, 2006 at 10:13 pm
Just wanted to say that I love these podcasts. 
I just started at the beginning but I listen to several a day. Hopefully I will be caught up soon. I think I found an error on your notes for this lesson. You have “Dou itashimashite” translated as ” thank you” but isn’t it “you’re welcome”? Thanks again, keep up the great work.
Vanessa Venturella says:
March 19th, 2006 at 5:47 pm
Hey, I love this podcast! You guys are really amazing, and I really am learning!
I had a question about the Lucky Cat (maneki neko?). I actually have one in my room. Is this bad luck?
Again, I love you guys! I hope to be caught up to the present podcast by the end of next month, I get about two or three a day, it’s a lot of fun!!
Michael says:
March 22nd, 2006 at 9:15 pm
A couple more things about funerals and death which may be useful:
I believe that white is a color associated with death, so don’t take white flowers to anyone in hospital. This is the total opposite of the western assocation of death with black. I don’t know how the flower warning works on “White Day” ( the counterpart to Valentine’s day), so if anyone else wants to fill in here, please do so.
It is also bad form to stick your chopsticks vertically in your rice bowl, as that is a sign of death. And don’t pass food items via chopsticks from one person to another, because that is a reminder of how the bones of the dead, left after cremation, are handled.
Finally, when shopping for kimono in Tokyo (the tourist style) my wife folded her kimono by bringing her left hand across first, then the right. The lady in the store said that was wrong, unless you were dead. Anyone out there know if that’s true?
Ken S. says:
March 24th, 2006 at 10:35 am
I find it interesting that when the unlucky numbers ‘4′ and ‘9′ are added together they result in the western unlucky number ‘13′.
René Malenfant says:
March 26th, 2006 at 12:10 am
I’ll add that in addition to 7, as in the West, in China and Japan, 8 is a lucky number as well, although many young people don’t know this
The kanji for 8, 八 opens downward to infinity, representing a future full of possibilities.
Michael, the answer to your question can be found here:
http://www.aikiweb.com/weapons/rock4.html
Farnoosh says:
June 7th, 2006 at 10:23 pm
Love the podcasts (ofcourse). Same comment here as the one above on “Dou itashimashite” translated as ” thank you” but isn’t it “you’re welcome”? I am spending some serious time here in Japan, and I learned this from a few Japanese people and it never translated to Thank you. I hope you get to respond and let us know your thoughts.
Keep up the fabulous work with the podcasts!!
Domo arigato!
Farnoosh
John C. Briggs says:
August 16th, 2006 at 10:45 am
Why is this lesson
第二回目 だいにかいめ
but the next lesson is
第三回 だいさんかい
where is the additional 目. Is this a mistake? or is it right?
thanks
John C. Briggs
Nathan says:
August 17th, 2006 at 11:05 am
John-san,
It was just a slip of the tongue, but it is not incorrect. 第 is an ordinal prefix, and 目 is an ordinal suffix, so 第二回 and 二回目 are both quite similar. They are used together as well, though, as you heard here - 第二回目.
Hope that helps!
John C. Briggs says:
August 17th, 2006 at 9:21 pm
Nathan-san,
Thank you very much of this explanation. This helps a lot. I didn’t know about the ordinal prefix 第 versus the ordinal suffix 目. I have seen them both in Japansese lessons in books and on videos and I have never understood them.
勉強になりました。
ありがとう ございます。
ジョン
Laurence Hewitt says:
October 30th, 2006 at 12:04 pm
I love the podcasts. Really excellent information, however, just want to point out that the correct English pronounciation is “hearse,” not “hearst.”
Thanks
Daniel Beck says:
October 30th, 2006 at 4:45 pm
Laurenceさん、
Welcome to the Save Peter Campaign™.
How should the word “huge” be pronounced?
Pieter says:
April 23rd, 2007 at 1:43 am
Maybe a bit of late response to this podcast (as it’s allready quite old). I’ve started listening to japanesepod101 a little while ago and I came across this one. It is said at a certain point that a night spider is bad luck, but a morning spider is good luck. In the country I live in (the Netherlands), this same superstition exist. Only, the night spider brings good luck and the morning spider brings bad luck.
Mark Galingan says:
May 16th, 2007 at 4:47 pm
Hello Peter-san and Company
It so amusing that Japanese is also superstitious (as well in our country Philippines). About a month ago I bought my new computer. But I have no enough money to pay for, so I use my credit card to pay for Yonkai, but the cashier tells me that yonkai cant be done, by this it reminds me that 4 is a badluck number.. same in parking there is no 4 either. The interesting part is Japan is a modern country but they are very superstitious. By today how many Japanese or how many percentage of Japanese that still believes in this one?
Steve says:
May 24th, 2007 at 7:47 am
Ken S. beat me to it, but left off that the digits for 13, 1 & 3, when added together equal 4.
The Japanese superstition that I have come across the most wasn’t mentioned, so I’ll fill the void here. While growing up, I had to do much of the food prep for my mother who is Japanese. She, and especially my aunt, really pay attention to how you cut the vegetables. They believe that if you don’t cut clean through, it means the cutter is jealous of someone. So of course, they would ask and I would answer, “Yeah I’m jealous of my older brother who never has to work or do chores!” 1st born sons are spoilt rotten brats in Japan.
ashurii says:
December 27th, 2007 at 3:45 am
This has to b the most interesting lesson i’ve listened to!
ashurii says:
December 27th, 2007 at 3:46 am
my friend said going into the 3rd stall in a bathroom is bad luck in Japan. Is this true?
Thanks!
ashurii says:
December 27th, 2007 at 3:50 am
Michael-san, if your still there lol, yes it’s true unless you are dead the left goes on top of the right.
Hope that helps you!
Ashurii Arekusandora
Dana says:
April 19th, 2008 at 4:43 am
oh my this must be the best culture class!!! oh yeah iv noticed that the word for night in japanese almost pronounced as the word for “ghost” haha i think japanese people made them sound the same cus ghost actually come out at night =/ really freaky lol!! anywayz i really wana learn more about japanese believes can someone give me a link to a website or something like that 
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Category: Japanese Culture Classes |
Topic: superstitions
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