Japanese kanji and anime

Can you read the Japanese kanji “修行”?

The answer is “shugyou (shugyo/ syugyou/ syugyo)” and it means “Training”. But 修行 is not regular training. It’s more like an ascetic practice…just like sitting under the waterfall.(@_@)

In real life, today we use that serious word for traditional craftsmen’s training or monk’s training and so on. Usually we don’t call Karate training “修行”. However, it’s very popular for anime to use the word “修行” for martial art training like in samurai era.

Zoro for “One Piece”, Goku for “Dragon Ball”, Ninjas for “Naruto”…everybody does 修行(shugyou).

Even in “Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid”, main character dragon girls were doing it.

Meanings of Calligraphy on the Back of Karate Uniform

Japanese kanji and anime

Both girls are in something like karate costume called “道着(dougi)”. And I noticed the cute calligraphy on their backs. The older dragon girl Tohru’s back says “竜” and the younger dragon girl Kanna’s back says “りゅう”…!!

The Japanese kanji “竜” means Dragon. Then, りゅう(ryuu) describes the pronunciation of kanji “竜” in the easiest Japanese script Hiragana. Little Japanese kids who don’t know the kanji “竜”, they write “りゅう” instead.

For me, Kanna’s Japanese voice sounds like talking everything in Hiragana.(*´Д｀) It’s so cute and I thought she is 4 or 5 years old until she joined 3rd grader…!

Today’s Kanji Shirt is “Guts”! Be strong for Miss. Kobayashi!

Japanese kanji shirt guts




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