![]() It should be noted that incest was practiced in ancient Japan. Historically there was also shōto (or seuto), used by females for their brothers. (A similar system with such restriction is still used by the Koreans.) Oto and imo compounded with hito (人 "person") to form otōto (originally, "younger sibling") and imōto (originally, "sister"). This ancient system collapsed into the four-word system we know today, where there's no restriction on terms used by brothers among themselves as opposed to about their sisters, and vice versa. Izanagi addressed his recently dead sister and wife, appropriately, as utsukushiki a ga nan imo no mikoto, or "Thine Augustness my lovely younger sister" in Chamberlain's translation while Izanami, in Yomi, addressed her brother and husband, as utsukushiki a ga na se no mikoto, or "Thine Augustness my lovely elder brother". ![]() If you were female, your brother was your se your older sister was your ane, and your younger sister was your oto.Īccording to the Kojiki, the goddess Amaterasu referred to her younger brother Susanoo as a ga na se no mikoto, which Chamberlain translated (for technical reasons, as literally as possible) as "His Augustness my elder brother" while adding a footnote that says she was still the elder sister.If you were male, your older brother was your se or ani, your younger brother was your oto your older sister was your imo or ane, and your younger sister was your imo.To paraphrase Chamberlain who cited feudal scholar Motoori Norinaga on this system: Ancient Japan had a more complicated system. oni おに (A homophone for the Japanese word for " ogre", but not often employed for a punning double meaning.)Īccording to Japanologist Basil Hall Chamberlain, the four-word system might have settled due to Chinese influence.aneue 姉上 ("sister", like aniue above, only for older sisters).aniue 兄上 (a formal and archaic, form of "brother" only for older brothers).There are also otōtogo and imōtogo, but these are only used to refer to someone else's sibling in the third person, not as terms of address. anigo is the male equivalent of anego.anego 姉御 (informal, "sis" may also be used from a younger person towards an older female that they respect, in fiction usually the leader of a female delinquent group or yakuza member).aniki 兄貴/ aneki 姉貴 (informal, a rougher/slang variation along the lines of "bro"/"sis" also used to refer to higher-ranking members of a gang).Just as an example, here are some of the alternative versions that one may encounter in fiction: In addition to the four basic words, there are numerous variations due to regional differences in pronunciation and from slang usages. This one's hard for translators - you want to stay true to the original, but can't exactly have the kid call the hero "Big brother" despite the fact that they've clearly never met before. "Oniisan" and "oneesan" and their variants are often used by children for older non-relatives that are not too far apart in age from the speaker (expect the kid Victim of the Week to address the hero this way throughout the episode, for example.) If the addressee is a generation older, "ojisan" or "obasan" (meaning "uncle" and "aunt", respectively) may be used instead and if they are two or more generations older, "ojiisan" or "obaasan" (meaning "grandfather" and "grandmother", respectively) may be used as well. It is also not uncommon for sibling terminology to be used for non-relatives. On the other hand, younger siblings are pretty much universally addressed by their given name. Conversely, whereas calling your older siblings by their name is normal in English, it's a serious breach of manners in Japanese when not attached with a familial term, on par with Calling Parents by Their Name, and definitely marks a distance between the two siblings if used at all. ![]() This is Serious Business, by the way while calling older siblings by "brother" or "sister" is considered old-timey in English, it's part of modern etiquette in Japanese. depending on how he regards Kenta, with the most common way being a simple "oniisan". So the speaker may call his older brother (say, Kenta) "oniisan", "oniichan", "Kenta-niisan", etc. ![]() These are used when the speaker is describing someone else's sibling (see above) as well as when he is addressing his own older sibling. These are normally found in conjunction with an honorific -san and -chan being among the most common for all four, although -sama is sometimes used for respected older siblings, while "baby-talk" equivalents such as -tan, -tama and -chama are limited for very young children. Additionally, ani and ane can take the honorific prefix o- in place of the initial a (and simultaneously double the i / e sound), which indicates further respect. ![]()
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