Year of the Demon

GLOSSARY

A-side: for SWAT operators, the front side of a building

ama: traditional Japanese free divers, best known for diving for pearls

ambo: ambulance

Aum Shinrikyo: Supreme Truth Cult, responsible for the sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway system in 1995

B-side: for SWAT operators, the side of a building to their left as they approach the A-side

bizen: an unglazed style of Japanese pottery

bokken: solid wooden training sword, usually of oak

bushido: the way of the warrior

C-side: for SWAT operators, the side of a building to their right as they approach the A-side

CI: Covert Informant

D-side: for SWAT operators, the backside of a building (or, for irregularly shaped buildings, the side opposite the A-side)

daisho: katana and wakizashi together, the twin swords of the samurai; literally, “long-short”

dono: an honorific expressing great humility on the part of the speaker, more respectful than -san or even -sama

foxfire: magical lights said to be carried by foxes or fox-spirits

Fudo: a Buddhist deity, typically depicted as an angry, red-skinned demon with sharp horns and fangs, often wielding a sword and a lariat

gaijin: foreigner (literally “outsider”)

geisha: a skilled artist paid to wait on, entertain, and in some cases provide sexual services for clientele

gokudo: extreme, hard-core

gumi: clan (as in Kamaguchi-gumi)

haidate: broad armored plates to protect the thighs, usually of lamellar

hakama: wide, pleated pants bound tightly around the waist and hanging to the ankle

haori: a Japanese tabard (i.e., short, sleeveless jacket) characterized by wide, almost winglike shoulders, often worn over armor

hazmat: Hazardous Materials Team; alternatively, hazardous materials and items

Ikko Ikki: a peasant uprising, largely disorganized and only nominally Buddhist, whose political and economic influence endured for over a hundred years until the Three Unifiers quelled it in the late sixteenth century

kaigane: a sharp, stiff tool with a blade like a spatula used by ama to pry shellfish from rocks and coral

kaishaku: a samurai’s second, charged with virtually beheading him if he should cry out while committing seppuku

Kansai: the geographic region around Kyoto, Nara, and Osaka, and the locus of political power for nearly all of Japanese history

kappa: a water-dwelling mythological being, humanoid with reptilian features, with a topless head and a water-filled bowl in place of a brain

katana: a curved long sword worn with the cutting edge facing upward

kenjutsu: the lethal art of the sword (as opposed to kendo, the sporting art of the sword)

kiai: a loud shout practiced as a part of martial arts training, usually uttered upon delivering a strike

kiri: a paulownia blossom, the emblem of Toyotomi Hideyoshi

koku: the amount of rice required to feed one person for one year; also, a unit for measuring the size of a fiefdom or estate, corresponding to the amount of rice its land can produce

MDA: methylenedioxyamphetamine, a hallucinogenic amphetamine

Mount Hiei: a mountain overlooking the city of Kyoto, home to hundreds of monasteries and the traditional locus of political power for Buddhism in Japan

odachi: a curved greatsword

oyoroi: “great armor”; a full suit of yoroi armoring the wearer from head to toe; literally “great armor”

Raijin: demonic god of lightning, thunder, and storms

ri: a unit of measurement equal to about two and a half miles

rikishi: sumo wrestler

ronin: a masterless samurai (literally “wave-person”)

Ryujin: dragon-god of the sea

sama: an honorific expressing humility on the part of the speaker, more respectful than -san but not as humbling as -dono

sarin: a potent neurotoxin

seiza: a kneeling position on the floor; as a verb, “to sit seiza” means “to meditate” (literally “proper sitting”)

sensei: teacher, professor, or doctor, depending on the context (literally “born-before”)

seppuku: ritual suicide by disembowelment, also known as hara-kiri

shakuhachi: traditional Japanese flute

shamisen: traditional Japanese lute

shinobi: ninja

shoji: sliding divider with rice-paper windows, usable as both door and wall

sode: broad, panel-like shoulder armor, usually of lamellar

SOP: Standard Operating Procedure

southern barbarian: white person (considered “southern” because European sailors were only allowed to dock in Nagasaki, which lies far to the south)

sugegasa: broad-brimmed, umbrella-like hat

Sword Hunt: an edict restricting the ownership of weapons to the samurai caste; there were two such edicts, each one carrying additional provisions on arms control and other political decrees

tachi: a curved long sword worn with the blade facing downward

taiko: an enormous drum; alternatively, the art of drumming with taiko

temari: embroidered silk thread balls; alternatively, the craft of making temari

tengu: a goblin with birdlike features

Tokaido: the “East Sea Road” connecting modern-day Tokyo to modern-day Kyoto

tsuba: a hand protector, usually round or square, where the hilt of a sword meets its blade; the Japanese analogue to a cross guard

wakizashi: a curved short sword, typically paired with a katana, worn with the blade facing upward

washi: traditional Japanese handmade paper

yakuza: member of an organized crime syndicate; “good-for-nothing”

yoroi: armor

yukata: a light robe

yuki-onna: a predatory winter-spirit that hunts on snowy nights, taking the form of a pale (usually naked) and very beautiful woman