Disclaimer: Because I cannot read Kanji or Katakana, all non-English words used here are transliterations using Latin letters
刺し子
So every so often I come upon yet another beautiful Japanese word or phrase that encompasses so much more than any equivalent in the English language.
Today I was blessed with "sashiko" and fell into the rabbit hole of learning even more Japanese words and cultural worldview.
Sashiko exemplifies the Japanese principle of wabi-sabi, which has no direct English translation but expresses a sense of beauty in the incomplete and imperfect.
In sashiko, the goal is not to hide the repair but to celebrate it, hence a patch is attached to the inside of the fabric using neat rows of tiny stitches, leaving the tear still visible.
https://psyche.co/ideas/could-the-art-of-sashiko-help-to-mend-our-frayed-world
These words and phrases, to me, make Japanese a beautiful language, in that, short words and phrases can express big concepts without having to say or write a whole lot.
Previously, on The Tavern, we discussed another beautiful Japanese word "tsundoku" which expresses the very real problem of purchasing too many books and not reading most of them, a problem many an RPG collector has with dead trees. Hence, to avoid becoming "tsundoku sensei" I adopted Mari Kondo's tidy philosophy to only purchase those books I believe to bring me joy.
Then another related Japanese word is "otaku" that describes people with all consuming interests, particularly in anime, manga, video games, or computers. And in a very real sense many an RPG otaku turns into an RPG tsundoku sensei, especially, with new editions of RPGs being published every so often, that even before one finishes reading all the published books of a previous edition, those all become outdated as the next new hotness comes knocking (looking at you 6e).
Now, I wonder if it is cultural appropriation to adopt Japanese words in communications within non-Japanese RPG spaces? Or is it more an expression of love in our globalized community?
刺し子
So every so often I come upon yet another beautiful Japanese word or phrase that encompasses so much more than any equivalent in the English language.
Today I was blessed with "sashiko" and fell into the rabbit hole of learning even more Japanese words and cultural worldview.
Sashiko exemplifies the Japanese principle of wabi-sabi, which has no direct English translation but expresses a sense of beauty in the incomplete and imperfect.
In sashiko, the goal is not to hide the repair but to celebrate it, hence a patch is attached to the inside of the fabric using neat rows of tiny stitches, leaving the tear still visible.
https://psyche.co/ideas/could-the-art-of-sashiko-help-to-mend-our-frayed-world
These words and phrases, to me, make Japanese a beautiful language, in that, short words and phrases can express big concepts without having to say or write a whole lot.
Previously, on The Tavern, we discussed another beautiful Japanese word "tsundoku" which expresses the very real problem of purchasing too many books and not reading most of them, a problem many an RPG collector has with dead trees. Hence, to avoid becoming "tsundoku sensei" I adopted Mari Kondo's tidy philosophy to only purchase those books I believe to bring me joy.
Then another related Japanese word is "otaku" that describes people with all consuming interests, particularly in anime, manga, video games, or computers. And in a very real sense many an RPG otaku turns into an RPG tsundoku sensei, especially, with new editions of RPGs being published every so often, that even before one finishes reading all the published books of a previous edition, those all become outdated as the next new hotness comes knocking (looking at you 6e).
Now, I wonder if it is cultural appropriation to adopt Japanese words in communications within non-Japanese RPG spaces? Or is it more an expression of love in our globalized community?
