Welcome to the Nihongo Lesson feature. We strive to give you useful manga-based Japanese language tips and maybe even a glimpse into the translation process. This week's lesson will feature words about ninja. The latest One Piece chapter was chock-full of terms and dialogue about our favorite stealthy assassins, but what did it all mean?!

KOZUKI (光月)

Anyone with a keen eye may have noticed that the name of the samurai clan of Wano has changed since the last chapter. What was previously KOGETSU has been renamed KOZUKI. The kanji characters used have actually not changed at all, just how they are read. This is one aspect that makes Japanese difficult to learn. Kanji can be read in a few different ways! KOZUKI is made up of the kanji characters for "light" and "moon."

KUNOICHI (くのいち)

KUNOICHI means "female ninja." While there is some uncertainty over the etymology of the word, it's assumed that it comes from the individual strokes of the kanji character for "woman." "Woman," or ONNA in Japanese, is written like this: 女. The first stroke resembles a KU (く) in hiragana, the second stroke resembles a NO (ノ) in katakana and the third is the kanji ICHI (一) or "one" in English.

This chapter included ninja stereotypes that have been seen countless times in manga and other Japanese media. Real ninja probably never held scrolls in their mouths while shouting "Nin! Nin!" but it sure shows up in a lot of manga and anime! However, real ninja did supposedly improve their jumping ability by planting bamboo and then jumping over the stalk every day. Bamboo grows super fast, so it isn't easy to keep up after a few months! It's a mystery how Luffy heard of this training though. Maybe he reads tons of manga too!

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