Translator’s Notes

Welcome back to your latest edition of Weird Trivia. I’m Zihan, the translator for Reincarnated as the Piggy Duke! I’d like to share some background about some of the more obscure terms we had to localize, so let’s jump right into it!

Prologue: The Dawn of Upheaval

Charlotte, you are completely surrounded

Slowe says this to Charlotte when he has got her backed into a corner like a villain, but this quote is actually a stereotypical phrase used by police in Japanese TV dramas. There are many versions of it, but the most popular edition is, “You are completely surrounded. Stop your futile resistance and come outside.” In TV dramas, it is announced by the police with a megaphone when there’s a hostage situation or if a criminal has barricaded themselves somewhere—most often in a bank. It’s basically the Japanese edition of “This is the police. We have you surrounded!”

Dokkiri (“filming my reaction”)

When Carina shows up out of nowhere, Slowe panics and questions whether it was a dokkiri. Dokkiri is the equivalent of Western hidden camera TV shows where viewers enjoy the reactions of the cast. The term originates from the verb dokkiri suru, which refers to when a person is so shocked that their heart rate rises. After the prank, the instigator would show up and reveal that it was a joke, often with a handheld placard that says “Great Success” accompanied by a specific sound effect of a flourish of trumpets. This sound effect has been coined with the onomatopoeic term tetteree, and has gone on to be used as an indication of success or when fortune falls into one’s lap.

Chapter 1: The Princess of Daryth

To scatter the spiderlings

Hearing the stamping of Slowe’s feet, the people surrounding Princess Carina scattered like dandelion seeds in the wind. The original phrase used here is kumo no ko wo chirasu (“as if I scattered spiderlings”), an expression used to describe a large group of people or animals running away in all directions. Pardon the gross imagery, but this expression originates from how spiderlings scatter in all directions when their egg sacs break, either naturally or by an outside force. The huntsman spider is a very good example of this.

Even crying children would be shushed

One of the onlookers in the female dorms claims that “naughty children cower at the mere mention of our name.” The original phrase here is naku ko mo damaru (“even crying children would be shushed”). It refers to a force or influence that’s so strong that even unreasonable crying children would be scared into silence. The term actually comes from Zhang Liao, a Chinese military general mentioned in the Records of the Three Kingdoms, a famous Chinese historical text. The people of Eastern Wu feared him so much that whenever a child wouldn’t stop crying at night, their parents would say, “Liao is going to come!” to successfully silence them.

Ichiren takushou (“we share our fate with each other”)

Slowe says this when Charlotte asks whether it is okay for her to go into the princess’s room with him. In general use, ichiren takushou means, “no matter what the results are, our fates are shared.” Literally, it is written as “putting/leaving [our] lives on one lotus.”

It actually stems from a Buddhist term that means “let us meet on the same lotus flower in the Pure Land after our departure from this life,” promising a reunion in the afterlife. In Japanese Buddhism, it is believed that people who do good things could reincarnate onto the same lotus as their loved ones in the Pure Land after their death. Originally, the term ichiren takushou was only limited to people who had done good deeds, but its meaning changed over time to mean comrades who share their fates, whether the outcome be good or bad.

One common theory for this shift in meaning is due to its usage in plays featuring double-suicides of lovers in kabuki and bunraku (Japanese doll theaters) in the Edo period. Lovers who couldn’t be together due to the restrictions of society used this phrase to pray that they could be together in the next life, thus sharing their fate until the very end.

There isn’t any island one could cling to

Carina refuses to reply to Slowe when he tries to coax her out of her room no matter what he says, and Slowe thinks about how she wouldn’t even give him the time of day. The original term used here is toritsuku shima mo nai (“there isn’t any island I could cling to”), which refers to a person responding with a cold and thorny attitude. This term has its origins in sailing. In a storm, a ship desperately searches for an island to weather the storm, but if they cannot find one, there isn’t anything the crew can do.

Chapter 2: Dungeons and Monsters

Oyadama (“boss”)

Slowe calls the great spirits the oyadama (“boss”) of spirits. On a Japanese Buddhist bracelet, the oyadama refers to the big bead around which the juzu (Japanese Buddhist prayer beads) are centered. From there, the term began to be used for people central to an organization or group. However, it’s usually used in a negative context, often for criminal organizations such as the oyadama (“boss”) of bandits or the evil oyadama (“boss”). (Funny how Slowe uses this to refer to Altanger!)

Chapter 3: The Awakening of the Guardian Dragon

Kouinya no gotoshi (“time flies”)

Slowe’s time with Carina flew by, and it is described as kouinya no gotoshi. Kouinya literally translates as “an arrow of light and shadow,” with light referring to the sun and shadow referring to the moon, thus alluding to time. In Japanese, the kanji for “moon” is used for months and days use the kanji for “sun,” and time itself can be referred to as tsukihi, using the kanji of “moon” and “sun” together.

As for the whole phrase of kouinya no gotoshi, there are several theories on its origins. One theory is that it came from the poem Youziyin by Li Yi, a Chinese poet from the Tang dynasty. The last line of the poem roughly states, “Look at how the sun sprints. How different is it from an arrow taut on a bow string?”

Chapter 4: Horde Invasion

Yatagarasu (“three-legged crow”)

The three-legged crow is a mythological god of guidance in Japanese mythology. It is said that Emperor Jimmu, the legendary first emperor of Japan, moved to Yamato province with the guidance of a three-legged crow. The god who instructed the crow is different depending on the text, but it is generally said to have been sent by either Amaterasu or Takamimusubi. Meanwhile, in the Kumano Sanzan, the three shrines of Kumano, the three-legged crow is said to serve Susanoo.

The yata implies the bird is large with an impressive wingspan. Yata means eight ata, which is a unit of measurement equivalent to about eighteen centimeters. Thus, eight ata would be around 144 centimeters, but in this case it is not used literally. It is similar to how the term yaoyorozu (“eight million”) is used to describe infinity or a countless number, usually used in the context of Japanese deities.

Chapter 5: Kirsch Mage Institute

Strangled with floss silk

Being surrounded by monsters, the students in the barrier felt as if they were waiting for a torturous countdown to complete. The original expression here was “as if they were being strangled with floss silk.” This phrase refers to being slowly tormented, or being tormented in an indirect way. Floss silk is a type of silk padding made by simmering silkworm cocoons and stretching the remaining fibers. It has been used for years as stuffing in futon and clothes for cold weather. In this case, though, the expression actually refers to the strong and flexible fibers taken from the cocoon itself, which are then made into floss silk. If one were to be strangled by this material, it would be a rather slow and gradual death, hence the “slowly tormented” part of this expression.

As for floss silk, there’s another very special and interesting usage for it. Floss silk was actually used by ninjas to help camouflage themselves when they were making their escape. Specifically when they entered the area under the floor of a building, they would break apart spider webs with a bamboo pole or similar, and then run in the opposite direction, sticking floss silk to the area as they went. The people chasing them would head in the direction of the broken spider webs, thinking that the floss silk was actual spider webs and no one had gone that way. Since it was so dark under the floor, it was difficult to tell them apart.