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Kenshin's language.
2/3/14 11:02I'm going to try to translate absolutely as much of Kenshin's dialogue as I can (I hate random Japanese stuck in for no reason) but some things just don't translate well, so here's a handy dandy reference.
Note that Kenshin should sound strange even to his contemporaries, so feel free to comment on it in character. He speaks like a backwoods samurai and it's very noticeable. In some circumstances, he'll drop the super polite language, but I'll make note of it if he does.
de gozaru -- Archaic, extremely polite verb form ending.
-dono -- Archaic, extremely polite honorific. Mostly he uses this on women.
sessha -- 'This unworthy one'. Incredibly humble form of personal pronoun.
oro -- Made up word for the series based on the feminine ara, which is a kind of generic exclamation. Think of it as a verbal exclamation point.
aa -- Agreement.
maa, maa -- Settle down, simmer down, it's alright.
sakabatou -- Reverse bladed sword. This is a made up word for the series.
rurouni -- Wandering masterless swordsman. Made up word.
hitokiri -- Usually translated as manslayer. An assassin that kills stealthily and in cold blood, leaving no witnesses and often a pile of corpses behind.
battou-jutsu -- Sword technique involving pulling the katana from the sheath quickly, and striking in one fast blow.
Battousai -- His title from the Bakumatsu, which means 'master of battou-jutsu'.
Bakumatsu -- The civil war that overthrew the shogunate in Japan in the 1850's. Kenshin fought on the side of the Emperor (the winning side) as part of the Ishin-Shishi.
satsujin-ken -- Swordsmanship as the art of murder.
Note that Kenshin should sound strange even to his contemporaries, so feel free to comment on it in character. He speaks like a backwoods samurai and it's very noticeable. In some circumstances, he'll drop the super polite language, but I'll make note of it if he does.
de gozaru -- Archaic, extremely polite verb form ending.
-dono -- Archaic, extremely polite honorific. Mostly he uses this on women.
sessha -- 'This unworthy one'. Incredibly humble form of personal pronoun.
oro -- Made up word for the series based on the feminine ara, which is a kind of generic exclamation. Think of it as a verbal exclamation point.
aa -- Agreement.
maa, maa -- Settle down, simmer down, it's alright.
sakabatou -- Reverse bladed sword. This is a made up word for the series.
rurouni -- Wandering masterless swordsman. Made up word.
hitokiri -- Usually translated as manslayer. An assassin that kills stealthily and in cold blood, leaving no witnesses and often a pile of corpses behind.
battou-jutsu -- Sword technique involving pulling the katana from the sheath quickly, and striking in one fast blow.
Battousai -- His title from the Bakumatsu, which means 'master of battou-jutsu'.
Bakumatsu -- The civil war that overthrew the shogunate in Japan in the 1850's. Kenshin fought on the side of the Emperor (the winning side) as part of the Ishin-Shishi.
satsujin-ken -- Swordsmanship as the art of murder.