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Post by Katayama Hiromoto on Oct 4, 2009 17:30:33 GMT -5
Konban-wa Minna-san,
I am looking for an adjective/phrase/?!? used to describe an incredibly beautiful woman. (In the context of "Saionji-hime is drop dead gorgeous." ... That kind of thing.)
Any and all assistance is greatly appreciated.
Sincerely,
Katayama
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Saionji Shonagon
New Member
One dreamed of becoming somebody. Another remained awake and became. (Found in a fortune cookie.)
Posts: 7,240
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Post by Saionji Shonagon on Oct 4, 2009 19:40:55 GMT -5
I am looking for an adjective/phrase/?!? used to describe an incredibly beautiful woman. (Blush) Bijin, I think. Bijin-ga refers to the ukiyo-e prints of beautiful women (usually courtesans and others from the pleasure quarters) that were popular during the Edo period. If anyone has the translation for "shameless flatterer....."
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Post by Yamanouchi Eidou on Oct 5, 2009 13:46:35 GMT -5
Bijin is exactly the word you want. Bi- beautiful jin- person
On Makiwara's request, the first thing that pops to mind is goma-suri (Sesame seed grinder) but that's actually equivalent to apple-polisher or brown noser, which is not at all what you'r elooking for and is just me being cynical.
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Post by solveig on Oct 6, 2009 1:38:40 GMT -5
Noble Cousin! Greetings from Solveig! I am looking for an adjective/phrase/?!? used to describe an incredibly beautiful woman. Why? That always needs to be understood. 美人 bijin is not necessarily something you would want to be called in a Japanese context. Somewhat more understated phrases like 可愛い kawaii or 素敵 suteki are more likely to be used for someone or something that you truly admire. If you really want to go whole hog on the "incredibly" part, then I suppose that you could prefix 美人 with something like 妙 myō to get myōbijin. Or you can conjure up more of a phrase like 不思議な美しい人 fushigi na utsukushii hito.
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Post by solveig on Oct 6, 2009 9:07:20 GMT -5
Noble Cousin! Greetings from Solveig! Bijin, I think. Bijin-ga refers to the ukiyo-e prints of beautiful women (usually courtesans and others from the pleasure quarters) that were popular during the Edo period. 美人画 = bijinga sounds about right to me. However, do not assume that all of the subjects are actually females. There was dynamic fashion tension between the courtisans and the 女形 onnagata who were and are the group of kabuki actors who specialize in portraying women.
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Post by Yamanouchi Eidou on Oct 6, 2009 21:01:29 GMT -5
I imagine your type of phraseology depends very much on what you are actually trying to say. If you are trying to emulate the concepts of courtly love then it is understandable to be round-about and use the ironically less intense terms. However, when actually portraying a feeling of real, true, reciprocated love and admiration, I can't see anything semantically unappealing about bijin.
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Saionji Shonagon
New Member
One dreamed of becoming somebody. Another remained awake and became. (Found in a fortune cookie.)
Posts: 7,240
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Post by Saionji Shonagon on Oct 6, 2009 23:20:13 GMT -5
However, do not assume that all of the subjects are actually females. There was dynamic fashion tension between the courtisans and the 女形 onnagata who were and are the group of kabuki actors who specialize in portraying women. Let's just say I wish I looked as good as Nakamura Ganjiro II, a grandfatherly looking gentleman in his 70's who looks like this onstage. I was lucky enough to see him with the Chikamatsu-za troupe at Cal Berkeley a couple seasons ago.
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