Bleach Wiki:Translation Corner

The Translation Corner is a place where a group of users can get together and help maintain the wiki by keeping it up to date on the actual translations of the various names, abilities, techniques and etc. found in the Bleach Universe.

Associate Members

 * Adam Restling (Japanese)
 * MarqFJA (Japanese)
 * Lia Schiffer (Spanish)

References & Sources

 * Kanji-to-English:
 * Tangorin
 * Mahou Kanji Dictionary
 * Kanji Networks
 * OldNihongo.J-Talk.Com
 * Basic Japanese verbal data: The imperative inflection of Japanese verbs

Contentious Translations
Since I screwed up the order of the first version (XD), I'll try to keep this one organized. If I overstepped any boundaries, please forgive--and correct--me. You may also notice that I try to write Japanese words by their kana spellings--e.g. ou, oo instead of ō--because I'm often too lazy (again, XD) to go grab the macron-crowned letters, and it's more faithful to the Japanese (I would only use ō etc. personally when it's katakana, as they are transcribing chiefly foreign sounds). However, on the Wiki(a)s, the prevailing trend is to use the Hepburn style, replete with ōs and all, so if making edits to the actual articles, please use these for consistency :). I leave the edits to the pros, because templates confuse and frighten me.

This section in particular will be used to try and confirm the accuracy of passages from the raw Japanese.

Also, sorry to everyone for the tardiness in my replies to queries. I explained the reasons, during a brief moment of lucidity (XD), in the new section on my user page called "I'm so, so sorry." I will endeavor to work on the backup during the weekend and/or as more raws *becomest* available to me :). Adam Restling 09:59, May 27, 2010 (UTC)

The "fastest Zanpakutou" (Ch. 400 "Deicide 2")
ICHIMARU (*claps*)

''... Todoita? Ima no gohyakubai ya''

... You get that? It's five hundred times that just now.

This would seem to suggest, as has been the prevalent translation, that Kamishini no Yari's speed is five hundred times the speed of (the time it takes the) sound (of the clap to reach Ichigo).

Todoita? (届いた?) "Get that?" is the past tense of the verb todoku (届く), more lit. "reach, arrive, get through or at," but also "to pay attention to" and also "get delivered, to carry over (e.g. sound )." Thus I chose "get" because, as in English, it can be used to lit. obtain something, but also to pay attention to and understand, as well as figuratively "receive" (including "hear") that something. And gohyakubai (五百倍) *is* "five hundred times/-fold." Adam Restling 02:19, April 26, 2010 (UTC)

The usher of desires (Ch. 401 "Deicide 3")
This will prob. be kind of preliminary, but I'll *try* and give a clearer picture of what Aizen has to say concerning Urahara, the Hougyoku and the Visored on pgs. 5-7. This has some more-complex phrasing and grammar than I'm used to, so I'll do my best--sorry for the length. *Note that in my transcriptions, underlined elements are used to signify non-Japanese words in katakana.

Hougyoku no nouryoku ha Horou to Shinigami no kyoukai wo ayatsurumono da to

Urahara Kisuke ga goninshita no ha

Hougyoku wo tsukutta kare jishin no nozomi ga sore datta kara da

It is the ability of the Hougyoku being to "manipulate the boundary of Hollow and Shinigami"

that Kisuke Urahara was mistaken in,

because that had been his own hope in creating the Hougyoku.

Watashi ha Hougyoku no shin no chikara ni kizuite ita

I realized with the Hougyoku's true power.

[omission for length]

Nazenara

sono nouryoku ga hontou nara ba

Hirako Shinjitachi ga kanzenna " Vaizādo " to narihaterukoto nado nakatta hazu dakara da

Because

if it was truly that ability,

then there should not have been such a thing as Shinji Hirako and the others being reduced to complete "Visored."

Hirako Shinjitachi no Horou ka ha

 Horou ka sono mono no jikken de aru to douji ni

Hougyoku no nouryoku wo kakuninsuru tame no mono datta

The Hollowfaction of Shinji Hirako and the others...

the Hollowfaction experiment itself was, simultaneously,

for the sake of affirming the abilities of the Hougyoku.

[omission for length]

Urahara Kisuke no te ni yoru Hougyoku no nouryoku no hatsudou ni yotte

Hirako Shinjitachi ha kanzennaru " Vaizādo " he to shinkashita

By the hand of Kisuke Urahara, the Hougyoku's abilities were made to activate;

Shinji Hirako and the others evolved completely into "Visored."

Hopefully no typos etc. in the above. From Aizen's words, it seems the Hougyoku is a kind of empathetic facilitator to achieving one's goals. It seems the subject must have the power to achieve said goals for it to work (e.g. Pee-wee Herman can't just wish to be the strongest being in the universe and, like a genie [Jambi? XD], it delivers). Urahara (supposedly) mistook its power as being only to "manipulate the boundary between Hollow and Shinigami" because that's what he'd hoped it would do when he made it.

Once again, Aizen seems to have no love for the Visored, tying in to his earlier calling them "poorly-made Arrancar." Indeed, if the Houg' *could* manipulate the boundary, it prob. should've been able to cure them of their Hollowfaction, or even allow them to use both sets of powers without having to endure the rigorous training it seems they did. He specifically refers to them "being reduced" (narihateru) to being Visored.

Hope this answers the questions; post on my talk if not :) . Adam Restling 11:35, May 2, 2010 (UTC)

Hungry? Why wait? (Ch. 406 "Deicide 8 end of the Chrysalis Age")
Kimi wo kurau no ha subete ga owatta ato de ii

As for devouring you, after all this is finished will be fine.

Kurau is the vulgar verb for "eat" or "drink" (it can mean either because, it seems, the idea is messily engulfing, wolfing down or consuming the object of the verb). Kurau can also mean "receive (e.g. an attack)"; compare English "eat this!" when launching an attack to the identical-in-use Japanese imperative form kurae!.

Aizen could be either being figurative (i.e. "consume you" = the same as "all my enemies were consumed in my onslaught") *OR* the literal "devouring"--more disturbing ambiguity from him ;) . He in fact "reassures" Ichigo here that Ichigo's consumption by Aizen--whichever form it takes--can wait ("after all this is finished will be fine") until Aizen returns.

Fun creep-factoring from Mr. Hulk Hougyoku XD. Adam Restling 05:19, June 7, 2010 (UTC)

Isshin's Zanpakuto
Ok we need the correct translation as well as kanji for Isshin's Zanpakutō: Engetsu --Salubri (Talk)  22:27, June 23, 2010 (UTC)


 * Found this; 偃月. It means "Crescent Moon", which fits the motif, but I don't know if they're the correct symbols. --Reikson 23:39, June 23, 2010 (UTC)

I'm waiting on the raw to find out for sure myself. Hope to update soon, once said raw emerges. Adam Restling 08:54, June 24, 2010 (UTC)
 * It's 剡月 (sharping moon) Ju gatsu mikka 19:36, June 24, 2010 (UTC)

As Ju gatsu mikka states, the Kanji are 剡月. 剡 seems to be an exceedingly rare character in Japanese, as I couldn't find it used in my personal dictionary or EITHER of my chief online sources. But it DOES seem to be used as a synonym for 鋭, which means "sharp(ened), pointed" but *also* "violent, scathing" (< "of sharp temperament"). 剡 itself would seem, at least in its current form, to combine the radicals for "flame" + "knife, sword."

Thus, I would translate Engetsu as "scathing moon." It's slightly away from the literal meaning, but fits the recognized semantic figurative meaning. But whether you guys choose this trans. of mine, or a more lit. like "sharp moon" or the like, is up to you :).

Kubo seems fond of giving words and characters readings that knowingly resemble--and so evoke--real words, but have different meanings, e.g. Zangetsu "slaying moon" resembles zangetsu "waning/morning moon" (more lit. "lingering moon"), and Engetsu "scathing moon" resembles the word engetsu "crescent moon" (more lit. "dammed [and so curtailed] moon") cited above. Adam Restling 09:10, June 25, 2010 (UTC)

Some people are angry at me for using "scathing ~" :( because, though it seems to be a valid meaning of the graph, they feel it's still too far from the lit. meaning of "sharp(ened), pointed" (admittedly, as I noted above, it was a tough one for me, too). I usually try to choose an English trans. that can, as best as trans. itself allows, encompass all the possible interpretations of a Japanese word (esp. since Kubo doesn't seem to choose any single meaning as the sole one he intends), but it's not easy, and sometimes not possible.

The best alternative I could think of--which combines both the lit. and figurative usages--was "trenchant moon." It's a bit less common a word, but trenchant *does* mean "vehement" or "caustic, cutting, scathing," but also lit. meant "cutting" (Old French trenchant, present participle of trenchier "cut").

So what do you guys think? Sorry to turn around on you, but I always want the best I can offer, and was concerned about the objections "scathing" raised. Luckily, that's what edits are for :). Adam Restling 09:47, June 26, 2010 (UTC)

I actually prefer scathing moon as everything else sounds terrible. I mean seriously "sharping moon"? My brain read it as shaping moon because sharping isn't an actual word. I also do not care for trenchant moon. My vote is for scathing moon. Tinni  (Talk)  09:57, June 26, 2010 (UTC)

Scathing Moon seems fine to me. So long as it is explained to them, most people will likely accept it even if they do not like it. Yyp (Talk) 22:12, June 26, 2010 (UTC)

I have to agree with Scathing. I knew sharping was not right and of course its not a word. You haven't steered us wrong Id go with your original concept. Besides its the same definition any word you use this one just seems more appropriate. Salubri (Talk)  23:07, June 26, 2010 (UTC)

I agree to scathing as well; everyone else said the reasons why, and your reasoning seems understandable. Arrancar109 (Talk)  23:13, June 26, 2010 (UTC)

Thanks for your consideration everyone. Though removed a bit from the more lit. possibility, I still like "scathing" for its poetry. Maybe I'll just tool around with it for my own curiosity outside--and so not affecting--anything on Wikia :). Adam Restling 02:12, June 27, 2010 (UTC)

not that it matters at this point but I have found that sharping is a word but not in the sense you would thing. It is musical in nature. Example. "You are sharping that note when it should be normal"--God (Pray)  02:26, June 27, 2010 (UTC)

The spellings of Yuzu's and Karin's names
Yuzu is spelled 遊子 "play(ful) child," and Karin is 夏梨 "summer pear."

The reason you may see spellings in katakana, like カリン for "Karin," is because it's shorthand: kana are easier to write (esp. for children) than brush-strokerific, complex Hanzi (= Japanese Kanji "Han graph(s)"). Adam Restling 09:45, April 28, 2010 (UTC)

The kanji for Seaweed Ambassador
This picture seems to have his name written in kanji as "ワカメ大使", "Wakame Taishi" (More information on the word "Wakame" here). Should the Kanji name be added to the article?--B14 16:25, May 19, 2010 (UTC)

Seems to be correct, from the pic you provided. However, since wakame is a kind of seaweed and no just seaweed in general, I'd put it as

"The "Wakame Ambassador" (ワカメ大使 Wakame Taishi) is the name given to a sand sculpture made by Byakuya Kuchiki in omake vignettes and their corresponding filler episodes, which takes the form of an anthropomorphic piece of wakame seaweed..."

Something like that. Adam Restling

Fujimaru Hiragana
Someone recently brought to our attention that the Harigana on Fujimaru Kudō's page is the same as the one on Matsuri Kudō's page. He suggested that くどう ふじまる would be the correct one on Fujimaru's page, but we're not entirely sure. Can you guys confirm that it is right, or if something else is supposed to be there? Arrancar109 (Talk)  18:28, June 14, 2010 (UTC)

Never heard of harigana myself, but the symbols do spell out Kudō Fujimaru, so if you reverse that, then it's Fujimaru Kudō. --Reikson 20:36, June 14, 2010 (UTC)

Sorry, I just rechecked, it's Hiragana. Typo on my part, my bad. Anyway, thanks for confirming this. Arrancar109 (Talk)  21:11, June 14, 2010 (UTC)

I'm confused. I checked the pages, and both of them are fine, with the Kudou family name elements coming before the personal names for each in the Kanji, hiragana and the "(Kudō ~)" parts of the entries. I just don't know why we feel the need to include the hiragana for the names too, instead of just the Kanji and the romanization (this latter pretty much taking the place of the hiragana as the reader guide for how to speak/write the words), as we don't do this (as far as I've seen) with any other Japanese names of characters, e.g. we don't write the Ichigo entry as

"Ichigo Kurosaki (黒崎 一護 ( くろさき いちご ) Kurosaki Ichigo)" (I underlined the hiragana lacked)

Why do we need the hiragana here, in the Kudou entries? Was it only because, for a long time, we didn't have the Kanji and were using the hiragana as a place-holder? I may've kept them in initially because they were already there, but we probably don't need them, just the Kanji and Rōmaji/romanization. Adam Restling 10:24, June 17, 2010 (UTC)

You are correct, the presence of a hiragana here is atypical and will be removed. Thanks Adam! Tinni  (Talk)  10:31, June 17, 2010 (UTC)

Eishohaki
I just noticed that Eishohaki used on the Kidō page doesn't have any kanji or translation. Could you guys try and find something for it? Thanks. The Shadow Dragon 15:50, June 22, 2010 (UTC)

Eishou haki (詠唱破棄) seems to be pretty much lit. "incantation abandonment" or "the forsaking of incantation." :) Adam Restling 09:42, June 25, 2010 (UTC)


 * Thanks. Yyp  (Talk) 10:21, June 25, 2010 (UTC)

Kanji for Jinzen
Just after the Kanji for Jinzen. Also can we get a confirmation that Jinzen does indeed mean Blade Zen? Thanks. Tinni  (Talk)  04:10, June 19, 2010 (UTC)

It may be, if "jinzen" is written with the kanji 刃 ("blade"; on-reading: jin, kun-reading yaiba/ha/kiru) and 禅 ("Zen", lit. "meditation, contemplation"; on-reading zen, kun-reading yuzuru/shizuka). Unfortunately, with MangaHelpers' recent problems, I'm not able to find any raws for the chapter to confirm the kanji that are used. MarqFJA 12:20, June 19, 2010 (UTC)

The raw can be found on Ju-Ni's website (as can most, if not all of them). Yyp (Talk) 12:55, June 19, 2010 (UTC)

See below (under "The Jinzen symbols"). Adam Restling 09:46, June 25, 2010 (UTC)

Bala Query
Hi guys. A point was brought up about something that Yammy says regarding Bala. I checked both Ju-Ni and Cnet, and they gave different translations for the bit in question, so I was wondering if you guys could clarify what was actually said for us. It is page 12 of chapter 379 (p13 in Cnet version), where Yammy talks about the bala he just hit Ichigo with. Relevant pages: Ju-Ni ("That's not a cero, that's a bala. That's why it's got so much force") and Cnet ("That was no Cero! That was my Bala!! How'd ya like its power?"). Thanks in advance. Yyp (Talk) 13:14, May 26, 2010 (UTC)

Dooo da!! ''Aa!?

 Sero ja nee zo  Bara da''!! Sore de kono iryoku da!!

Hooow's that!! Huh!?

It's not a Cero, it's a Bala!! That's why it's this force!!

The final line specifically, in more lit. breakdown, is "that-being this strength/force/might is"; thus my rendering "this force" should be read as "of this (level of) force." Sore de means "that's why/therefore" (< "[with it] being that/thus"), and iryoku is "force, might" (more lit. "awe-power"). Apparently--unless this is intended as a subtle retcon of when Yammy told Urahara that Bala were faster if weaker than Cero--Yammy here means that the Bala has a more focused, concussive "shot"-type force than a Cero's more powerful, but also more spread-out, beam, I guess.

Cnet seems to have altered the original for fun, adding "how do you like ~." Maybe they just really love Andrea True songs XD. Adam Restling 03:25, June 7, 2010 (UTC)

Could use a little assistance...
Found myself at the Ganju Shiba page; couldn't finish translating the name of the two-part spell that he and Kūkaku used to smuggle the Ichigo-tachi in Soul Society.

What I got so far was 花鶴射法二倍 拘咲; reasonably sure they're the symbols for Kakaku Shahō Niban. Couldn't find the symbols for Kagizaki.

Some assistance, please? --Reikson 23:22, June 16, 2010 (UTC)

Be on it ASAP, probably the weekend. Ditto for the below (as soon as Ju-Ni gives out the raw). Watch this space! :) Adam Restling 12:02, June 17, 2010 (UTC)

(*Thanks to Reikson for the above).

Kakaku Shahou Niban: Kagizaki seems to be 花鶴射法二倍 拘咲 "flower crane archery no. 2: wresting bloom." I think that the element 拘 "wresting" is the same one read kou in  Kou totsu, but is here given the reading kagi, prob. in emulation of similar-looking Kanji 鉤 "hook, barb." Maybe Kubo was wanting to evoke "wresting/catching hold as though on a hook"? Adam Restling 10:23, June 22, 2010 (UTC)

Renkan Seppa Shen
Looking at Ganju's page I noticed that Renkan Seppa Shen is also missing it's symbols and translation. Could you try and find them as well? Thanks. The Shadow Dragon 15:42, June 22, 2010 (UTC)

Dangai again
Can I please get the Kanji and translation for the device Isshin used in the Dangai in chapter 408? The Kaikyō Kotei? Thanks in advance! 07:12, June 17, 2010 (UTC)


 * Kaikyō Kotei was translated by Manga Stream as Realm Boundary Fixation, so the first symbol would be 界. Dunno 'bout the others. --Reikson 11:51, June 17, 2010 (UTC)


 * It's possible that the symbols for Kaikyō Kotei are 界境固定. Someone confirm or denounce, please. --Reikson 13:04, June 17, 2010 (UTC)

Yep, those are correct, as was Manga Stream's translation (!) as "realm-bound(ary) fixation/fixing," i.e. "fixing/fastening/holding in place." 界 is "realm, boundary" (also used often as shorthand for "world") and 境 "boundary" is kind of its synonym; in fact, with the order reversed, 境界 kyoukai is used to mean "boundary, frontier." Tricky, Kubo! Adam Restling 10:37, June 22, 2010 (UTC)

The Jinzen symbols
I used 刃禪 as the symbols. It's possible that the zen symbol could be 禅, but that's the Japanese simplified/shinjitai version. Help? --Reikson 21:02, June 21, 2010 (UTC)

Yeah, the raw uses 刃禅; the Japanese seem to prefer using that simplified "display" radical on the left in their forms, just like in most renderings of kami. Adam Restling 10:44, June 22, 2010 (UTC)

Hell Butterfly
Hey, can I get confirmation on the spelling for the Hell Butterfly, as the page needs to be renamed to its Japanese name. The article currently gives it as Jigoku Chō, but it was Jigokuchō until recently. The kanji listed are 地獄蝶. Thanks, Yyp  (Talk) 11:41, June 26, 2010 (UTC)

The Kanji seem to be correct. I would keep the original non-segmented form Jigokuchō--though I admit that deciding where to put word boundaries in Japanese can be very subjective business--because I think of Jigoku "Hell, Diyu" as functioning as a kind of noun-as-pseudo-adjective in a compound with chō, not requiring a segmentation, just as I support spellings like rattlesnake instead of *rattle snake. I'm not sure of what the concept behind two-word Jigoku Chō spelling is. Adam Restling 02:28, June 27, 2010 (UTC)