japanese craft terms
January 23rd, 2006 by heathermakewrite.com has a great list of japanese craft terms, and shows how to use the terms for searching amazon.co.jp with a new booksearch tool.
funny thing is, most japanese people don’t know these terms. one evening, i was crocheting a small bear, and a woman asked what i was doing. i told her あみぐるみ (amigurumi). she corrected me and said it was ぬいぐるみ (nuigurumi). i tried to explain that i heard あみ was from 編む (amu) to knit. but she had never heard of it (and she was pretty sure she was right!) alas…
of course it’s the same in english i suppose too! not many people know alot about crafts.
this table is quite handy!
Japanese Craft Terms from Makewrite.com
Kanji Hiragana/Katakana Romaji English 雑貨 ざっか zakka general merchandise 刺し子 さしこ sashiko quilting/sashiko 織物 おりもの orimono fabric/textile 人形 にんぎょう ningyo doll 小芥子 こけし kokeshi kokeshi doll 縫いぐるみ ぬいぐるみ nuigurumi stuffed doll or toy 財布 さいふ saifu wallet 手細工 てざいく tezaiku handicraft/homemade 手作り てづくり tedukuri hand-crafted/homemade 糸 いと ito thread or yarn - ホームメイド or ホームメード homumeido homemade - バッグ baggu bag - ソックス sokkusu socks - トートバッグ totobaggu tote bag - ファブリック faburikku fabric - カットクロス katto kurosu cut cloth
January 29th, 2006 at 1:01 am
Konnichiwa, Heather-san,
“あみぐるみ”is also ok! As you know “amigurumi” is combined”amu”(to knit) and “kurumu” (to wrap/ to roll) and that means “a stuffed animal made by knitting”. it has “Japan Amigurumi Association”.But “ぬいぐるみ”, “nuu”(縫う－to saw)+”kurumu”(包む－to wrap/ to roll), is more populor and sometimes it is used as generic name of stuffed animals.
January 29th, 2006 at 1:04 am
sumimasen! “nuu”(縫う－to sew) desu! machigae mashita!
January 31st, 2006 at 5:48 am
Thanks for the list! I am slowly becoming addicted to Japanese craft books and have had to put myself on a monthly budget. Another term I see a lot in the titles of books is 小もの (komono) which I believe means accessories.
February 2nd, 2006 at 3:04 pm
I thought you might like a look at these great ideas for your next crochet project:
http://www.patriciawaller.com/images.html
February 9th, 2006 at 1:36 am
hello! i love amigurumi. too!
it’s very true that most japanese don’t know about “amigurumi”. they often correct me for saying that. and i’m japanese living in canada. they think i’ve started to forget about japanese language….
i was googling to find somebody making amigurumi outside of japan. then i found your site. hope that more and more people do amigurumi!
happy amiguruming!