Solid JP translation of NIN tools/spells :: Final Fantasy XI

#1 Aug 06 2004 at 6:44 PM Rating: Excellent

Sage

1,368 posts

Preamble: Here it goes kids! In my never ceasing bid for guru-dom, I have again decided to leverage a rare resource in my possession: Japanese language ability. I have a friend (Allyssa- Fairy server) who is now a tender young Mithra NIN. Being the crafter zealot in the group I decided to look up just what it would take and in what cases it would be possible to provide her NIN tools through crafting. I am now thoroughly versed in the sneaky sneakiness that is Ninjutsu. As a community service I have decided to translate and comment on all the crazy Japanese terms that a NIN has to deal with.

A first note: The proper term is ninja tool, not ninja powder. There seems to be a general understanding of this on the NIN forum, but for the rest of you who ain’t Tenshodo members yet, and/or just plain haven’t caught on, the items needed to cast Ninjutsu are tools, not powders. You may notice that on the AH Ninja tools are sold under the (rather informative) heading ninja tools. I know the graphic is the little bag- but that is the standard graphic used for “Square is too lazy to make a picture of this.” As you read further you will gain greater enlightenment into the true nature of the sneaky sneakiness.

A second note: If at anytime your lil’ heart yearns to see the actual Japanese for these spells or tools I suggest the following: Sneakiness Unveiled! On this site you can also see the tool names: click on the spell and it will expand, after “comments” there are four characters (they read “Shinobi Dougu” or “Ninja Tool,” hmmm…). After those four characters is a colon, some squiggly stuff then a cute lil’ circle that looks like a period. The squiggly stuff is the kanji for the ninja tool. If you want to see slightly more readable kanji (and a whole pile of other spells’ names in Japanese) Go here: Long list...

On with the show! These are translated in the order they appear under the “Spells & Abilities” list here on Allakazham. I have followed Allakazham's naming conventions for the tool names.

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TONKO Lit: “escaping/evading armor/shell”

Tool: Shinobi-tabi, Lit: "sneaky/ninja socks/boots" the character "shinobi" can either mean sneaking itself, or (by extension) ninja. (Most gamers were aware of that already, from such old-skool games as...Shinobi?) Tabi are sometimes just socks, but ninja woulda worn more industrial strength, stand-alone boot type tabi. More proof this is a clothing item/tool not a powder is that you craft it using clothcraft (the grass thread is prob intended as the grass sole tabi had). So I thought tabi were only good for warm feet with sandals or maybe for climbing up knotted ropes- but I guess not; if you wanna be invisible- get them disposable boots out! If you want see a picture of sock/boot Tabi you can go to these places: Ninja boots! Sneaky socks! Sneaky boots! or even Ninja socks! <---lol karate-mart? And how 'bought them bare legs?

UTSUSEMI Lit: "empty cicada" IMO the most descriptive and artful ninjutsu name in the game. The spell name refers to a cicada skin that has been sloughed off. Pictures here: Molting? and here: Gross your GF out!. So the idea is that you have a shadow like the discarded shell of a cicada, very cool.

Tool: Shihei, Lit: "paper soldier" I guess the idea here is you get out your third-grade safety scissors and make paper soldiers to serve as some sort of simulacrum. Appropriate idea for the tool, but not really the same feel as insect husk. I guess they wanted you to pay for bast parchment, not insect wings; dark crystal + shellbug would've been a cool bonecraft recipe though!

RAITON Lit: "releasing lightning" (All these "ton" spells use long O's in case you care about "proper" pronunciation.)

Tool: Hiraishin Lit: "lightning rod" Not really a literal translation there- but a hiraishin is a lightning rod. Definitely not a powder, and no wonder it takes goldsmithing! Ninja sure have figured out some sneaky tricks- they know how to make the other guy who gets zapped when you are holding a lightning rod.

SUITON Lit: "releasing water"
Tool: Mizu-Deppo, Lit: "water gun" That's right folks- a water gun. Take it at face value- I guess you bust out your chestnut lumber super soaker and hose that mob down.

DOTON Lit: "releasing earth"

Tool: Makibishi, Lit: "caltrop" A literal translation is not really helpful here. "Caltrop" is kinda like translating nunchaku as flail, or katana as sword, except that makibishi really are very similar to western caltrops. They are also called "tetsubishi." You can read a little about them, look at pictures here:Pointy lameness!

HUTON Lit: "releasing wind" (don't say it) as a kooky side note- most English speakers would actually hear this as "Futon."

Tool: Kawahori-ogi, Lit: "bat fan" Again- kinda interesting that there are no appropriate animal parts in the recipe, but oh well. At least you can put "Holy air damage Batman! Using bat fan now!" in your Huton macro.

HYOTON Lit: "releasing ice"

Tool: Tsurara, Lit: "ice pillar" The literal translation here is overly literal- tsurara is simply the word for "icicle." So think of your self growing icicles in your mog house (NIN are cold, calculating types- it fits) and stabbing mobs with them for this one.

KATON Lit: "releasing fire"

Tool: Uchitake, Lit: "hitting bamboo" So I figure the idea here is that you get the toad oil in the bamboo, seal it up with the grass cloth and then break it on the mob, or shoot the oil out blowgun style. I prefer the blowgun explanation- but the whole "bamboo for hitting" name implies otherwise.

KURAYAMI Lit: "darkness" Simple, to the point name.

Tool: Sairui-ran Lit: "eggshell bomb" Again- this translation isn't too literal. Ran is egg, and sairui is a cool root word. In Japanese sairui-gas is tear gas, and a sairui-bomb is a tear gas grenade. You get the idea. Ninja used to hollow out eggs then fill them with all sorts of nasties and lob them in your face or make small-scale grenade type weapons out of them. So you hollow out the bird egg, put the pepper juice and bomb ash in there and viola, old-skool crowd control. Sorry all, try as I might I couldn't get an Internet site with an eggshell bomb picture or how-to.

HOJO Lit: "bind with a rope"

Tool: Kaginawa, Lit: "grappling hook" Once more- the translation is not really literal as it is a unique (though similar) Japanese tool/weapon. A kaginawa is simply a hooking/bladed/pronged device on the end of a rope used to scale stuff, whip into people, tie people up, whatever suits your fancy. Some visuals/explanations for you all here: That's what I said! and Way too much info?

DOKUMORI Lit: "piles of poison!" (Mori is difficult to translate, so I dodged the issue by making it funny. In a Japanese person's mind it is probably interpreted simply as a synonym for "poison" or maybe as "a dose of poison")

Tool: Kodoku, Lit: "worm poison" Yummy, you grind all those nasty bugs and such up and rot 'em with dark crystal! Good for you! I guess this one might actually be a powder, so there ya go.

JUBAKU Lit: "curse" This is one of many Japanese synonyms for curse in Japanese.

Tool: Jusatsu, Lit: "curse paper" This one is simple: write curses in blood and ink and use the scroll to cast the spell.

Alright- now you know and knowing is half the battle. I hope you all found this helpful or at least fun to learn on some level. Now you know what your NIN is tossing in mobs' eyes or wrapping around their legs as they cast their magic. If you guys ever need other stuff translated- gimme me a buzz.

Edited, Fri Aug 6 19:59:10 2004 by Kiyokatsu

Edited, Sat Aug 7 00:57:18 2004 by Kiyokatsu

EDIT: Found another "ahve"

Edited, Sun Aug 29 06:27:19 2004 by Kiyokatsu

Solid JP translation of NIN tools/spellsFollow