Usagi Yojimbo DojoBoard

Could someone please help out a poor ignorant yet rather highly educated teacher and give me the correct pronumciation of Tomoe? I hesitate to tell my students, for fear of blowing it big-time!

when i was in school teachers made mistakes all the time. we never hassled the teacher. just pointed it out. what grade did you teach?

T-Moe-ay.

You're in S. Pas? Do you teach in Highland Park?

Toh-moh-eh

or

"Toe" as in the big "toe" on your foot.
"Moe" as with Larry and Curly.
"Eh" as in what Canadians say.

Greentreesquid wrote:when i was in school teachers made mistakes all the time. we never hassled the teacher. just pointed it out. what grade did you teach?

This year, fifth grade-- and rather above-average fifth grade at that!

goandal wrote:T-Moe-ay.

You're in S. Pas? Do you teach in Highland Park?

Nope-- What used to be called "South Central"-- 75th Street Elementary.

Thanks for the info!

Stan Sakai wrote:Toh-moh-eh

or

"Toe" as in the big "toe" on your foot.
"Moe" as with Larry and Curly.
"Eh" as in what Canadians say.

The audio/visual that this invokes is rather strange, but thanks a bunch!
Cynthia

We'll need to convert this page over:
http://usagiyojimbo.com/other/pronunciation.html

One of Stan Sakai's biggest problems when at conventions is when people come up to him and ask "Is that pronounced 'You-saji'?" or "Who is this 'Tomo Amy' I keep hearing about?". Okay, it may not be such a big problem, but it can be embarrassing at times when you want to be able to pronounce an Usagi Yojimbo character's name, but come up a bit short or get tounge-tied. That was the idea when I came up with this page. Of course, I'm no master at pronouncing Japanese names/words correctly, so if you spot anything 'wrong' here, drop us a note on the DojoBoard. These are, of course, the English pronunciations of Japanese names/words, so beware!

CHARACTER NAMES
Miyamoto Usagi.........."mee-yah-MOE-toe oo-SAH-gee" ('gee' as in 'geese')
Tomoe Ame..............."toe-MOE-eh AH-meh"
Gennosuke..............."gen-NOS-keh"
Noriyuki................"no-ree-YOU-kee"
Zato Ino................"ZAH-toe EE-no"
Mariko.................."MA-ree-ko"
Kenichi................."Keh-NEE-chee"
Jotaro.................."joe-TAH-roe"
Katsuichi Sensei........"kah-tsoo-EE-chee SEN-seh" (soft 't')
Mifune.................."mee-FOO-neh"
Kazumi.................."kah-ZOO-mee"
Tsuruichi..............."tsoo-roo-EE-chee" (very soft 't')
Hikiji.................."hee-KEE-jee"
Shingen................."SHEEN-gen"
Hebi...................."HEH-bi"
Chizu..................."CHEE-zoo"
Kitsune................."keet-SU-neh"
Jei....................."JEH"
Gunichi................."goo-NEE-chee"
Mataichi................"mah-TIE-chee"
Torame.................."TOE-rah-meh"
Tamakuro................"tah-mah-KOO-roe"
Oyaneko................."oh-yah-NEH-koh"
Yagi...................."YAH-gee"
Gorogoro................"GOH-roh-GOH-roh"
Shubo..................."SHOO-boe"
Hatsu..................."HAH-tsoo" (soft 't')
Inukai (Stray Dog)......"ee-NOO-kigh"
Fujii..................."foo-JEE"
Inazuma................."ee-nah-ZOO-mah"
Nakamura Koji..........."nah-kah-MOO-rah KOH-jee"

CLAN NAMES
Neko...................."NEH-koe"
Mogura.................."moe-GOO-rah"
Geishu.................."GEH-shoo"
Komori.................."koe-MOE-ree"

WEAPONRY
Katana.................."kah-TAH-nah"
Wakizashi..............."wah-kee-ZAH-shi"
Shuriken................"shoo-REE-ken"
Bokken.................."BOE-ken"

OTHER NAMES
Shinobi................."shee-NOE-bee"
Tokage.................."toe-KAH-geh"
Samurai................."SAH-moo-righ"
Ronin..................."roh-NEEN"
Daimyo.................."DIGH-myoh" (soft 'm')
Shogun.................."SHOH-goon"
Yojimbo................."yoh-JEEM-boh"

We did convert that page; the pronunciation is on each character sheet (see Tomoe Ame for an example).

Doh! You're right; my bad...

CORRECTION!!

Canadians say "A"
not "EH"

Well, the rules are pretty simple: Just pronounce them as a German would