10 Japanese words you may use in mountains

How many Japanese words do you know?

Of course it's not necessery for foreign hikers to learn Japanese in advance, but if they know these simple Japanese words below, their mountain trips will become much more fun!

This time I will introduce only 10 words related with mountain trips. I guess that to learn Japanese is very hard work for Indo-European-language speakers, but you don't need to fight with complicated grammers or witchspell-like pronounciation as long as you're in the mountain.

Just try saying "konnichiwa" when you pass other hikers on the trail, and they will be sure to reply "konnichiwa" with all smiles!

YAMA (mountains)

The most basic word is "yama", which means mountains.
This is the reason why many Japanese mountain end their names with "***yama". You might have already encountered this word in some of my articles, Mt.Hinata-yama for instance.

TO-ZAN (mountaineering)

The word "tozan" literally means mountaineering.
This word is devided into two parts "to" and "zan", which mean "climbing" and "mountains" respectively.
Tozan is a noun and has high versatility so that you can use it with adding some parts to its end. Such as...
- tozan + guchi: trailheads (guchi=start)
- tozan + sha: hikers (sha=men)
- tozan + dou: trailcourses (dou=roads)

CHI-ZU (a map)

"Chizu" means maps (Don't say cheeze!). And maps concerned with mountains are "tozan-chizu" or "yama-chizu".
This word is devided into two parts "chi" and "zu", which mean "ground" and "pictures" respectively.
By the way, A compass in Japanese is "compass". This is one of the foreign borrowed words, so you don't need to think twice.

KON-NICHI-WA (Hi!! or Hello!!)

Above all, you must master this most famous Japanese word.
When you are in cities, you are never expected to say konnichiwa to pedestorians passing by (If you do, they must be confused.). But in mountains, you'd better say it with a small bow when passing other hikers along trailcourses.
At the same time, you are recommended to learn the word "Sayonara", which means Good-by.

TSU-KA-RE-TA (I've got tired.)

Nobody can reach to peaks without suffering from fatigue. In Japanese, fatigue means "tsukare", and to express your fatigue is "Tsukare-ta".
If you sit down and cry out "Tsukareta" along the trailcourse, some kind hikers may encourage you and even give some foods!!

KYU-KEI (a rest)

In mountaineering, it is important to take rests in appropriate time. A rest is "kyukei" and taking a rest is "Kyukei-suru" in Japanese.
This word is divided into two parts "kyu" and "kei", both of which mean a rest.

CHO-JO (a summit)

One of your purpose to visit mountains must be hunting their summits. So you should remember this word "chojo", which means a summit. And this word is divided into two parts "cho" and "jo", which means "top" and "above" respectively.
The pronounciation is a little bit difficult..., you have to draw out the end of parts like "choh-joh".

SUGOI (Amazing!! or Marvellous!!)

When you watch some Japanese TV programs, you may hear this word every one minutes on average. "Sugoi" is the word to express your astonishment, and it conveys positive feeling basically. Japanese (especially youngs) use this word frequently, so don't hesitate to say repeatedly.
You may say "Sugoi" when seeing wonderful views, discovering some rare animals or encountering highly experienced climers, as such.

SHA-SHIN (photo)

This is also a frequent word you would encounter. "Shashin" means "photo", and this word is devided into two parts "sha" and "shin", which mean "to copy" and "truth" respectively.
When you'd like to ask someone to take photos of you, you are supposed to say "Shashin wo onegai shimasu" (Take our photo, please.) or "Shashin iidesuka?" (Would you mind taking our photo?), passing your camera in person.

TA-SU-KE-TE (Help!!)

The last word is "Tasukete", and I hope you won't have chance to use this word. It's used to ask to help, and if someone screaming out "Tasukete!", it must be a serious situation!
In fact, many Japanese can understand "Help". So if you will be in trouble, "Help me!" is okay. But if you will hear someone else cry out "Tasukete!", you should look for the person in trouble.