673
Having watched jidai-geki for a long time, I have come across many Samurai-
isms, but I can recall only a few. I would like to be able to do this more
believably the next time I'm at the Izakaya.

What words and phrases are most commonly heard in jidai geki or period anime
that would achieve this goal?
CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-06-06T04:36:50.817
653
2011-12-27T17:00:36.363
2011-12-27T17:00:36.363
168
question
history register archaic-language
If I wanted to sound more like a Samurai, what words and phrases should I learn?
Well, there is indeed a stereotypical "Samurai way of talking" that you can
see in Samurai films or in historical dramas (時代劇, Jidaigeki) on TV, but it's
far from being authentic. In fact, Samurai talked in many different ways,
depending on the era and their home province (after all, they were speaking in
their dialect).

As far as I know, the stereotypical Samurai speech in Jidaigeki is actually
based on the Edo dialect of late Edo period. Many of the mannerisms you'd find
in this speech do not specifically represent Samurai, but rather a typical
resident of Edo in that particular time.

The most striking feature of this speech is the complete absence of the modern
～ます forms, which are sometimes replaced by other polite forms, but very often
find Keigo used with plain forms. The most noticeable alternative polite form
of this Edo-jidai speech is probably the polite/humble copula で御座る which is
often used wholesale instead of any other copula. Just note that is copula is
considered humble, so usually when speaking about someone else (at least
someone you'd want to respectful to :)), you'd use the honorific copula
でいらっしゃる instead of で御座る. For instance:

> 拙者は侍でござる。

But when asking someone else for their name:

> どなたでいらっしゃるか？

Note the first-person pronoun I used in the first example. 拙者 (せっしゃ) also
highly identified with Samurai speech. It literally means something like
"clumsy person", so it's a humble pronoun of course. In Jidaigeki, some
Samurai use it, but the more haughty ones would probably use a different
pronoun, such as おれ。

Another personal pronoun that's highly identified with Samurai speech is the
second person pronoun お主. Again, you won't see every Jidaigeki Samurai using
it, but it's highly stereotypical.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-06-06T08:33:06.350
673
2011-06-06T14:05:46.577
2011-06-06T14:05:46.577
153
153
653
answer
The first word I'd learn is "bushido." Which translates into "warrior code."

You might also learn words like "on" (obligation) and "giri" (duty). These are
concepts used by the chivalric samurai.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-06-10T20:55:32.997
959
2011-06-10T20:55:32.997
309
653
answer
For a good start, all you need is to watch **Rurouni Kenshin** and start
imitating.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-06-11T07:33:35.113
966
2011-06-11T07:33:35.113
264
653
answer