Aug 18, 2012 02:31
11 yrs ago
Japanese term

卍屋

Non-PRO Japanese to English Art/Literary History Edo period Japanese
A character has referred to himself as a 卍屋の若い者 and refers to a 親分 in a piece that takes place in the Edo period. My attempt to research this has only come up with results about the 卍 character, not what a 卍屋 is. My first thought that it had to do with the spiritual background of the character, but then the 親分 does not make sense. Does anyone have an idea?

Proposed translations

+1
11 hrs
Selected

adult toys dealer

If there is explanation in the story, or if you wanted to add some, then Manjiya may work fine. A quick search on Google reveals the following:

「江戸時代―男女和合の秘具や媚薬を扱う業者を、卍屋と呼んだ。」
http://books.google.co.jp/books/about/卍屋龍次無明斬り.html?id=118ZP...

「秘具媚薬を商う卍屋」
hon.gakken.jp/author/鳴海丈

So it would seem that your 卍屋 is a dealer of adult toys/sex toys and aphrodisiacs. Depending on the context and content, shop may be more appropriate than dealer.
Peer comment(s):

agree humbird : Wonderful research as usual Nathan! Off the topic but related -- 卍 is swastica its origin is older than that of Nazi Germany. If you are careful you find this on the roof tile of Buddhist temples in Japan. Although its orientatation is reverse of Nazi's.
2 hrs
Thanks, humbird. Indeed, the swastica has a long history. It's too bad the Nazis ruined its image.
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4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Thank you for the thorough answer, it helped a lot!"
+1
30 mins

Manji-ya

や【屋・家】

人の住むために造った建築物。いえ。家屋。住宅。〈和名抄一○〉
屋根。「—の棟」
接尾
その職業の家またはその人を表す語。「花—」「八百—」
家号や雅号、書斎に用いる語。「鈴—(スズノヤ)」「播磨—」
あなどりやからかいの気持をこめて人を呼ぶ語。
性向を表す語に添え、そのような傾向の人である意を表す。「わからず—」「やかまし—」「がんばり—」
仕事・分野を表す語に添え、そればかりを専門としている人の意を表す。「政治—」「技術—」

や‐ごう【屋号】‥ガウ
商家または俳優などの家の称号。伊勢屋・成田屋の類。
広辞苑 第四

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Note added at 36 mins (2012-08-18 03:08:02 GMT)
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http://kotobank.jp/word/屋号
Peer comment(s):

agree Akiteru Sasayama
2 hrs
Thanks a lot!
neutral humbird : Good research as always, but this does not tell much about real social function and nature of 卍屋.
12 hrs
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14 hrs

Adult store

This can also mean, plainly, adult store.
Peer comment(s):

neutral humbird : Well could be, but the asker also mention 親分, so I'm under the impression this is something to do with underground operation. So it appears having a deeper coonotation than just adult store.
1 hr
Ah I see what you mean! Thank you for explaining it to me! :) <3
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