Banzai Meaning: Ten Thousand Years, the Three-Cheer Ritual and When to Join In

The kanji: ten thousand years

Banzai is written 万歳. The first character, man or ban, means ten thousand, and the second, sai or zai, means years of age, the same character used when you say how old someone is. Ten thousand years is a poetic number for forever, so the phrase is a wish that something, or someone, may live and flourish for a very long time. The Japanese cheer grew from an older East Asian tradition of wishing a ruler long life.

In modern Japanese the phrase has two lives. Shouted, it is a cheer, and that is the use this guide is about. Written or spoken calmly, it can be a noun meaning a state of joy or surrender: banzai suru can describe a child throwing both arms up, and o-tetsuage, hands raised, is the same gesture as giving up. The comic genre manzai is written with different characters and is unrelated, though learners often confuse the sounds.

How banzai sanshō works

The full cheer is banzai sanshō, three shouts of banzai, and it follows a fixed form that everyone learns by watching. A leader, called the ondo o toru hito, the person who sets the tune, takes the microphone near the end of an event. He or she asks everyone to stand, go-kiritsu kudasai, and to join in, go-shōwa o onegai shimasu. Then comes the reason: for the couple's happiness, for the company's growth, for the person leaving. Finally the leader calls banzai, everyone answers banzai, and this repeats three times.

The arms matter. On each shout you raise both arms straight up, together, palms facing inward. There is a small point of etiquette here: raising the arms with palms forward looks like surrender, so people are gently taught to keep the palms facing each other. Timing also matters: you shout with the group, not before the leader. After the third shout the room applauds, and often the leader adds arigatō gozaimashita and asks everyone to sit down.

Where you will hear banzai today

The most common place for a foreign guest to meet banzai is a wedding reception, hirōen, where a senior guest or the couple's boss often leads a banzai for the newlyweds near the end of the party. Company events use it too: an end-of-year party may close with a banzai for the company's success, a project launch with one for the team, and a retirement party with one for the person leaving. Sports fans shout it after a championship, and you may see it on the pitch after a team wins promotion.

Election night is the other classic scene. When a candidate's victory is confirmed, supporters gather in the campaign office, hands are raised and the whole room shouts banzai three times, a scene that appears on television every election. Send-offs are older still: a colleague leaving for a distant posting or a school team leaving for a tournament may be sent off from a station platform with banzai and waving. Graduation and entrance ceremonies also use it.

A short, careful note on history

Banzai as a public cheer was introduced in the Meiji era for state ceremonies, and it was shouted for the emperor as tennō heika banzai. During the wars of the early twentieth century the cry became bound up with the military. Soldiers shouted it before charging, and English speakers still use banzai charge for a desperate attack, which is why the word can sound alarming to people outside Japan. In Japan the wartime associations are known, and they are one reason the word stayed formal and ceremonial rather than becoming a casual expression.

Today, most Japanese people use banzai without thinking of any of this. Still, it is worth being aware: shouting banzai as a joke, or striking a pose with it, can look ignorant or worse. Used properly, at a celebration, with the group, it is warm and inclusive. Treat it as a ritual you take part in, not a catchphrase you perform.

Why banzai is not a casual hooray: yatta and friends

Because banzai is a group ritual with a fixed form, it does not work as a personal shout of joy. If you pass the JLPT, get a seat on a crowded train or find a lost umbrella, the natural word is yatta, I did it, or yokatta, thank goodness. Saying banzai alone at your desk sounds theatrical, like shouting three cheers to an empty room. The table gathers the everyday expressions of joy and celebration so you can see where banzai sits among them.

Kanpai deserves a mention because English speakers sometimes reach for banzai when they mean a toast. A toast is kanpai, said once with glasses raised. Banzai comes later, if at all, with arms raised and no glass in hand.

Phrases for leading and joining a banzai

If you are ever asked to lead, the form is fixed enough that you can prepare it in advance. If you are a guest, all you need is to follow the leader, stand when asked and shout with the room. The list gives you both roles.

• Sore de wa, banzai sanshō o okonaitai to omoimasu: Now I'd like to do three cheers of banzai
• Mina-sama go-kiritsu no ue, go-shōwa o onegai itashimasu: Everyone please stand and join in
• Watashi ga ondo o torasete itadakimasu: Allow me to lead the cheer
• Kabushiki gaisha ABC no hatten o negatte, banzai: Wishing ABC Company success, banzai
• Tanaka-san no korekara no go-katsuyaku o negatte, banzai: Wishing Tanaka success in what comes next, banzai
• Banzai no ondo o onegai dekimasu ka: Could you lead the banzai for us?
• Ryōte o agete, issho ni onegai shimasu: Raise both hands and join in together, please

The word negatte, wishing, is the hinge of every leader's line: state who or what you are cheering for, add negatte, then call banzai. Change the name and the wish and the same sentence works for a wedding, a company or a friend leaving town.

Mistakes and awkward moments

The classic mistake is timing: shouting banzai before the leader, or on the leader's first syllable, so that your voice stands alone. Wait for the room. A second is the arms: half-raised arms or a single fist look like a different gesture, so raise both arms fully and bring them down between shouts. A third is treating banzai as a chant to repeat many times; three is the number, and a fourth shout will be met with laughter.

The most awkward moment is using banzai as a joke where the history matters, or performing it for a photo in front of older people. If you are not sure whether an occasion calls for it, do not propose it; join in if someone else does. If you make a mistake, a smile and a light sumimasen, machigaemashita is all the repair needed. Japanese guests get the timing wrong too.