Japanese Food Names With Literal Meanings: Oyakodon and More

Parent and child in a bowl: oyakodon and tanindon

Oyakodon is chicken simmered with onion in a sweet soy broth, bound with soft egg and served over rice. Oyako (親子) is parent and child, and the kanji 丼 is read don, short for donburi. The joke is that the chicken and the egg are family.

Change the meat and the family breaks up. Pork or beef cooked with egg in the same style is tanindon (他人丼): tanin means a stranger, someone who is no relation. The name is most at home in the Kansai region, and other areas may use different names for the same idea.

Fox and tanuki: animals that are not in the bowl

Kitsune (きつね) is a fox. On a noodle menu it means a topping of aburaage, thin fried tofu simmered until sweet, because foxes in folklore are said to love it. Foxes are also the messengers of Inari shrines, which is why sushi rice packed in a pouch of the same tofu is called inarizushi.

Tanuki (たぬき), the raccoon dog, is less simple. In and around Tokyo, tanuki soba or udon is topped with tenkasu, crunchy bits of tempura batter. In Osaka, tanuki usually means soba with fried tofu, the dish Tokyo calls kitsune soba. Kyoto has its own version again. Why the tanuki was chosen is not known for certain; one common story derives it from tane-nuki, without the filling.

Moon, eyeball, fish: names that paint a picture

Tsukimi (月見) is moon viewing, an autumn custom. On a menu it means an egg dropped into the bowl: the yolk is the full moon and the white is the cloud around it. Fast-food chains sell tsukimi burgers with an egg every autumn. Medamayaki (目玉焼き) uses the same yolk for a blunter picture. Medama is an eyeball and yaki is grilled or fried: a fried egg, sunny side up, looking at you.

Taiyaki (たい焼き) is a cake baked in the shape of a tai, a sea bream, a fish served at celebrations. The filling is sweet bean paste, not fish. Takoyaki (たこ焼き), however, really contains tako, octopus. Melon bread, meronpan, is named for its looks: a sweet bun with a scored crust, traditionally with no melon inside.

Sushi rolls with stories: tekkamaki and kappamaki

Tekkamaki (鉄火巻き) is a thin roll of raw tuna. Tekka means red-hot iron. The usual explanation is that the red tuna in the middle looks like glowing metal. Another story says the roll was a favourite in gambling dens, which were called tekkaba, because players could eat it with one hand. Neither is proven, and Japanese people enjoy both.

Kappamaki (かっぱ巻き) is a cucumber roll. The kappa is a river creature of folklore that is said to love cucumbers. Outside the sushi counter the vegetable is simply kyūri; only the roll gets the kappa's name.

Names that simply describe: yaki and okonomi

The word yaki (焼き) means cooked over direct heat: grilled, pan-fried or griddled. Add what is being cooked and you have a dish. Okonomiyaki goes one step further. Konomi is a preference, okonomi is your preference said politely, so the name means cooked the way you like it, and you choose the fillings.

Okonomi is useful beyond food. Okonomi de dōzo on a table of sauces means add as much as you like.

Shabu-shabu and other names made of sound

Shabu-shabu (しゃぶしゃぶ) is a hot pot of paper-thin meat, and the name is the sound of swishing a slice through the broth. Japanese has a huge stock of sound words, and food packaging uses them constantly to describe texture. Learn three and you can read half the labels in a bakery.

How to ask what a dish really is

A name tells you the joke, not the ingredient list. If you have an allergy or do not eat certain foods, ask directly. Staff are used to the question, and polite desu and masu forms are right for a restaurant.

Haitte imasu comes from hairu, to be inside. The pattern is the ingredient, then wa haitte imasu ka. Asking why a dish has its name, with dōshite, is also a friendly way to get a cook or a waiter talking.