Discover a Japanese town full of ceramics, ceramic artists, wonderful local food and culture. Travel to us free - in VR!
  • Home
  • About Tajimi
    • Tajimi Tourism Association
    • Free E-books
    • Navigate >
      • Eat & Drink in Tajimi (TOP) >
        • Restaurant Finder
        • Local food and Drink >
          • Food - Wild Yam a treat for the New Year
          • Food - Eel à la tajimienne
          • Drink - Sake in Tajimi
          • Drink - Sake. "Excellently Dry"
          • Food: Cook a local snack - Gohei mochi
          • Food: The History of the Gohei mochi
      • Plan your trip to Tajimi and Gifu
      • See >
        • Places
        • Historical figures
      • Mino Ware >
        • Famous kilns in Tajimi - a pottery town in Gifu prefecture, Japan
        • Mino ware ceramics and pottery Shopping
        • Pottery and ceramics galleries in Tajimi, Japan
        • Courses, equipment and stores for Potters
      • Experience >
        • Pottery Workshops in Tajimi, Japan
        • Pottery painting & Tile Art experiences in Tajimi
        • Fruit Picking in Tajimi
      • Eat & Drink in Tajimi >
        • Restaurants
        • Cafes & Confectionaries
        • Unagappa Sweets
        • Tajimi Yakisoba
      • Souvernirs
      • Currency Converter
      • Getting around
      • Lodging
    • Event Calendar
  • News index
  • Essays
    • Pottery Retreats - A Creative Escape
    • Tajimi partners with local businesses to improve services for foreign tourists
    • The tea Ceremony in Tajimi: Pottery, People, and Places (Part 01)
    • The tea Ceremony in Tajimi: Pottery, People, and Places (Part 02)
    • To Tajimi and back: foreign visitors' impressions of our city
    • Walking in Tajimi >
      • 01 Walking in Takata - Onada
      • 02 Walking in Tajimi - The Immovable Wisdom King
      • 03 Walking in Tajimi - Suigetsu Kiln
      • 04 Walking in Tajimi - North of Toki
      • 05 Modern day Nagase St. - flash backs from the past
      • 06 Around Oribe Street
      • 07 The Tajimi Ginza Arcade Area
      • 08 Ichinokura - The Pottery Town (Part 01)
      • 09 Ichinokura - The Pottery Town (Part 02)
    • Cycling in Tajimi
    • Ceramics >
      • Makigama Fair in Tajimi
      • Ceramics Festival Mino 24
      • The Story of Mino Ware >
        • The roots of the Mino ware renaissance
        • The Story of Mino Ware (Part 1)
        • The Story of Mino Ware (Part 02)
        • The Story of Mino Ware (Part 03)
        • The Story of Mino Ware (Part 04)
        • Beyond Mino Ware (Part 05)
      • The ascending kiln
      • Kobe Kiln: Tradition-meets-innovation
      • A polar bear's pottery performance
      • Shiro Tenmoku (01): The first reproduction in 500 years
      • Shiro Tenmoku (02): The first reproduction in 500 years
      • Finland Meets Tajimi
      • Ceramic treats in Tajimi - a Mini Tour
      • Learning pottery at the Ho-Ca workshop
      • Master Potter Hidetake Ando
      • Brave New Pottery - 3rd Ceramics
      • English Guided Tours 2019
      • Ikuhiko Shibata - Not Your Ordinary Potter
      • Kasahara - the Tile Kingdom
      • The Mosaic Princess Tile Enthusiasts
      • Striking Gold in Mino 2021
      • Toso - the Legacy of a Mysterious Master Potter
      • A Muromachi Style Kiln Firing
    • Life in Tajimi >
      • Tono-ben: Great Ice-breaker phrases for the traveler >
        • Tono-ben Karta - a card game
        • Tono-ben; Everybody Loves Fumi-chan
        • Learn Tono-ben (Karuta cards)
      • From Tokyo to Tajimi: My Life in a Seemingly Ordinary Rural Town (Part 1)
      • From Tokyo to Tajimi (Part 2): About a future where people live wherever they want
      • From Tokyo to Tajimi (Part 3): Now is the time to see the countryside
      • The Festival - Oh, What a Night!
      • The Life of an American Japanese
      • Festivals in Tajimi
      • 2018 in Tajimi - Visually
      • Film - A day in Tajimi
      • Virtual Travel - The day when Our World Shrank
      • Blessings in a calamitous year (part 01)
      • Blessings in a calamitous year (part 02)
      • Flower Viewing Beyond the Crowds
      • Manga: The Kappa Scene
      • Shidekobushi - the rare Magnolias of the Tono region
    • History >
      • A Failed Coup d'etat - And the Death of a Tajimi Samurai
  • エッセイ
    • 多治見​滞在中の過ごし方
    • 薪窯フェア
    • 国際陶磁器フェスティバル美濃 ’24
    • 外国人観光客へのサービスを充実させる取り組み
    • 焼物の町 多治見で茶道のあれこれ (Part 01)
    • 焼物の町 多治見で茶道のあれこれ (PART 2)
    • ​多治見に訪れた人たち、そしてその後
    • 焼物の町、多治見まち歩き 小名田/高田 ​パート1
    • 多治見ウォーキング >
      • 焼物の町、多治見まち歩き 小名田/高田 ​パート2 不動明王の滝
      • 焼物の町、多治見まち歩き 高田/小名田 ​パート3 水月窯
      • 多治見歴史探索ウォーキング - 土岐川の北側
      • ながせ通りウォーキング 昔の姿に思いを馳せながら
      • おりべストリート周辺 - パート1
      • 多治見 銀座通り
      • 市之倉町 多治見の小さな陶器の町(パート1))
      • 市之倉町 多治見の小さな陶器の町(パート2)
    • 陶器・タイル >
      • シロクマの焼き物パフォーマンス
      • 美濃焼物語 (Part 1)
      • 美濃焼物語 (Part 02)
      • 美濃焼物語 (Part 03)
      • 美濃焼物語 (Part 04)
      • 美濃焼物語 (Part 05)
      • 美濃焼ルネッサンスのルーツ
      • 白天目 500年ぶりの再現 PART1
      • 白天目 500年ぶりの再現 PART2
      • 登り窯
      • 焼き物の楽しみ方
      • 幸兵衛窯:伝統と革新の出会い
      • 多治見で作陶
      • 安藤日出武
      • タイルキングダム - 笠原町
      • 陶磁器の本拠地でグランプリを目指せ!
      • 柴田育彦 ボーダーレスな陶芸家
      • 新しい陶磁器産業の形
      • モザイクタイルプリンセス
      • フィンランドと多治見の出会い
      • 陶祖 - 謎めいた名工が遺したもの
      • 青山双渓氏、「白天目」の再現に挑んだ窯
    • 食べる・飲む >
      • 多治見で乾杯!
      • 五平餅を食べられるお店と作り方
      • ウナギ・ア・ラ・タジミエンヌ
      • 超辛口の日本酒への情熱
      • 多治見のお正月の自然薯料理
    • 東京から多治見へ - PART 1
    • 東京から多治見へ - PART 2
    • 東京から多治見へ - PART 3
    • 厄年の御祈祷 (part 01)
    • 厄年の御祈祷 (part 02)
    • 夏祭り - なんて素敵な夜!
    • 人込みを避けてお花見を満喫しよう
    • 多治見のお祭り
    • シデコブシ 東濃地方の珍しい木蓮の花
    • ビジュアルで2018年の多治見を振り返ろう
    • 多治見の楽しい方言 東濃弁
    • バーチャル・トラベル
    • ビデオ - A DAY IN 多治見
    • 失敗に終わったクーデター
    • 2019年 多治見るこみち イングリッシュ・ガイドツアー
    • アメリカン・ジャパニーズとしての暮らし
    • やくならマグカップも:カッパが登場するシーン
    • 東濃弁でカルタ遊び
    • みんな大好きふみちゃん
    • 多治見でサイクリング
  • Access
  • Contact

Tono-ben KARUTA

Learn Japan's funniest dialect by playing cards!
The Tono dialect karuta (card game) can be enjoyed at many levels. Here a beginner Japanese student does quite well by recognizing the first sound in the sentence and finding the corresponding hiragana character on the card.

The Card Game
Picture
Fumi-chan has gathered quite a following on YouTube. Here she is again, teaching you how to pronounce Tono-ben sentences.

about the game and how to make use of it in real life

The Tono-ben (Tono dialect) card game is essentially about reaction time. The cards come in two variants, one with a sentence that is read by one of the players (the oya or leader), and a corresponding card with an illustration of the same sentence. The illustrated cards are spread out on the floor. When the sentence is read out loud, you have to find the illustration on the floor that corresponds to the sentence, and snatch it before anybody else does. The player who collects the most cards has won.
​
Since the sentences are written in Tono-ben, which is hard to understand for other than the locals, and even younger locals may have a hard time getting the meaning, the challenge is to figure out the meaning before anybody else does. But there is also a hint. Each card carries the first hiragana character in the sentence. If you can catch the first sound in a sentence you can scan the cards on the floor to quickly find those with same character. This makes it possible for children or beginner Japanese learners to compete in the game.
​
Each text card also has the same sentence written in standard Japanese on it, so any Japanese speaker can be the oya. By playing the game people can learn how to use Tono-ben. Even a foreigner with only rudimentary knowledge of Japanese can take part, as long as he or she can read hiragana. I have collected four sentences here below that is fun to know. For example, if you want to poke a bit of fun at a snobbish Tokyoite, one of these sentences will be handy. Just find an opportunity to use it and see how he or she reacts. If you come to Tajimi and use these sentences you will be an instant success, as people appreciate you going to the trouble to learn there dialect.
​
As usual Fumi-chan is our instructor in this article. If you haven't seen her videos before, go here. They are the most popular on this site (and on YouTube)!

This is a sentence that will be useful if you for example go to a pub in Tajimi. Just say it to someone and they will be utterly surprised - and happily so.

audio - click to play

のうなるとたるぅで つかおまぁ たじみべん
Nou naru to taruu de tsukaomaa tajimi ben
多治見弁がなくなると寂しいから使おう
Tajimi-ben ga nakunaru to sabishii kara tsukaou
The world would be a lonely place without the Tajimi dialect, so let's use it!

commentary

This is a particularly tricky one, because the word order is odd. It starts with "Nou naru to", which corresponds to "Nakunaru to" in standard Japanese: “If it disappears”. Next comes a Tono-ben word: taruu (lonely, desolate). After that we have tsukaomaa, which is tsukau (use) used with the -o inflection to give it the meaning of "let's use". In stardard Japanese you would say tsukaoo, but Tono-ben loves the maa inflection. For instance, shall we do it would be yaru (do) maa ka? Here tsuaoo gets a maa in the end so we get tsukaomaa. If you listen carefully Fumi-chan adds a ka as well, which serves as a question mark: tsukaoo maa ka. And last we have Tajimi-ben (Tajimi dialect). That's the subject of the sentence but it comes last, which is quite common in Japanese. "

audio - click to play

たあもなぁ とぉくぅ とこえ いかならん

Taa mo naa tookuu toko e ikanaran
とんでもなく遠い所へ行かなくてはならない
Tondemo naku tooi tokoro e ikanakute wa naranai
You have to go incredibly far (to get there). It's a place incredibly far away.

commentary

This one can be useful if you want to express just how far away your country is from Japan. You could bring the conversation to a point where you can fire off the sentence, whether you are speaking Japanese or English. A question that is virtually sure to come when you meet a Japanese person is "where do you come from?" You can then reply something like: "It's a country very far from here. It takes a long time to travel there..." And here you fire off the sentence. You'll cause total surprise, confusion, or both.

The sentence starts with "Taa mo naa". Tono-ben speakers really love their long aa sounds. In standard Japanese this would be tondemo nai. This is an expression that means "unthinkable", "unexpected", "outrageous", or "offensive". It has a negative connotation, and you can use it as a standalone expression. It's used when you strongly denied what someone said to you. If you for example are asked: "Can I borrow your car?", you can simply reply: "Taa mo naa" - absolutely not (with the connotation that it is an outrageous request). Another example: "Without you we wouldn't get any serious work done", and you reply "Taa mo naa" - absolutely not! (with the connotation that you praise me so highly that it is outrageous. I am really quite useless and not worthy of your praise). 

Next we have "tooku toko e". This bit is not so far from standard Japanese: tooi tokoro e (to a place far away). In toono-ben you always avoid the "i", like here in tooi. Here it is turned into tookuu. Abbreviations are also common. Here "tokoro" is abbreviated to "toko". The rest, the little "e", meaning "to" in English, is the same. 

Last we have yet another abbreviation, where two words are melded into one: "ikanakereba naranai", standard Japanese for (not go), which is shortened to "ikan", and "naranai" (to not become). This is shortened to "naran". It won't do to not go, in other words, you must go. "Ikanaran" in other words means "you must go". So the full meaning can be translated to: "If you don't go an outrageously (or incredibly) long distance it won't do (you won't arrive there). In plain English: You have to go incredibly far to get there.

audio - click to play

ねこなしに しゃべりからかぁたで ねぶたぁわ

Neko nashi ni shaberi karakaatte nebutaa wa
寝ないでしゃべりまくっていたから眠たいよ
Nenaide shaberimakutte ita kara nemutai yo
We just couldn't stop talking last night  so I'm really sleepy

commentary

This one you make use for a joke, just to surprise your Japanese conversation partner. You could just make up a story: "Oh, I'm so sleepy" (some good acting needed here). Then just fire off the sentence and watch your friend's jaw drop!

We start with the negated form of the verb for sleeping (neru), which is nenai. In tono-ben this is "neko nashi" in this example. The next one is a machine-gun staccato - pretty impressive, like this: shaberi karakaatte. In standard Japanese this is shaberu (chat) and makuru (a lot). The ri and the te are connectors, so "shaberi-maku-tte" to get one compound word with the connotation of a continuing situation (the so-called te-form). We were chatting is expressed by iru (are) in past tense (ita), to get shaberimakutte ita - we were chatting a long time. Then comes "kara" (because), but the tono-ben version skips this all together as you can see. Last we have the standard Japanese for sleepy (nemutai). The tono-ben here is "nebutaa" (remember they really don't like i!). Last, to stress how tired you are you add a "wa" (usually "yo" in standard Japanese).  


audio - click to play

あっつぅのぉ たらぁで ぎょぉずぅ しよまぁか

Atsuu noo. Taraa de gyoozuu shimaa ka 
暑いですね。たらいで行水しましょうか
Atsui desu ne. Tarai de gyouzui shimashou ka
It's really hot! Shall we take a bath in the tarai (bath tub)?

commentary

Here is another one you might find hard to fit into a conversation (unless it's a hot day). There are many times it's hot, however, even in the winter. Say you are in a crowded room, like a pub or bar. Then you can pretend to wipe the sweat from your brow and shoot.

The first part in standard Japanese is "atsui desu ne", which is straight forward: hot, it is, isn't it? in literal translation. Japanese is a bit like Yoda-speech. The tono-ben equivalent is: "attsuu noo". A bit more compact and as usual the "i" at the end of adjectives is dropped. Next we have the word tarai, which is a round water basin, like the one in the illustration. It adds a bit of humor to use this word, as these days most people don't bath in a wooden bath tub. Gyouzui in the standard Japanese and tono-ben are very simular, it's just that the i is dropped again. Instead the tono-ben extends the u at the end of the noun (a noun for taking a bath). Last we have shimashou ka in standard Japanese. You may know that adding an -oo at the end of verbs give them the meaning of let's do so and so, or shall we do so and so. The tono-ben version, shiomaa ka, is one of those sounds that give the dialect a really crude, countryside kind of feeling. It feels really good to shoot a loong aa like this at a snob from Tokyo or Kyoto! 

where to buy the card game

These four cards are part of a kit containing cards. The pronunciation for each card is available for download on the web. The game is sold by Hiraku Bookshop in Tajimi, Gifu Prefecture, Japan. Please contact us and we will help you place an order.
Contact us to order
Picture
Hiraku Bookshop is a combined bookshop/cafe/event space with a fresh and relaxing interior. We recommend you drop in if you plan to visit Tajimi. You can browse any book in the cafe before buying, perhaps while sipping a glass of whine.

directions

Business hours: 09:00 - 21:00
Closed: Wednesdays
Telephone: 0572-23-2636

maPS

  • EAT & DRINK
  • LODGING
  • EXPERIENCES
Tajimi Tourist Association
Business hours: Every day 09:00 - 18:00
Tel 0572-24-6460
Find out more
Japan's first Virtual Reality pottery site - Tajimi
Discover the Mecca of pottery in Japan
Produced by Mimir LLC, a VR company

Restaurant Finder

{title}
{menu}
{content}
{footer}

Services

海外発信サポート
インバウンド観光
観光企画
VR映像、HP制作
言語サポート

Company

​会社案内
会社概要
業務内容
​​ハンス カールソン

Support

問い合わせ
FAQ
Terms of Use
© COPYRIGHT 2015. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
© 2017 Tajimi Tourism Association
  • Home
  • About Tajimi
    • Tajimi Tourism Association
    • Free E-books
    • Navigate >
      • Eat & Drink in Tajimi (TOP) >
        • Restaurant Finder
        • Local food and Drink >
          • Food - Wild Yam a treat for the New Year
          • Food - Eel à la tajimienne
          • Drink - Sake in Tajimi
          • Drink - Sake. "Excellently Dry"
          • Food: Cook a local snack - Gohei mochi
          • Food: The History of the Gohei mochi
      • Plan your trip to Tajimi and Gifu
      • See >
        • Places
        • Historical figures
      • Mino Ware >
        • Famous kilns in Tajimi - a pottery town in Gifu prefecture, Japan
        • Mino ware ceramics and pottery Shopping
        • Pottery and ceramics galleries in Tajimi, Japan
        • Courses, equipment and stores for Potters
      • Experience >
        • Pottery Workshops in Tajimi, Japan
        • Pottery painting & Tile Art experiences in Tajimi
        • Fruit Picking in Tajimi
      • Eat & Drink in Tajimi >
        • Restaurants
        • Cafes & Confectionaries
        • Unagappa Sweets
        • Tajimi Yakisoba
      • Souvernirs
      • Currency Converter
      • Getting around
      • Lodging
    • Event Calendar
  • News index
  • Essays
    • Pottery Retreats - A Creative Escape
    • Tajimi partners with local businesses to improve services for foreign tourists
    • The tea Ceremony in Tajimi: Pottery, People, and Places (Part 01)
    • The tea Ceremony in Tajimi: Pottery, People, and Places (Part 02)
    • To Tajimi and back: foreign visitors' impressions of our city
    • Walking in Tajimi >
      • 01 Walking in Takata - Onada
      • 02 Walking in Tajimi - The Immovable Wisdom King
      • 03 Walking in Tajimi - Suigetsu Kiln
      • 04 Walking in Tajimi - North of Toki
      • 05 Modern day Nagase St. - flash backs from the past
      • 06 Around Oribe Street
      • 07 The Tajimi Ginza Arcade Area
      • 08 Ichinokura - The Pottery Town (Part 01)
      • 09 Ichinokura - The Pottery Town (Part 02)
    • Cycling in Tajimi
    • Ceramics >
      • Makigama Fair in Tajimi
      • Ceramics Festival Mino 24
      • The Story of Mino Ware >
        • The roots of the Mino ware renaissance
        • The Story of Mino Ware (Part 1)
        • The Story of Mino Ware (Part 02)
        • The Story of Mino Ware (Part 03)
        • The Story of Mino Ware (Part 04)
        • Beyond Mino Ware (Part 05)
      • The ascending kiln
      • Kobe Kiln: Tradition-meets-innovation
      • A polar bear's pottery performance
      • Shiro Tenmoku (01): The first reproduction in 500 years
      • Shiro Tenmoku (02): The first reproduction in 500 years
      • Finland Meets Tajimi
      • Ceramic treats in Tajimi - a Mini Tour
      • Learning pottery at the Ho-Ca workshop
      • Master Potter Hidetake Ando
      • Brave New Pottery - 3rd Ceramics
      • English Guided Tours 2019
      • Ikuhiko Shibata - Not Your Ordinary Potter
      • Kasahara - the Tile Kingdom
      • The Mosaic Princess Tile Enthusiasts
      • Striking Gold in Mino 2021
      • Toso - the Legacy of a Mysterious Master Potter
      • A Muromachi Style Kiln Firing
    • Life in Tajimi >
      • Tono-ben: Great Ice-breaker phrases for the traveler >
        • Tono-ben Karta - a card game
        • Tono-ben; Everybody Loves Fumi-chan
        • Learn Tono-ben (Karuta cards)
      • From Tokyo to Tajimi: My Life in a Seemingly Ordinary Rural Town (Part 1)
      • From Tokyo to Tajimi (Part 2): About a future where people live wherever they want
      • From Tokyo to Tajimi (Part 3): Now is the time to see the countryside
      • The Festival - Oh, What a Night!
      • The Life of an American Japanese
      • Festivals in Tajimi
      • 2018 in Tajimi - Visually
      • Film - A day in Tajimi
      • Virtual Travel - The day when Our World Shrank
      • Blessings in a calamitous year (part 01)
      • Blessings in a calamitous year (part 02)
      • Flower Viewing Beyond the Crowds
      • Manga: The Kappa Scene
      • Shidekobushi - the rare Magnolias of the Tono region
    • History >
      • A Failed Coup d'etat - And the Death of a Tajimi Samurai
  • エッセイ
    • 多治見​滞在中の過ごし方
    • 薪窯フェア
    • 国際陶磁器フェスティバル美濃 ’24
    • 外国人観光客へのサービスを充実させる取り組み
    • 焼物の町 多治見で茶道のあれこれ (Part 01)
    • 焼物の町 多治見で茶道のあれこれ (PART 2)
    • ​多治見に訪れた人たち、そしてその後
    • 焼物の町、多治見まち歩き 小名田/高田 ​パート1
    • 多治見ウォーキング >
      • 焼物の町、多治見まち歩き 小名田/高田 ​パート2 不動明王の滝
      • 焼物の町、多治見まち歩き 高田/小名田 ​パート3 水月窯
      • 多治見歴史探索ウォーキング - 土岐川の北側
      • ながせ通りウォーキング 昔の姿に思いを馳せながら
      • おりべストリート周辺 - パート1
      • 多治見 銀座通り
      • 市之倉町 多治見の小さな陶器の町(パート1))
      • 市之倉町 多治見の小さな陶器の町(パート2)
    • 陶器・タイル >
      • シロクマの焼き物パフォーマンス
      • 美濃焼物語 (Part 1)
      • 美濃焼物語 (Part 02)
      • 美濃焼物語 (Part 03)
      • 美濃焼物語 (Part 04)
      • 美濃焼物語 (Part 05)
      • 美濃焼ルネッサンスのルーツ
      • 白天目 500年ぶりの再現 PART1
      • 白天目 500年ぶりの再現 PART2
      • 登り窯
      • 焼き物の楽しみ方
      • 幸兵衛窯:伝統と革新の出会い
      • 多治見で作陶
      • 安藤日出武
      • タイルキングダム - 笠原町
      • 陶磁器の本拠地でグランプリを目指せ!
      • 柴田育彦 ボーダーレスな陶芸家
      • 新しい陶磁器産業の形
      • モザイクタイルプリンセス
      • フィンランドと多治見の出会い
      • 陶祖 - 謎めいた名工が遺したもの
      • 青山双渓氏、「白天目」の再現に挑んだ窯
    • 食べる・飲む >
      • 多治見で乾杯!
      • 五平餅を食べられるお店と作り方
      • ウナギ・ア・ラ・タジミエンヌ
      • 超辛口の日本酒への情熱
      • 多治見のお正月の自然薯料理
    • 東京から多治見へ - PART 1
    • 東京から多治見へ - PART 2
    • 東京から多治見へ - PART 3
    • 厄年の御祈祷 (part 01)
    • 厄年の御祈祷 (part 02)
    • 夏祭り - なんて素敵な夜!
    • 人込みを避けてお花見を満喫しよう
    • 多治見のお祭り
    • シデコブシ 東濃地方の珍しい木蓮の花
    • ビジュアルで2018年の多治見を振り返ろう
    • 多治見の楽しい方言 東濃弁
    • バーチャル・トラベル
    • ビデオ - A DAY IN 多治見
    • 失敗に終わったクーデター
    • 2019年 多治見るこみち イングリッシュ・ガイドツアー
    • アメリカン・ジャパニーズとしての暮らし
    • やくならマグカップも:カッパが登場するシーン
    • 東濃弁でカルタ遊び
    • みんな大好きふみちゃん
    • 多治見でサイクリング
  • Access
  • Contact