A brief preview of what’s to come…
What’s more scary than double consonants in Japanese? Long vowels. Shorten a long vowel accidentally and you’re calling someone “devil” and not “older brother”, or worse. Sometimes I feel like the samurai Hanagami Danjo no jo Arakage fighting off a gigantic salamander when it comes to wrestling Japanese vowels.
The samurai Hanagami Danjo no jo Arakage in Izumo stabbing a giant salamander with his short sword, by Utagawa Kuniyoshi. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.