川柳（せんりゅう）is a type of poem similar to 俳句（はいく）, following the same 5-7-5 syllabic structure. it sets itself apart from 俳句 by the lack of seasonal words called 季語（きご）.
there are three 川柳 taught to children that describe the characters of three great 大名（だいみょう）from the 戦国時代（せんごくじだい）–
織田信長（おだのぶなが）
豊臣秀吉（とよとみひでよし）
徳川家康（とくがわいえやす）
each 川柳 has the same first and third line, while the second line is telling of their respective personalities.
織田信長 （1534-1582）
鳴かぬなら
殺してしまえ
ホトトギス
“If the cuckoo does not sing, I shall kill it.”
織田 is regarded as a fierce and ambitious warrior who spared no mercy for those who did not meet his expectations.
–
豊臣秀吉（1536-1598）
鳴かぬなら
鳴かせてみせよう
ホトトギス
“If the cuckoo does not sing, try to make it sing.”
豊臣 was a man who valued innovation; he had started off as a lowly servant under 織田 and climbed the ranks after winning his favour.
–
徳川家康（1543-1616）
鳴かぬなら
鳴くまで待とう
ホトトギス
“If the cuckoo does not sing, I shall wait until it does.”
徳川 exhibited patience and did things in a steady manner, waiting patiently until the death of 豊臣 to seize power and form a stable government called the 徳川幕府（とくがわばふく）that would last centuries.
–
vocabulary 語彙：
「大名（だいみょう）」：feudal lord
「戦国時代（せんごくじだい」：warring states (of japan; 1467-1615)
「鳴く（なく）」：to sing (for birds)
「殺す（ころす）」：to kill
「見せる（みせる）」：to show, to display
「待つ（まつ）」：to wait
「ホトトギス」：lesser cuckoo
further reading:
Three Poems Demonstrating the Character of Japan’s Three Great Shogun
The Three Major Daimyō
川柳（せんりゅう）is a type of poem similar to 俳句（はいく）, following the same 5-7-5 syllabic structure. it sets itself apart from 俳句 by the lack of seasonal words called 季語（きご）.
there are three 川柳 taught to children that describe the characters of three great 大名（だいみょう）from the 戦国時代（せんごくじだい）–
織田信長（おだのぶなが）
豊臣秀吉（とよとみひでよし）
徳川家康（とくがわいえやす）
each 川柳 has the same first and third line, while the second line is telling of their respective personalities.
織田信長 （1534-1582）
鳴かぬなら
殺してしまえ
ホトトギス
“If the cuckoo does not sing, I shall kill it.”
織田 is regarded as a fierce and ambitious warrior who spared no mercy for those who did not meet his expectations.
–
豊臣秀吉（1536-1598）
鳴かぬなら
鳴かせてみせよう
ホトトギス
“If the cuckoo does not sing, try to make it sing.”
豊臣 was a man who valued innovation; he had started off as a lowly servant under 織田 and climbed the ranks after winning his favour.
–
徳川家康（1543-1616）
鳴かぬなら
鳴くまで待とう
ホトトギス
“If the cuckoo does not sing, I shall wait until it does.”
徳川 exhibited patience and did things in a steady manner, waiting patiently until the death of 豊臣 to seize power and form a stable government called the 徳川幕府（とくがわばふく）that would last centuries.
–
vocabulary 語彙：
「大名（だいみょう）」：feudal lord
「戦国時代（せんごくじだい」：warring states (of japan; 1467-1615)
「鳴く（なく）」：to sing (for birds)
「殺す（ころす）」：to kill
「見せる（みせる）」：to show, to display
「待つ（まつ）」：to wait
「ホトトギス」：lesser cuckoo
further reading:
Three Poems Demonstrating the Character of Japan’s Three Great Shogun
The Three Major Daimyō
Ww- lol
88- clap clap
4649- please/thanks
Wktk- excited
Kwsk- details, please!
乙- good work
55- go go
おめ- congrats
あり- thanks
こn- hey
名無しさん- anon
ズッ友- bff
オワコン- out of date
KY- person who can’t read the mood
ニコ廚- nico nico addict
(Nico nico is like a Japanese YouTube)
ツイ- a tweet
フォローする- to follow an account
ggrks- google it yourself
クラスタ- fandom
誰得- who benefits from this?!
• Note: I didn’t add pronunciation because you don’t need any. Usually you wouldn’t say any of these out loud, but you can…it’s like saying ‘OMG’ out loud in English.
The Curious Case of Particle WA and GA In the process of learning Japanese, almost all people got confused as to how to differentiate when to use particle WA and GA in a sentence. Below we will try…
The curious case of Particle WA and GA
This is one of the most frequently asked questions to people who just started learn Japanese.
What this article is about
We assume that reader have cover basic usage of WA & GA. So in this article, we will be talking about common cases (complete with thorough explanations) in which particle GA and WA seems as if it is interchangeable but have a subtle difference in meaning.
Also common cases in which particle が is recommended for some word (such as suki / hoshii) but then we found that someone use は but it turns out to be correct anyway, which might confuse you.
Here’s some of them below. Read the complete article by clicking the link above!
Case & Explanations : When Particle WA and GA seems interchangeable
1. Subtle difference when used in Questions
By using the GA format, the focus is in WHICH PERSON, by using WA format, the focus of questions is in ABOUT SAKURA. To properly reply the questions, we use the same particle.
2. Subtle difference in meaning
Within the sample below, by using WA, the sentence scope is Little girls in general. Because you are saying “About little girls… They are very cute”
While with GA, you specifically mention only one little girl whom you might think is very cute. Literally “The little girl is very cute”
So the difference in here can be seen in the scope. In more cases, the difference in meaning can be in other things but the logic is still the same. For example: … hazu WA nai and … hazu GA nai.
The first one means THERE IS NO EXPECTATION (as in no way! Impossible!) while the second means NOT EXPECTED (as in I don’t expect him to be so smart).
3. Difference in focus of sentences
By using WA, the focus is on describing John. About John, As for John… As you can see below, with WA the block is quite flexible. The literal meaning is About John… (description)
But by using GA, the focus is in the whole set of John GA sakana wo tabeteimasu. The sentence is fixed as in English sentence of Subject-Verb-Object of John is eating fish.
4. Implying there are something else other than what being mentioned vs direct claim to someone/something
By using GA, the speaker only say that John is bad. But using WA, he said that “About John, he is bad…”. The WA might be use to compare more than one topic, in this case, the one who the speaker thought is bad. Therefore there might be indication that John might not the only one.
5. Used for comparison vs stating a fact
In A, the usage of は might be to compare more than one topics. In that case, the usage of は with suki is acceptable.
The full phrase might be like this “Banana WA suki janai desu ga, Tokyo Banana WA suki desu.” Which literally means: “About banana, I don’t like it, but about Tokyo Banana, I like it!”
While in B, it’s just means “Tokyo Banana is something I like.”
The complete explanations can be read in the article simply by clicking the link above on this post. We also review about cases when WA and GA is seen in the same sentence or WA and WA. So be sure to check it out! :D
…………………………………………
In addition of Easy Japanese lessons being updated, Japanese FAQ will cover common questions being asked in Japanese such as how to differentiate WA & GA or why sometimes は is read as WA.
If you find any typo/error or would like to send comments/feedbacks, please never hesitate to sent us message! We would love to hear from you!
Verbs in Japanese come in pairs: and transitive verbs, which take direct objects, and intransitive verbs, which do not. The difficulty in learning this is that in English, we usually use the same verb for both transitive and intransitive, for example:
I grow beans in my yard.
Beans grow in my yard.
In Japanese, you simply have to memorize the pairs of verbs, for example:
庭に豆を生やす。Niwa ni mame wo hayasu.
I grow beans in my yard.
豆が庭に生える。Mame ga niwa ni haeru.
Beans grow in my yard.
While there is no definite rule to memorizing these, there are patterns.
All verbs ending in す are transitive. All verbs ending in ある (including other kana from the あ row) are intransitive.
Transitive verbs tend to end in -える with their intransitive counterpart ending in -あす (i.e. でる、だす).
Vocabulary (tra.、intran.)
生やす、生える - to grow, to (be) grown （はやす、はえる）
痛める、痛む - to hurt, to (be) hurt （いためる、いたむ）
見付ける、見付かる - to find, to be found （みつける、みつかる）
増やす、増える - to increase, to increase or be increased （ふやす、ふえる）増やす is also written 増す（ます）
燃やす、燃える to burn, to burn or be burned （もやす、もえる）
入る、入れる - to enter, to add （はいる、いれる）
暖める、暖まる - to warm, to warm up or be warmed （あたためる、あたたまる）
Some sentence patterns that use the negative form ず
~ずじまい regrettably have not completed action ~
見たい映画だったのに、忙しくてとうとう見ずじまいだった。
朝から忙しくて、今日はお昼ご飯を食べずじまいだった。
~ずにいる being in the state of not having done ~ （=ないでいる）
図書館の本を返さずにいたら、図書館から電話がかかってきた。
友人に相談できずにいます。
~ずに済ませる to “finish”/”complete” without doing ~
この授業にはたくさんの本が必要らしいが、できるだけ買わずに済ませたい。
この冬は洋服を買わずに済ませます。
~ずに済む to end without ~ happening
電車では間に合いそうになかったので、タクシーに乗ったら、何とか遅れずに済んだ。
これをやっとけば別れずに済んだのに ．．．
~ずにはいられない can’t help but do ~
寂しくて、誰かに電話せずにはいられない。
言わずにはいられなかった。
~ずにはおかない ~ is bound to occur
この映画は、見る者に感動を与えずにはおかない作品です。
身内の一人が殺されたら、恨みを晴らさずにはおかない。
