10/ 100
What a Japanese person actually thinksThe wartime meaning has completely eaten the folkloric one. In Japan, in Korea, in China, and across the West, this word means suicide pilots. Wearing it is a statement about the war whether you intend one or not.
Meaning
- Literally
- god + wind
- Actually
- The 'divine wind' — the typhoons that destroyed two Mongol invasion fleets in the 13th century. Then, from 1944, the name given to suicide-attack units.
Scores
Naturalness●●●●●
Correct word, catastrophic association.
Coolness●●●●●
神 and 風 are both lovely characters. Together, in this order, they are not available for aesthetic use.
Watch out
- highDeeply painful across East Asia. Expect a bad reaction from Korean and Chinese readers in particular, and discomfort from many Japanese ones.
- highIn English, 'kamikaze' has drifted to mean 'recklessly bold'. That drift has not happened in Japanese.
Get this instead
-
風
kaze
windIf the wind was the appeal, take the wind. Clean, open character with no history attached.
-
天佑
ten'yū
divine protection; heaven's helpIf the 'divine intervention saved us' story was the appeal, this says that with no military baggage.
On skin
神風
Orientation: either
N/A.