Welcome to the Nihongo Lesson feature. We strive to give you useful manga-based Japanese language tips and maybe even a glimpse into the translation process. This week’s chapter of One-Punch Man introduces us to the fighters in the big Super Fight Tournament. In honor of the tourney arc, let’s learn about the names of some cool techniques and schools of martial arts. You can practice these moves with Team Jump, and we’ll all take our belt tests to advance to the next level!

NIGAMUSHI KENPOU
苦虫拳法 (にがむしけんぽう)

NIGAMUSHI literally means “bitter bug” and is often used to refer to a person’s extremely dissatisfied expression. KENPOU or “way of the fist” refers to a school of martial arts. For our translation, we’ve gone with Sour-Face Kempo. It may not be a literal translation, but it certainly gets the point across. With a face like that, your opponents will cower in fear!

CHOTOTSU MOUSHINKEN
猪突猛真拳 (ちょとつもうしんけん)

CHOTOTSU MOUSHIN refers to a charging wild boar that just keeps moving forward without really seeing or knowing what’s going on. SHINKEN means “true fist,” referring to a style of martial arts. Again, we’ve taken the spirit of the original Japanese to go with Take-the-Plunge True-Fist School. Good luck on your proposal, Zakkos­—you’ll probably need it!

HANAGE SHINKEN
鼻毛真拳 (はなげしんけん)

Last but not least, there's HANAGE SHINKEN. How could we talk about martial arts techniques without bringing up Fist of the Nose Hair from Yoshio Sawai’s Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo? If you master the art of prehensile schnoz hair, then you’ll absolutely be the best around! Nothing will ever keep you down, except for maybe properly pronouncing the title of the series it came from…

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