A Little About Japanese Hosta Names

The Japanese name giboshi (or sometimes spelled giboushi) came from an ornamental pillar capping on a bridge handrail because the leaf shape resembles it. A woodprint picture by a famous Ukiyoe artist Hiroshige can show you what a pillar capping "giboshi" looks like.
Hostas are native to eastern Asian counties including Japan, Korea and China, especially more varieties are found in Japan. According to W. George Schmid, the author of "The Genus HOSTA - Giboshi Zoku" (Portland, Oregon: Timber Press, 1991), Japanese and other foreign names cannot be translated per the ICNCP (International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants) 2004 Edition. There are lots of hostas with tongue twisting names and the names that don't make sense to most of us - 'Sagae' or 'Kifukurin Ko Mame' for example. Well, as a native speaker of Japanese, I'd like to offer you some help with Japanese hosta names so you would understand our favorite plants a little better.
The following is from what I know and my own personal views. It does not cover everything nor is it official. Experts may have different opinions or may not agree with me.

| How to Pronounce Japanese | Top | Pronunciation | Meaning | Spelling | Menu |
Each Japanese sound is accompanied by a vowel, with an exception of "n", and there are 5 vowels:
| a | sounds like "ah" just like almond |
| i | sounds like "ee" just like eel, eat |
| u | sounds like "oo" just like wood, wool, |
| e | sounds like "eh" just like echo, pen, Ken |
| o | sounds like "oh" just like oak, over |
Once you master the vowels, the rest is easy. You break a word into syllables, and presto! Now I will give you some examples.
| Name | Syllables | Pronunciation |
| Amime Tachi | A - mi - me ta - chi | ah - mee - meh tah - chee |
| Gaijin | Ga - i - jin | gah - ee - jin |
| Geisha | ge - i - sha | gay - shah |
| Hime | hi - me | hee - meh |
| Hirao | Hi - ra - o | hee - rah - oh |
| Ko Mame | ko ma - me | koh mah - meh |
| Maekawa | Ma - e - ka - wa | mah - eh - kah - wah |
| Sagae | Sa - ga - e | sah - gah - eh |
| Saishujima | Sa - i - shu - ji - ma | sigh - shoe - jee - mah |
After you practice above, you should have no problem pronouncing the title of this site -- "Giboshi Arekore," right?
| Giboshi | Gi - bo - shi | gee (like geese) - bow - shee |
| Arekore | A - re - ko - re | ah - reh - ko - reh |
All clear now? It wasn't so bad, was it?

| What Does That Japanese Word Mean? | Top | Pronunciation | Meaning | Spelling | Menu |
Hostas are found growing wild in Japan. Mother Nature plays tricks once in a while and creates something different. Hostas are not exceptions.
Oba Giboshi (H. montana) is a green hosta. But Mother Nature dropped a little yellow color on the leaf edges. Now this giboshi is called "Kifukurin (yellow-edged) Oba Giboshi" instead of a unique "creative" name. As you may have guessed, it is called H. montana 'Aureomarginata' in western countries. By the way, "aureo" means yellow, and "marginata" means margined in Latin.
Well, anyway, there are many hostas in Japan that were named this way, by "descriptive" words simply added to the parent hosta names. So, if you understand the meaning of descriptive words, lots of Japanese hosta names would make sense.
I have collected some Japanese words that are used in hosta names and describes characteris. Hopefully this list will help you understand Japanese hosta names a little better.
| Japanese word | Meaning | Examples |
| Species / Cultivars | ||
| Iwa | H. longipes | Kofuki Iwa Giboshi |
| Koba | H. sieboldii | 'Fukurin Mishima Koba', 'Ogon Koba' |
| Oba | H. montana | 'Ogon Oba' |
| Renge | H. 'Fortunei' | 'Kifukurin Renge' |
| Tachi | H. rectifolia | 'Amime Tachi', Ginbuchi Tachi' |
| Descriptive Words | ||
| Aoba | green leaf | 'Aoba Komachi', 'Aoba Tsugaru' |
| Chirifu | speckled | montana 'Chirifu' |
| Fukurin | variegation, variegated | rohdeifolia 'Fukurin' |
| Ginbuchi | silver-edge(d), white-edge(d) | 'Ginbuchi' Tachi |
| Hakurin | white-edge(d) | sieboldii spathulata Hakurin |
| Hime | small | 'Hime Tokudama' |
| Hosoba | narrow leaf | 'Hosoba Mizu Giboshi' |
| Kifukurin Ki Fukurin |
yellow-edge(d) | 'Kifukurin Ko Mame', 'Kifukurin Otome', rectifolia Kifukurin' |
| Kin | yellow / gold | 'Kinbotan', 'Kinba' |
| Kinakafu Ki Nakafu |
yellow-center(ed) | 'Kinakafu Hosoba Mizu', 'Ki Nakafu Otome' |
| Kinbuchi | gold-edged, yellow-edged | 'Kinbuchi tachi' |
| Maruba | round leaf | 'Maruba Iwa', Maruba Tama-no-Kanzashi |
| Nakafu | medio-variegated | longissima 'Nakafu', 'Nakafu Kiyosumi' |
| Ogon | gold, yellow | 'Ogon Sagae', 'Ogon Tachi' |
| Shiro | white | 'Shiro Kabitan', rectifolia 'Shirofukurin' |
| Shirobana | white flower | kiyosumiensis 'Shirobana' |
| Shirofukurin Shiro Fukurin |
white-edge(d) | 'Shirofukurin Hime Iwa' |
| Shironakafu Shiro Nakafu |
white-center(ed) | 'Shironakafu Saikoku Iwa' |
| Urajiro | white back, white underside | longipes 'Urajiro', 'Urajiro Hachijo' |

| But I Saw Some Words Spelled Differently... | Top | Pronunciation | Meaning | Spelling | Menu |
At the beginning of this page, I wrote "giboshi" is sometimes spelled "giboushi." Although there are guidelines, converting certain Japanese sounds into Roman alphabet depends on personal preference.
Not only spellings, some names are pronounced differently. Let's take H 'Saikoku Iwa' for an example. Saikoku(
) means western region, or Kyushu Island in particular. It is pronounced "saigoku" by many Japanese, but "saikoku" is also correct. Per George Schmid, the Japanese botanist Noboru Fujita spelled "Saikoku" in his 1976 monograph The Genus Hosta (Liliaceae) in Japan. "Saikoku," therefore, is considered the correct spelling for this hosta name.
Am I confusing you? Here is a list of some spelling variations to help you out. These are the actual spellings that I found in Japanese articles.
| Widely Used | Variation | Examples |
| chi | ti | Hachijo, Hatijo; Ginbuchi, Ginbuti |
| e (long vowel) | ei, ee | Reiho, Reho, Reeho |
| fu | hu | Shirofukurin, Shirohukurin |
| ji | di, zi | Kisuji, Kisuzi |
| jo | jyo | Hachijo, Hachijyo |
| o (long vowel) | ou, oo wo, oh, ow (rare) |
giboshi, giboushi, gibooshi;
Oba, Ooba, Ouba; Hakuyo, Hakuyou, Hakuyoo ogon, ougon, oogon, wogon; Hachijo, Hachijyow |
| shi | si | giboshi, gibosi |
| tsu | tu | Tsubomi, Tubomi; Tsugaru, Tugaru |
| u (long vowel) | uu | Tenryu, Tenryuu; Seiryu, Seiryuu |
| Saikoku | Saigoku | 'Saikoku Iwa', 'Saigoku Iwa' |

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My Hosta List |
Growing Hostas from Seeds
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My Hosta Seedlings Photo Album
A Little About Japanese Hosta Names |
Hosta Names Cross Reference (Japanese to Western); (Western to Japanese)
Hosta vs Giboshi - Are they the same?
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Hosta Recipe |
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