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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

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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) - bo - shee
Arekore	A - re - ko - re	ah - reh - ko - reh

All clear now?  It wasn't so bad, was it?

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, don't they?  We can't say its western name is creative, either.

Likewise, Ohatsuki Giboshi (H. 'Undulata Erromena') with white edges is called "Fukurin (variegated) Ohatsuki Giboshi" in Japan.  Can you guess what it is called here?   That's right - it is H. 'Undulata Albomarginata.'  Again, "albo" means white in Latin, therefore, we can't comment on Japanese giboshi names after all.

Well, anyway, many hostas in Japan were named this way, by "descriptive" words simply added to the parent hosta names.

The words used in Japanese hosta names fall into one of the 3 categories:

1. Descriptive word such as Ogon (yellow/gold), Fukurin (edged).
2. Given unique name such as 'Sagae', "Kokuryu".
3. Species or cultivar that a sport was derived from such as Iwa (H. longipes), Oba (H. montana).

I have collected some Japanese words that are used in hosta names as #1 and #3 above.  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'

I have been going through hundreds of Japanese hosta names and collecting Japanese words that appear in hosta names more than once.  I hope to complete the page Japanese Words in Hosta Names in the near future.

I have been also compiling English/Japanese Hosta Names Cross-Reference. Hopefull I will also be able to finish this page shortly.

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