[Haku circle] Japanese Tongue Twister !

Hello, everyone!
This is Matephysi.

I usually write blog for Japanese, but I do for people in other countries than Japan in English at this time.

This is because I heard there is a buzz content of Japanese band, and they became popular especially in Latin America prior to being popular in Japan.

The band is Haku circle (ハク。), and the content is their cover of 「かむかもしかもにどもかも！」 originally made by MONO NO AWARE.

First of all, please listen and enjoy their cover!

This song is quite comfortable and addictive song, isn’t ?
I like not only the voice and dance of vocal, but also the sound of the guitar, bass and drum.

Here, I would like to focus on lyrics as Japanese tongue twister.

The title of this song “かむかもしかもにどかも！” means “I may stumble over lyrics more than twice!”.

The title itself is also a tongue twister because it sounds rhyming such as kamu kamo shikamo nido kamo.

There are a lot of Japanese tongue twisters in this song.
So I hope this article helps you to enjoy the song more and master Japanese!

(It should be noted that I’m not a Japanese specialist. SO please don’t take my interpretation of Japanese seriously.)

生麦生米生卵
なんもないからお店に買いに行こう

https://youtu.be/J76S5q_ETfo?si=rdUScD_oYasgh6xT

Wheat, brown rice and raw egg
I don’t have any so let’s go to a grocery store.

Nama mugi Nama gome Nama tamago
Nanmo nai kara omise ni kai ni iko

Matephysi

「生麦生米生卵」is the most famous Japanese tongue twister.
Usually we try to say the phrase repeatedly!

Since we have to close out mouth on mu sound, but we open our mouth on words with A, I or O, we stumble over the phrase.

The second line is not Japanese traditional tongue twister.
But, interestingly, the sound of Nama and Nanmo is quite similar, which also makes us difficult to pronounce.

赤パジャマ黄パジャマ茶パジャマ
グチャグチャなまま置かれててメチャ邪魔

https://youtu.be/J76S5q_ETfo?si=rdUScD_oYasgh6xT

Red, yellow and brown pajamas
Messy room with the pajamas is so bothering.

Aka pajama Ki pajama cha pajama
Gucha gucha na mama okaretete mecha jama

Matephysi

「赤パジャマ黄パジャマ茶パジャマ」is one of the famous phrase as tongue twister!

I don’t know why, but it sometimes so difficult to pronounce cha sound.
In this part, cha sound appears four times!

A rhyme for ajama makes us feel like singing this song together.

かえるぴょこぴょこ３ぴょこぴょこ
飼えば増えて今や１５ぴょこぴょこ

https://youtu.be/J76S5q_ETfo?si=rdUScD_oYasgh6xT

Three frogs are jumping.
Now there are fifteen frogs as I breed them.

Kaeru pyoko pyoko mi pyoko pyoko
Kaeba huete ima ya jyugo pyoko pyoko

Matephysi

As I mention before, pyo sound is so difficult *_*

By the way, do you know what “Onomatope (オノマトペ)” is?
Onomatope is Japanese conventional metaphor which expresses the situation by sounds instead of by any specific terms.

Pyoko is one of Japanese famous onomatope, which originated from the imaginal sound effect of jumping frag.
Pyoko also works as the symbol for frag, so three and/or fifteen pyoko means three and/or fifteen frags.

祝新春ジャズシャンソンショー
まず３周回って優秀賞

https://youtu.be/J76S5q_ETfo?si=rdUScD_oYasgh6xT

Jazz and chanson show for celebration of new year
Turn three times and then get prize.

Shuku shinshun jazu shanson sho
Mazu sanshu mawatte yushusho

Matephysi

Sh sound in Japanese is a voiceless sound and k sound is be able to be a voiceless sound too.
It is said that vowel such as I and U will disappear between voiceless sounds.

So it is so hard to pronounce and change the usage of mouth or throat from voiceless sound to normal sound on “祝新春 + シャンソンショー”.

隣の客はよく柿食う客だ
よく食うときに聞く耳たてたらば竹やぶやけかけた

https://youtu.be/J76S5q_ETfo?si=rdUScD_oYasgh6xT

The guest next to me is one often eat persimmon.
When I pay attention to his/her behavior, bamboo grove almost burned.

Tonari no kyaku wa yoku kaki kuu kyaku da
Yoku kuu toki ni kiku mimi tatetaraba takeyabu yake kaketa

Matephysi

We found a lot of k and t sounds.
As mentioned above, disappearing of vowel between voiceless sounds make the pronunciation terribly difficult.

I think the second line was inspired by “この竹垣に竹立てかけたのは竹立てかけたかったから竹立てかけた”.

That means “I leaned bamboo against the bamboo grove just because I wanted to do, so I did it.” by saying “Kono takegaki ni take tate kaketa nowa take tate kaketakatta kara take tate kaketa”.

I’ve already struggled to sing this song with full of Japanese tongue twisters, but the difficulty is increasing!

庭には２羽ニワトリがいるが
２羽には庭がにわかに広すぎるな

https://youtu.be/J76S5q_ETfo?si=rdUScD_oYasgh6xT

Although there are two chickens in the garden,
the area looks a bit excessively for them.

Niwa niwa niwa niwatori ga iru ga
Niwa niwa niwa ga niwaka ni hirosugiru na

Matephysi

Saying “niwa” repeatedly makes me lot what I’m saying…

日々ヘビの頬のヒビの幅や
ハブの頬のヒビの幅にビビって

https://youtu.be/J76S5q_ETfo?si=rdUScD_oYasgh6xT

I am scared of the depth of split of snake’s cheek
and the depth of split of habu’s cheek every day.

Hibi hebi no hoho no hibi no haba ya
Habu no hoho no hibi no haba ni bibitte

Matephysi

I’ve never heard this tongue twister, so this part might be the original one.
But, anyway, this is so difficult too.

Habu is one of species of pit viper mainly living in Okinawa.
It is famous in Japan not only because it has a strong poison, but also it is a ingredient of Habu-shu(ハブ酒), which is one of strong liquor in Okinawa.

絵の上手な坊主が
上手に屏風に坊主とジョーズの絵を描いた

https://youtu.be/J76S5q_ETfo?si=rdUScD_oYasgh6xT

A Buddhist monk who is good at painting painted
a picture of a Buddhist monk and Jaws on a folding screen very well.

E no jouzu na bouzu ga
jouzu ni byoubu ni bouzu to jouzu no e wo kaita.

Matephysi

I like the rhythm of this part!
Although the phrase of “Jaws” is added recently, it does not sound any discomfort at all.

ラバがロバかロバかラバか分からないので
ラバとロバを比べたらロバかラバか分からなかった

https://youtu.be/J76S5q_ETfo?si=rdUScD_oYasgh6xT

I don’t know whether it was a mule or a donkey.
So I compared a mule with a donkey, but I didn’t find any differences between a mule and a donkey.

Laba ka roba ka roba ka laba ka wakaranai node
laba to roba wo kurabetara roba ka laba ka wakaranakatta.

Matephysi

This might be the most difficult part!

Roba(ロバ) is one of species of hourse. On the other hand, Laba is a hybrid animal born from a mother horse and a father donkey.

This sentence is original one, but it works as a Japanese tongue twister.
Furthermore, it is truly difficult to distinguish a mule from a donkey.

この釘は引き抜きにくい釘だ
引き抜きにくいくいが引き抜けば引き抜けるだけまだマシだ

https://youtu.be/J76S5q_ETfo?si=rdUScD_oYasgh6xT

This is a nail which is hard to pull out.
Although this is difficult to pull out, it’s still not the worst case because we could pull the nail out.

Kono kugi ha hikinuki nikui kugi da
Hikinuki nikui nikui ga hikinukeba hikinukeru dake mada mashi da

Matephysi

This is also one of traditional Japanese tongur twister.

As pharases with the same structure, we have “挽きにくいひき肉 / hikinikui hikiniku” which means a minched meat hard to ground.

これは噛むかもしかも２度もかも！２度もかも
噛むな噛むなと迷い困り構えてると嚙むかも！

これは嚙むかもしかも君もかも！君もかも
嚙む気もするけどいつでもカモンな構えでいよう

https://youtu.be/J76S5q_ETfo?si=rdUScD_oYasgh6xT

I may strunble lyrics more than twice! more than twice
It will be happened if I am nurvous and try to prepare not to strunble so hard.

I may strunble lyrics and you may do too! You may do too!
I feel like strunbling lyrics, but we should be always ready to make a mistake.

Kore wa kamu kamo shikamo nido kamo! nido kamo!
Kamuna kamuna to mayoi komari kamaeteru to kamu kamo!

Kore wa kamu kamo shikamo kimi mo kamo! kimi mo kamo!
Kamu ki mo suru kedo itsu demo came-on na kamae de iyo

Matephysi

Lyrics here is related to the title of this song.

嚙む / kamu came from the situation that we bite out tongue when we got stuck for words.
As another usage, 嚙む means chewing something to eat.

買った肩叩き機高かった

https://youtu.be/J76S5q_ETfo?si=rdUScD_oYasgh6xT

The massage machine I bought was expensive.

Katta katatatakiki takakatta.

Matephysi

There is a longer version of this tangue twister.
If you are able to pronounce the scentence above, please try the longer one!

「肩固かったから買った肩叩き機、肩叩きにくかった」

The massage machine I bought did not work since my stiff shoulder is so terrible.

「kata katakatta kara katta katatatakiki kata tataki nikukatta」

We move on to the last part!

I cannot get any situation dscribed in the last part of lyrics, but there are still difficult tongue twisters.

Anyway, let me introduce what they are singing!

おやおや八百屋にお謝り
もしや親はイモ屋に謝り済み？

https://youtu.be/J76S5q_ETfo?si=rdUScD_oYasgh6xT

Now now, go and apologize to a greengrocer.
Or have your parents already apologized to manager of potato shop?

Oya oya yaoya ni oayamari
Moshiya oya wa imoya ni ayamari zumi?

Matephysi

八百屋 / yaoya is an individual grocerystore.
This term indicates a bit old school store.

レモンもメロンもペロンと食べたが
バナナの謎はいまだ謎なのだぞ

https://youtu.be/J76S5q_ETfo?si=rdUScD_oYasgh6xT

I ate lemon and melon at once.
The secret of banana is still secret.

Lemon mo melon mo peron to tabeta ga
Banana no nazo ha imada nazo nanoda zo

Matephysi

「～だぞ」, whichi we don’t use in our daily life, makes the phrase sounds so traditionanl!

おうし座しし座さそり座さまざま
あれ？あれはアンドロメダ座だぞ

https://youtu.be/J76S5q_ETfo?si=rdUScD_oYasgh6xT

That is Taurus, Leo, Scorpius and so on.
Wait, that must be Andromeda.

Oushi za shishi za sasori za samazama
Are? Are ha andoromeda za dazo.

Matephysi

It seems easy to say, but the last part make us strugle to pronounce!

In Japan, zodiac sign is called with 「座 / za」 in addition to the specific star name.

ブタがブタをぶつとぶたれブタがぶったブタをぶったので
ぶったブタとぶたれたブタがぶったおれた

https://youtu.be/J76S5q_ETfo?si=rdUScD_oYasgh6xT

When one pig hit the other pig, one was taken revenge and because another pig hit the pig which has hit the other pig,
the pig which has hit and the pig has got hit lost their consciousness.

Buta ga buta wo butu to butareta buta ga butta buta wo butta node
butta buta to butareta buta ga buttaoreta

Matephysi

This sentence is so complicated.
I did not understand what they said at the first listening.

The final sentence represents the ideal attitude against these tongue twisters!

早口言葉を口々に口にしな
コツコツやり続ければカチコチの口も動き出すはずさ

https://youtu.be/J76S5q_ETfo?si=rdUScD_oYasgh6xT

Speaks up these tongue twisters as much as you like.
Your stiff mouth will be able to move smoothly if you keep practicing there phrases strategically.

Hayakuchi kotoba wo kuchiguchi ni kuchi ni shina
Kotsukotsu yari tuzukereba kachikochi no kuchi mo ugokidasu hazu sa

Matephysi

「コツコツ / kotsukotsu」 and 「カチコチ / kachikochi」 is one of famous Onomatope.

「コツコツ」 indicates the situation that you try to make an effort to do something strategically.
「カチコチ」 indicates the situation that something is so hard like solid materials.

We read lyrics throughly and we find that phrases used in this song is so difficult to pronounce!

As the vocal of Haku circle, あい, poured out her relief by saying「いけた～」, we will have a sense of accomplishment if we finish sing this song without any mistakes.

I hope this article somehow helps your japanese learning!

If you have any questions about Japan or Japanese, please leave your comments or message.

Thank you for reading this article.
See you soon on the next article!