shashi, and yorime all refer to cross-eyed persons. Yabunirami and shashi refer to a person with one eye in the correct position and the other either looking excessively outward or inward. Yorime is the condition of both eyes looking inward, toward the nose. As for shashi, sha is slant and shi is the direction of the eyes. The origin of yabunirami is more obscure. Yabu means growing willy-nilly in all directions, and nirami means staring or glaring. Yabunirami can also be used to refer to a twisted viewpoint on something.
Ronpari is an amusing variation. It comes from the ron in London (as it is rendered in Japanese) and the pari in Paris, and implies one eye on London, the other on Paris; in other words, both eyes positioned outward.
Donguri-manako means goggle-eyed, donguri being acorn and manako being eyeball. Gyoro-me is a synonym; gyoro is a mimetic expression for glaring. Kitsuneme describes a person with narrow, slanting eyes; kitsune means fox in Japanese.
As for the ears, tsubureta mimi (literally, destroyed ear) is rendered into English as cauliflower ear. Mimidare is a runny ear. The-dare here comes from the verb tareru, which means to run down, ooze, or fall in drops. Fukumimi (literally, happy ears) is used to describe someone who has big ears, especially when the lobes are thick. People with big, thick earlobes, it is said, will be blessed with good luck and wealth.
Dangoppana and shishippana refer to a snub or pug nose. Dango is a kind of dumpling and shishi is lion.-Ppana is a euphonic change of hana, or nose. Butappana is a pig nose. In Japan, there are quite a number of hanapecha (flat-nosed people) who keep the pockets of the nation's plastic surgeons full of crisp, new yen notes. Pecha comes from pechanko, a mimetic expression which means the state of being crushed or smashed.
Hana ga hikui is a low or flat nose, in contrast to hana ga takai, which means either a long nose or to be proud of something. Japanese people often speak admiringly of Western noses, describing them as hana ga takai.
Washippana or kagippana (Roman or hooked nose) are rarely seen among the Japanese. In these expressions washi means eagle and kagi is hook.
Hana no shita literally means under the nose. When hana no shita ga nagai (long under the nose) is said of a man, it means he is somewhat foolishly amorous or lecherous. Bikachō has exactly the same kanji characters and meaning, but uses the pronunciations bi instead of hana, ka instead of shita, and cho instead of nagai.
Dekai kuchi, ōki-na kuchi, and ō-guchi are all derogatory expressions used to describe a person with a large mouth. Dekai is a colloquial term for big. Traditionally, a small mouth was considered more acceptable in Japan than a large one; thus these derogatory expressions for big mouths. When you say dekai kuchi o tataku or kiku, it means to talk big.
Mitsukuchi (three mouths) refers to a harelipped person. Ukeguchi (receiving mouth) describes a person with a protruding lower lip. Kaō, one of the largest manufacturers of soap in Japan, has as its trademark a crescent-shaped face with an ukeguchi. Thus people use the expression kaō sekken (sekken is soap) as a synonym for ukeguchi. Deppa (protruding teeth) means buck-toothed.
Still in the mouth, shitatarazu is used to mean a person who easily becomes tongue-tied or a person who lisps. Shitatarazu also means lacking sufficient explanation.
Moving down to the shoulders (kata), there are two types of expressions: ikari-gata and nade-gata. The former literally means angry shoulders, but is used colloquially to signify someone who is, in fact, square-shouldered.
The term nade-gata, from the verb naderu (to stroke), means drooping or sloping shoulders and is used in reference to an attractive, elegant woman.
Moving to the back, nekoze means round-shouldered or a stooped or bent back. This comes from an association with the round back of a cat (neko). Nekoze de megane (glasses) is a caricatured description of a typical hunched, bespectacled Japanese. When the stoop is very pronounced, the word semushi (humpback or hunch-back) is used, though this term is now regarded as discriminatory.
As mentioned earlier, debeso is a protruding belly button. This term comes from the expression heso (navel) ga dete iru (is protruding). Hesomagari or o-hesomagari (crooked or twisted belly button) means perverse or obstinate, or people with these traits.
After the face, it is the hands (te) that are usually the most visible part of one's anatomy. Not surprisingly, then, there are a good number of Japanese terms used to describe and make fun of the hands. Tenagazaru originally meant a gibbon or long-armed ape, and is now used derogatorily to refer to a long-armed person. Te in Japanese, incidentally, includes both hands and arms, as ashi is both feet and legs.
Futoi ude and its slang variations buttoi ude and marutanbo (log) refer to big, brawny arms. Physically slender arms are hosoi ude, but the slightly altered hosoude (literally, thin arms) refers to a woman's management of a shop or company. Corresponding terms for big hands are gotsui te, kumade, and gurobu. Gotsui is rough and thick, kumade is literally bear hand, and gurobu is baseball glove.
In a world dominated by right-handedness (migi-kiki), the left-handed minority (hidari-kiki) is sometimes the object of scorn and contempt. Gitcho (lefty) is a slang expression for a left-hander. Interestingly, gitcho is an abbreviated form of hidari-gitcho, the original form of which is hidari-giyō. Kiyō and its euphonic change giyō mean skillful hand.
In Japan, being left-handed has traditionally had at least one advantage. Lefties have generally been thought of as skillful at handicrafts. A sculptor who lived in the early Edo era and left many masterpieces, including the "Sleeping Cat" relief in Nikko, was given the name Jingoro Hidari.
For most of history, though, hidari has usually been thought of as symbolizing something bad or unfortunate, and migi just the opposite. The same is true of sinister and dexter in Latin. From the former, meaning left, derives the English word sinister with its connotations of misfortune and evil. Dexterity, which comes from the Latin for right, means handiness, skillfulness, and cleverness.
Though not directly related to a part of the body, hidari-mae (literally, left in front) means adversity, decline, or a business that has gone the wrong way. Ano ie wa hidari-mae ni natta means that family is going out of business.
This expression comes from the custom of wearing a kimono for one's last journey, (i.e., to the grave), hidarimae (left side over right side). This is a little confusing because, when the kimono is put on in hidari-mae fashion, it is done from the point of view of the living who put the kimono on the dead. Migi-mae, with the right side in front (left to the onlooker), is the one and only way for the living to wear their kimono. Dress with care.
Hidari-maki (counter-clockwise) colloquially means a screwball. A person with a counter-clockwise cowlick on his head is considered nutty or eccentric.
A derogatory expression often used to describe the skin (hada) is samehada (shark skin). Like other cultures, the Japanese value smooth and compact skin very highly. Torihada (literally, chicken skin) means gooseflesh. A common synonym is zara-zara or butsu-butsu shita hada, as in kanojo wa bijin da kedo hada ga zara-zara da (she may be a beauty, but she has rough skin). You may also simply say hada ga kitanai (dirty) or hada ga arete iru (chapped). Chapped skin is also known as hada-are or arehada.
Although it is not as highly prized in Japan as it used to be, a traditional beauty always has white, translucent skin. Thus, the proverb iro no shiroi wa shichi nan kakusu means, literally, that white skin can hide many faults, or a fair complexion compensates for other poor features. Correspondingly, asaguroi hada (guroi is black) is something most darker Japanese wish they didn't have. This prejudice comes from the old days when only farmers and other menial workers spent long hours in the sun. The mark of the leisure class, who could spend its days indoors in intellectual, artistic, and amorous pursuits,
