skin.
Here we move on to ashi (feet or legs). Long, slim, shapely legs are much admired in Japan, despite, or, possibly on account of, their rarity. Ashi ga mijikai (he has short legs) or mijikai ashi (short legs) are ordinary expressions. But tansoku, an alternative reading for mijikai ashi, is much more a term of ridicule for someone with stumpy legs.
Dōnaga-tansoku literally means long-waisted, short-legged, and is a typical insult for fat, middle-aged men in Japan. A more amusing synonym is dakkusufunto (dachshund).
Daikon-ashi (radish legs) can be aptly translated as piano legs, and is commonly applied to women with thick, definitionless legs. Futoi ashi is a common way of describing fat legs. Ganimata means bowlegged. Ganimata comes from kani mata, kani being crab, and mata being crotch or thigh.
It's interesting to note that the Japanese language originally did not have voiced sounds at the beginning of its words. Later people began to add voiced sounds to word beginnings in order to emphasize derogatory or indelicate meanings. This explains a change such as kani to gani. Ganimata sounds really awful to the Japanese ear; therefore, it's appropriate only when someone wants to be really disparaging.
Ganimata, or bowleggedness, is said to be the result of mothers putting excessively thick diapers on their babies. Uchimata, on the other hand, means pigeon-toed or knock-kneed. One sees quite a few pigeon-toed women in Japan, perhaps because of the country's long custom of wearing kimono, in which one must walk with short, mincing steps.
Another expression, wani-ashi, can be used to describe a person who is either bowlegged (soto-wani) or knock-kneed (uchi-wani). Soto means outward, and uchi is inward. Wani is alligator or crocodile.
The phrase kōdaka banbiro is used to describe the typically wide, high-instepped foot of the Japanese. Kōdaka means high instep or high back, and banbiro is wide feet. Such feet are thought to have developed from wearing traditional geta (wooden clogs), which do not constrict the feet in any fashion. But this expression is going out of use as geta are rarely seen nowadays.
In speaking of one's body shape as a whole, there are any number of amusing Japanese terms. Noppo (tall, gangly fellow), seitaka noppo (stilts or lampost), and kirin (giraffe) are all humorous ways of referring to a very tall person. Udo no taiboku is a near synonym. Udo is a Japanese plant similar to asparagus, and taiboku is a big tree. The stalk part of udo is edible when it's young, but after it grows to six feet or so in height, it becomes inedible. This phrase, then, means something like a big boob, someone who's big but useless.
Chibi or the more slangy chibikō are used to describe a very small person. When applied to children, these terms mean tot or kid, and the term chibikko is now commonly used when referring to children in a collective sense. Chibita is only used for male children.
The nouns chinchikurin and chinchikurin yaro describe a person who is small both physically and mentally (a pipsqueak or squirt). A more slangy adjective for these two nouns is chinke-na. Chinke-na onna means a short, unattractive, or awkward girl or woman.
Kobito, which is not to be confused with koibito (lover), is a dwarf, as in Shichinin no Kobito (The Seven Dwarfs).
Totchanbōya comes from ototchan (slang for father or grown male) and bōya (boy), and means a short, physically mature—but mentally immature—man.
Even more than people who are short or tall, those who are excessively thin or fat are likely objects of ridicule. Here are some words used to describe such people.
Yase or yaseppochi, which come from yaseta hito (thin person), is slang for someone who is very skinny. O-yase-san is a more ladylike expression. Gari or garitcho mean skin and bones, with gari being an onomatopoetic device for the sound of biting or scratching. Gari-gari ni yaseta describes an extremely skinny person. Honekawa sujiemon, which sounds like a person's name, also means skin and bones. Its components are hone (bone), kawa (skin), and suji (tendon). The-emon is added to make it sound like an old-fashioned male name. Finally, the envy of many of us are yase no o-gurai (slim people who eat all they want).
Gaikotsu refers to a skeleton. Japanese sometimes make a pun on this term and the word gaikokujin (foreigner), creating the expression gaikotsujin to describe a tall, skinny, funny-looking foreigner. Two other expressions for skinny people are hyoro or hyoro-hyoro (beanpole) and moyashi (bean sprout). Hyoro or hyorohyoro refer to a person who is tall and lanky almost to the point of being unsteady, like certain varieties of water birds. Moyashi describes an immature, skinny person. Rōsoku (candle) is simply someone who is tall and thin.
Debu (fat person or the state of being fat) is the most common all-embracing slang term used to describe fat people. Debu-chan, with the diminutive suffix, implies some degree of affection when applied to roly-poly children or young people.
O-debu (san) is mainly used for young women, and debuchin or debutcho for men. Fatty, fatso, or butterball would be English equivalents. Debu-debu (a ton of lard) is appropriate when one wants to emphasize merely the fact that a person is fat. Hyakkan debu might also be translated as a ton of lard. Hyakkan is 100 kan, kan being an old Japanese unit of weight equalling approximately 3,750 grams, or a little more than eight pounds. Konishiki, a sumo wrestler from Hawaii who weighs in at over 200 kilograms or 440 pounds, is regarded as hyakkan debu. Akebono, also from the U.S. and a sumo grand champion, is not called debu because he's relatively tall.
Deppuri is an adjective that can be applied to a stout, yet rather wealthy, gentleman, as in deppuri shita shinshi (portly gentleman) or deppuri futotta hito (portly person). Futotta is an adjective formed from the verb futoru (to become fat).
Maru-maru shita (round and full) is an expression commonly used when commenting on a chubby or rolypoly baby. Marupocha (cutie) describes a short, plump, but nevertheless charming young girl. Pocha comes from the mimetic adjective potchari (plump yet attractive). Another expression making use of this term is pochapochatto shita ii onna, the ii onna in this case being a very appealing woman. When this woman gets a little older, however, she might be described with the adjective kobutori (dumpy). Ko-is a prefix meaning small or little, and butori is a euphonic change of futori (fat).
Zunguri (shita) or the stronger zunguri mukkuri (shita), both mimetic expressions, are commonly applied to people who are short and fat and, at the same time, somewhat unattractive. Pudgy, stumpy, or tubby would be among the many English translations. Gasshiri shita (solidly built) would be well-built, stout, or sturdy.
Futome is a rather fashionable word these days.-Me is a suffix implying a little bit or rather. Hosome, for example, means rather thin, and katame, rather hard. Futome is a more gracious term than debu. If you say kanojo wa debu, it sounds as if you are just being nasty, but chotto futome is closer to pleasingly plump. Futome can also be used to describe animals.
Speaking of animals, butanko and tonko for women and bu-chan for men are other close synonyms of debu. Buta is pig, and bū-bū is the sound a pig makes, similar to oink oink in English. Bū-bū iu means to constantly complain. Ton is an alternative pronunciation of the same character for pig. Tonko is most often used to describe an unattractive young woman, while bu-chan is an affectionate expression often used in nicknames for men.
Hara or onaka (belly) ga dete iru (swelling out) is the most commonly accepted expression for paunchiness. Some slang variations are biya-daru (beer barrel) and zundo (thick trunk). Kono goro hara ga detchatta (I've recently started growing a paunch) is a commonly heard lament among middle-aged men. Sandan-bara (literally, triply undulated fat belly), on the other hand, is greatly dreaded by middle-aged women.
A word of caution: when you say ōki-na onaka about a woman it means she's pregnant, as in kanojo wa onaka ga ōkii or ōki-na onaka o shite iru. Slang variations for this are boteren and botebara.
