When, how, why is the Japanese honorific -kun used? -Kun is said to have been invented by a legendary samurai teacher of the mid-19th century, Yoshida Shōin who accepted learners regardless of class. But when he encouraged discussion among his students, he noticed that classism got in the way. Samurai students called their peasants peers Gonbei-dono (Gonbei was the most common name in pre-modern Japan. Average Joe = Average Gonbei). Peasants students called their samurai peers Gonbei-sama. So to establish equality, Shōin had all students call each other with a new honorific, -kun. Many of these students grew up to become rebels who eventually contributed to overthrowing the over-250 years old samurai government in 1867. At the National Diet of Japan still now, there is a rule where all Diet members call each other with the -kun suffix, male and female alike. Nowadays, probably because of its origin, -kun is predominantly used towards males, and it symbolizes a closer relationship than -san relationships, but establishes a graceful distance than a no-honorific relationship. In the video, I give you one very important use case of -kun which is exclusively used by girls towards boys 😂. Hi, I’m Kyota, the author of Amazon Best Sellers [Folk Tales of Japan], [Underdogs of Japanese History], and [Horror Tales of Japan]. Please check out my books at ☺️: @themetroclassic https://kyotako.myportfolio.com/ #japanese #samurai #japan #japaneseculture #japaneselanguage #relationships

• published: 04 Jun 2024
• views: 24634