Expression of cleaning in Japanese

In Japan, there is a peculiar cleaning expression.

 

First of all, I introduce the feature of a Japanese house to you.

One common feature of Japanese houses is that they have many sliding doors.
This is the style seen in modern Japanese houses today.

 

<Japanese style room (Tatami room) >:

たたみ/畳[tatami]

In the old Japan, the almost all houses were Tatami room.
Tatami mats are a traditional Japanese flooring.

Tatami is made of woven rush straw, and packed with straw, and Tatami are made in individual mats of uniform size and shape, bordered by brocade or green cloth.

At Tatami room we sit on the Tatami mat and sleep in futon (Japanese bedding) put down on a Tatami floor.

Though nowadays a wooden flooring room is the main style, there are usually one Japanese style room in the Japanese house.

At Tatami room, we take off slippers.
In the wooden flooring room, we (Japanese) sleep in bed.

 

<Wooden flooring room>:

At the flooring rooms, we use a desk, a table, chairs and a sofa and the bet to sleep.
Flooring rooms are kitchen & dining, living room, bet room (right picture), child room and so on.

Because a Japanese house has such a feature, there is peculiar cleaning in Japan.

 

Well, the following are "Various cleanings in Japanese."

• The dark gray characters is "送りがな[Okuri-gana]".
• The red characters is often omitted on the conversation.
• The image expands by click.

English	Running a vacuum cleaner.	(Vacuum cleaner) inhales garbage.
Action
English	Running a vacuum cleaner.	(Vacuum cleaner) inhales garbage.
Hiragana	そうじき を かける	(そうじき が）ごみ を すいとる
Japanese	掃除機 を かける	（掃除機 が）ゴミ を 吸い取る
Pronunciation	soujiki wo kakeru	(soujiki ga)gomi wo suitoru

English	Mopping the floors.	Cleaning the window.
Action
English	Mopping the floors.	Cleaning the window.
Hiragana	もっぷ を かける	まど を ふく/まどふき を する
Japanese	モップ を かける	窓 を 拭く/窓拭き を する
Pronunciation	moppu wo kakeru	mado wo fuku/madofuki wo suru

English	Sweeping with a broom.	Wiping a table clean.
Action
English	Sweeping (with a broom).	Wiping a table clean
Hiragana	（ほうき で）はく	てーぶる を ふく
Japanese	（ほうき で）掃く	テーブルを拭く
Pronunciation	(houki de) haku	tēburu wo fuku

English	Putting wastepaper into a wastebasket.	Picking up trash.
Action
English	Putting wastepaper (into a wastebasket).	Picking up trash.
Hiragana	（ごみ を）すてる	ごみ を ひろう
Japanese	（ゴミ を）捨てる	ごみ/ゴミ を 拾う
Pronunciation	(gomi wo) suteru	gomi/gomi wo hirou

* All these are expressed in Japanese as "ごみ/ゴミ[Gomi]".

English	Using a duster and dusting the shelves.	Repapering the Shouji.
Action
English	Using a duster and dusting the shelves	Repapering the Shouji
Hiragana	はたき を かける	しょうじ を はりかえる
Japanese	はたき を かける	障子 を 張り替える
Pronunciation	hataki wo kakeru	shouji wo harikaeru

*Usually, both "Hataki" and "Kakeru" are hiraganas.

 

<はたき/ハタキ[hataki]>:
A hataki is a type of household cleaning tool, originating in Japan.
Similar to a feather duster, it is not to be confused with an O-nusa.

But, Hataki is hardly used in recent Japan.

 

<障子[shouji]>:

This a "Shouji" screen used in most traditional Japanese houses as a kind of curtain.
Before glass was introduced, these shoji screens were the only means to have privacy in the house with still enough light coming in to see things clearly.

Bit, since they are made from paper, when a strong wind or storm came over town the shouji screens would be destroyed.
These days we have them inside of the glass windows and they stay much longer.
Direct sun exposed Shouji screens will change color in one season and the Washi paper might need to be replaced new washi.
(In Japan, the Washi paper is called "障子紙[Shouji-gami]" .)

The number of Shouji screens is decreasing at a Japanese house of recent years due to such an inconvenience.

English	Wring a duster.	Wiping with a duster
Action
English	Wring a duster	Wiping with a duster
Hiragana	ぞうきん を しぼる	ぞうきんがけ を する
Japanese	雑巾 を 絞る	雑巾がけ を する
Pronunciation	zoukin wo shiboru	zoukingake wo suru

 

Hararie

Sanshodo-Kotoba tsukaikata ejiten

三省堂ことばつかいかた絵じてん [sanshoudou kotoba tsukaikata e jiten]   In this page, I used the image of this book. This is a book for children in Japan to learn basic Japanese. In this book, the word of Japan that we use in daily life is explained with the image, and it is very convenient. This book will be very useful for you who is learning Japanese. *You can buy this book in Japanese Amazon. (It is not sold outside Japan.)

*Category: カテゴリ(kategori), Tag: タグ(tagu)