Body Parts in Japanese - List of 50 Names

Characters in anime are people just like everybody else, as such, they have human bodies with its human body parts. Obviously, the Japanese language has words for these human body parts, and here are they.

Index:

• The Body Word
• Head and Face Parts
• Upper Body Parts
• Lower Body Parts
• Sides of the Body
• Insides of the Body

Karada 身体

The word "body" in Japanese is karada 体, also written karada 身体. This kanji 体 means "body" and shows up in many body-related words. Take a look:

• jintai 人体
  Human body
  (hito 人 means "person")
• nikutai 肉体
  Flesh (meat body)
  (niku 肉 means "meat")
• nikutai kaizou-bu 肉体改造部
  Body improvement club
  (see anime Mob 100)
• taikei 体型
  Body shape
  (kata 型 means "model")
• taiiku 体育
  Physical exercise.
  (sodatsu 育つ means "to raise")
• taichou体長
  Height. Body length.
  (nagai 長い means "long")
• taion 体温
  Body temperature.
  (atatakai 温かい means "warm")

Mi 身

There's also another word for body, mi 身, but it's used a little differently.

First off, mi 身 is used more to talk about my body or your body and not just any body like karada. For example, if in anime a character is able to possess other people's bodies he would say kono karada この体 to say "this body," but never kono mi この身.

Another example is the phrase mi no hodo wo shirazu 身の程を知らず, literally "not knowing the limits of the body," which actually means "not knowing your social standing." That is, it's used when a character acts wrongly before a king or imperor.

Head and Face Parts

Well then, let's start talking about the names of body parts now. Starting with the "head", atama 頭 and going down..

• Head
  atama 頭
• Hair
  kami 髪
• Face
  kao 顔 or men 面
• Forehead
  hitai 額
• Brow
  mayu 眉
• Eye
  me 目
• Nose
  hana 鼻
• Mouth
  kuchi 口
• Lips
  kutibiru 唇
• Teeth
  ha 歯
• Animal fangs
  kiba 牙
• Tongue
  shita 舌
  (do not mistake with shita 下 which means "down")
• Ear
  mimi 耳
• Cheeks
  hoo 頬
• Neck
  kubi 首

Upper Body Parts

Next are the names of the parts of the "upper body," or joutai 上体 in Japanese. This is the same kanji as in the word ue 上 which means "up."

(do not mistake joutai 上体 with joutai 状態 which means "circumstances")

• Shoulder
  kata 肩
• Arm
  ude 腕
• Elbow
  hiji 肘
• Wrist
  tekubi 手首
• Hand
  te 手
• Palm
  te no hira 掌, te no hira 手のひら or te no uchi 手の内
• Finger
  yubi 指
• Fingernail
  tsume 爪
• Chest
  mune 胸
• Boobs!
  oppai おっぱい
• Stomach or abdomen
  hara 腹 or ohara お腹
• Bellybutton
  heso 臍
• Back
  se 背 ou senaka 背中

Lower Body Parts

Going deeper lower, the parts of the "lower body" or katai 下体.

(do not mistake katai 下体 with katai 固い which means "hard", "solid")

• Butt
  shiri 尻 ou oshiri お尻
• Animal tail
  shippo 尻尾
• Thighs
  momo 股 or futomomo 太もも
• Knee
  hiza 膝
• Shin
  sune 脛
• Leg
  ashi 足 or ashi 脚
• Ankle
  ashikubi 足首
• Feet
  ashi 足
• Toes
  yubi 指 or ashi no yubi 足の指

Sides of the Body

Interrupting the list for an important note! You have two hands, two eyes, two ears, two legs and two feet (I hope). How to talk about only the left part of the body of only the right part?

It's easy. Just use the words migi 右 and hidari 左 which mean "left" and "right". The "left hand" would be hidari te 左手, and the right foot would be migi ashi 右の足.

Sometimes you want to talk about both sides of your body. For this case, there are the words ryou te 両手, "both hands", and ryou ashi 両足, "both legs/feet".

What about only one side? That's kata te 片手 and kata ashi 片足, which would means "only one hand" and "only one leg. These words usually shows up in anime when a character is so strong he says he'll defeat someone else with just only hand, or when other characters try to stop one character from recklessly doing a thing because he only hand one hand.

This kata 片 os only used when you have both sides of a thing. It doesn't mean merely "only".

Insides of the Body

Continuing, the words for the insides of the body, or tainai 体内.

• Internal organs
  naizou 内蔵
• Brains
  nou 脳 ou nouzui 脳髄
• Throat
  nodo 喉
• Stomach
  i 胃
• Heart (real)
  shinzou 心臓
• Heart (of love, etc.)
  kokoro 心
• Lung
  hai 肺
• Large intestine
  daichou 大腸
• Small intestine
  shouchou 小腸

Yep, that's about it. Now you got enough knowledge  about body parts' names that you could start selling body parts like in Gyakkyou Burai Kaiji 逆境無頼カイジ with all this vocabulary you've learned about anatomy, or kaibougaku 解剖学.

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