Japanese follows very different rules from English when it comes to pronouncing words. My Japanese accent is by no means perfect, but I’ve learned some basic rules for pronunciation. I thought I’d make a short guide for Legacy readers, so you might ‘hear’ the words in your head as we heard them when we wrote them. –Nezu
ANBU
ANBU is pronounced ahn-boo. It’s a direct romanization of the Japanese characters an 暗 and bu 部. ANBU (暗部) can be read literally as “Dark Division”—i.e. Black Ops. It’s short for Ansatsu Senjutsu Tokushu Butai (暗殺戦術特殊部隊), which translates to “Special Assassination and Tactical Division”.
General Guidelines for Pronouncing Japanese Words
Common Words and Names in ANBU Legacy
Japanese Syllabary
General Guidelines for Pronouncing Japanese Words
Stress, Emphasis, and Vanishing Vowels
Japanese almost always places the emphasis on the first syllable of a word, or on no syllable at all.
 Right |
 Wrong |
| Naruto (NAH-roo-toh) | Naruto (nah-ROO-doe) |
There is a special case for the syllables su, zu, and tsu when they appear in the middle of a word — the vowel almost isn’t pronounced at all.
| Right |
Wrong |
| Sasuke (SA-s’keh) | Sasuke (sah-SUE-kay) |
| Uzumaki (OOZE-mah-kee) | Uzumaki (oo-zoo-MAH-kee) |
Except when it falls at the beginning of a word, shi usually gets a very short pronunciation, almost more like sh’ However this can vary depending on where the word falls in a sentence and what region of Japan the speaker is from. If you listen to the anime, you will hear Kakashi’s name pronounced both Kakash’ and Kakashi.
Vowels
Japanese has five basic vowel sounds. (Examples are based on American English pronunciation.)
| vowel | sound | rhymes with | example from ANBU Legacy |
| a | ah | mock | Hatake |
| i | ee | see | Minato |
| u | oo | true | Uzumaki |
| e | eh | sled | Genma |
| o | oh | snow | Naruto |
Long Vowels
One thing that Japanese has that English (mostly) lacks is long vowels. Japanese long vowels have the exact same pronunciation as their short counterparts, but they are held out longer. Some, like the long o sound, usually written as “ou”, are very common. Anytime you see a doubled vowel or an “ou” in a Japanese word in Legacy, it represents a long vowel.
| vowel | sound | rhymes with | example from ANBU Legacy |
| aa | ahhh | fall | |
| ii | eeee | see | |
| uu | oooo | moon | Yuuhi |
| ee | ehhh | sled | |
| ou | ohhh | snow | Tousaki Ryouma |
Combined Vowels
When two vowels appear together, you pronounce both of them so they blend together.
| Ueno | oo-eh-no —> ooweh-no |
| Raidou | rah-ee-doe-oo —> rye-dough |
Common Words and Names in ANBU Legacy
Here are some common names and words from ANBU Legacy with their phonetic pronunciations. Stressed syllables are bolded. If there are words or names you’d like to see added to the pronunciation guide, just drop us a note and let us know! anbulegacywriters@gmail.com
| Namiashi Raidou | Nah-me-ahsh’ Rye-dough |
| Shiranui Genma | She-rah-noo-ee Ghehn-mah |
| Hatake Kakashi | Hah-tah-keh Kah-kahsh’ |
| Tousaki Ryouma | Tohhh-sah-kee R’yohh-mah |
| Ueno Katsuko | Ooweh-no Kahts’-koh |
| Namikaze Minato | Nah-me-kah-zeh Me-nah-toh |
| Uzumaki Naruto | Ooze-mah-kee Nah-roo-toh |
| Sagara Okiku | Sah-gah-rah Oh-kee-koo |
| Kuroda Ushio | Koo-roh-dah Oosh’yoh |
| Shibata Tomohiro | Shi-bah-tah Toh-moh-he-roh |
| Shibata Hakone | Shi-bah-tah Hah-koh-neh |
| Usagi | Oo-sah-ghee |
| Sakamoto Ginta | Sah-kah-moh-toh Gheen-tah |
| Yuuhi Kurenai | Yoooo-he Koo-reh-naee (rhymes with night) |
| Nohara Rin | Noh-hah-rah Reen |
| Sarutobi Asuma | Sah-roo-toh-bee Ah-soo-mah |
| Fukuda | Foo-koo-dah |
| Ayane | Ah-yah-neh |
| ANBU | ahn-boo |
| jounin | johhh-neen |
| chuunin | choo-neen |
| genin | geh-neen |
| shinobi | sh’-noh-bee |
| ninja | neen-jah |
| Tsurugahama | Tsoo-roo-gah-hah-mah |
| tanuki | tah-noo-kee |
| hitai-ate | hee-tie-ah-teh (‘tie’ as in tie a bow) |
Here is a useful reference for name pronunciation: https://www.nameshouts.com
Japanese Syllabary
It’s easier to understand some of the pronunciation rules if you know that Japanese phonetic writing is based on syllables rather than individual letters. Every consonant sound has a vowel attached to it, except for ‘n’ which can stand on its own. The syllables are listed below, in the order they appear “alphabetically” in Japanese, with hiragana, romanization, and pronunciation. You’ll notice that there are a few gaps, for characters that aren’t used in Japanese, and there are three characters that seem to break the rhythm: the syllable “ti” is pronounced and usually westernized “chi”, “Tu” is “tsu”, and “hu” is “fu”.
| あ | a | ah | い | i | ee | う | u | oo | え | e | eh | お | o | oh |
| か | ka | kah | き | ki | kee | く | ku | koo | け | ke | keh | こ | ko | koh |
| さ | sa | sah | し | shi | shee | す | su | soo | せ | se | seh | そ | so | soh |
| た | ta | tah | ち | chi | chee | つ | tsu | tsoo | て | te | teh | と | to | toh |
| な | na | nah | に | ni | nee | ぬ | nu | noo | ね | ne | neh | の | no | noh |
| は | ha | ha | ひ | hi | hee | ふ | fu | foo | へ | he | heh | ほ | ho | hoh |
| ま | ma | mah | み | mi | mee | む | mu | moo | め | me | meh | も | mo | moh |
| や | ya | yah | ゆ | yu | yoo | よ | yo | yoh | ||||||
| ら | ra | rah | り | ri | ree | る | ru | roo | れ | re | reh | ろ | ro | roh |
| わ | wa | wah | を | wo | woh | |||||||||
| ん | n | n |
Some syllables are made “soft” or “sharp” with diacritical marks.
| が | ga | gah | ぎ | gi | ghee | ぐ | gu | goo | げ | ge | gheh | ご | go | koh |
| ざ | za | zah | じ | ji | jee | ず | zu | zoo | ぜ | ze | zeh | ぞ | zo | zoh |
| だ | da | dah | で | de | deh | ど | do | doh | ||||||
| ば | ba | bah | び | bi | bee | ぶ | bu | boo | べ | be | beh | ぼ | bo | boh |
| ぱ | pa | pah | ぴ | pi | pee | ぷ | pu | poo | ぺ | pe | peh | ぽ | po | poh |