Body Parts in Japanese - Vocabulary

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
  Person.
• nikutai 肉体
  Flesh. Body of meat.
• niku 肉
  Meat.
• nikutai kaizou-bu 肉体改造部
  Body improvement club. (from Mob Psycho 100.)
• taikei 体型
  Body shape
• kata 型
  Model.
• taiiku 体育
  Physical exercise.
• sodatsu 育つ
  To raise. To up-bring.
• taichou 体長
  Height. Body length.
• nagai 長い
  Long.
• taion 体温
  Body temperature.
• atatakai 温かい
  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..

• atama 頭
  Head
• kami 髪
  Hair
• kao 顔
  Face.
• Often used to talk about facial expressions.
• men 面
  Face.
• Often used to talk about honor, "to save face," etc.
• hitai 額
  Forehead
• mayu 眉
  Eyebrow. (area.)
• mayuge 眉毛
  Eyebrow. (hair.)
• ke 毛
  Hair. Fur.
• me 目
  Eye.
• kousai 虹彩
  Iris.
• hana 鼻
  Nose.
• hana 花
  Flower. (homonym.)
• kuchi 口
  Mouth.
• kutibiru 唇
  Lips.
• ha 歯
  Teeth.
• kiba 牙
  Animal fangs.
• shita 舌
  Tongue.
• shita 下
  Below. Down. Under. (homonym.)
• mimi 耳
  Ear.
• hoo 頬
  Cheeks.
• kubi 首
  Neck.
• Also means to be "fired" from a job. Probably comes from death by hanging or some other form of execution involving the neck.

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")

• kata 肩
  Shoulder.
• ude 腕
  Arm.
• hiji 肘
  Elbow.
• tekubi 手首
  Wrist.
• te 手
  Hand.
• te no hira 掌
  te no hira 手のひら
  te no uchi 手の内
  Palm.
• te no kou 手の甲
  Back of the hand.
• yubi 指
  Finger.
• tsume 爪
  Nail. Fingernail. Toenail.
• mune 胸
  Chest.
• oppai おっぱい
  Boobs!
• hara 腹
  ohara お腹
  Stomach. Abdomen.
• heso 臍
  Bellybutton
• se 背
  senaka 背中
  Back. (body part.)
• mae 前
  Back. (in time.)
• ushiro 後ろ
  Behind. (something.)
• ato 後
  After. (in time.)
  Behind. (someone, following them, going "after" them.)

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")

• shiri 尻
  oshiri お尻
  Butt.
• shippo 尻尾
  Animal tail.
• momo 股
  futomomo 太もも
  Thighs.
• hiza 膝
  Knee.
• sune 脛
  Shank.
• mukouzune 向うずね
  Shin.
• fukurabagi 脹脛
  Calf. Calves.
• ashi 脚
  Leg.
• ashikubi 足首
  Ankle. (area around leg, right before the foot)
• kurubushi 踝
  Ankle (referring to the joint.)
• ashi 足
  Feet.
• yubi 指
  ashiyubi 足指
  ashi no yubi 足の指
  Toes.
• ashi no kou 足の甲
  Top of the foot.
• ashi no ura 足の裏
  Sole.
• ura 裏
  Reverse side. (often refers to something hidden from view, like when you have a figurehead in an organization and the real boss is controlling everything from the unseen shadows, from the ura.)

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 is 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.

• naizou 内蔵
  Internal organs
• hone 骨
  Bone.
• hifu 皮膚
  Skin. (technical term.)
• hada 肌
  Skin. (general term, often used in idioms.)
• nou 脳
  nouzui 脳髄
  Brains.
• nou-miso 脳味噌
  Innards of the brain.
• Often used by characters to say "get this inside your brain!" When calling other characters dumb.
• miso 味噌
  Fermented soybeans, and innards of things that resemble it.
• miso-shiro 味噌汁
  Soup of miso.
• medama 目玉
  Eyeball.
• nodo 喉
  Throat.
• i 胃
  Stomach.
• Yes, that's just a single i.
• shinzou 心臓
  Heart. (real)
• kodou 鼓動
  Palpitation.
• kokoro 心
  Heart (of love, etc.)
• dokidoki ドキドキ
  *thump thump*
• hai 肺
  Lung.
• kanzou 肝臓
  Liver.
• suizou 膵臓
  Pancreas.
• Kimi no Suizou wo Tabetai
  君の膵臓をたべたい
  I Want to Eat Your Pancreas. (actual name of an anime movie.)
• daichou 大腸
  Large intestine.
• shouchou 小腸
  Small intestine.

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.

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.