Japanese Culture Trivia Quiz

Answer: Bunraku

Musicians and chanters take part in traditional bunraku in addition to the puppeteers. Bunraku was founded in Osaka in the late 17th century , although it was not called bunraku until the 19th century after the man who popularized it.

Noh, the oldest form of Japanese theater, is a musical/drama that generally focuses on a hero character and the supernatural. Kyogen is comedy theater, similar to slapstick comedy. Kabuki is a dance theater well known for its elaborate costumes and heavy makeup of its performers.

Answer: Flowers

Ikebana has been around since the 6th century and its origins lie in Buddhism where worshippers would leave flower offerings at a temple for Buddha. There are many different styles one can arrange flowers in with the most popular being Rikka, which means "standing" and represents more of a nature look. Each style has its own rules that must be followed, but a freestyle approach is becoming increasingly more popular.

Answer: Jomon

The Jomon period began sometime around 14,000 BC and ended over a millennium later in 300 BC. The Dogu are believed to have been memorials or effigies of loved ones or pets that died. Other theories included fertility symbols, since most of the ones found appear to be female, and some kind of object similar to a voodoo doll.

Answer: False

Both men and women will wear kimonos, although women wear them more often. Nowadays, women will only wear kimonos on special occasions like weddings. Men will sometimes wear kimonos in their homes and sumo wrestler will wear them in public in keeping up with the tradition that sumo wrestlers wear only traditional Japanese clothing in public.

Answer: Mount Fuji

In the print, one can see a tiny Mount Fuji about to be demolished by the wave. Other prints in the series show Mount Fuji during a rainstorm, close up, from a busy marketplace and covered in snow. Despite the name, there are actually forty-six prints as Hokusai made ten more after the originals.

Answer: Kyotei

Kyotei is a type of motorboat racing and is one of the few sports in which one can legally bet on in Japan. Judo, kendo and jujutsu are all popular forms of martial arts in Japan and internationally as well.

Answer: Biwa

The biwa is traditionally used when accompanied by storytelling. There are several different types of biwa including Gagaku-biwa which is a heavy instrument and has four strings and the Chikuzen-biwa which can have either four strings or five and is one of the smaller varieties.

The taiko is a kind of drum. The Shakuhachi is a flutelike instrument made out of bamboo. The shamisen is something like a banjo but does not have a fret and its bottom part is more drum-like.

Answer: Katakana

Katakana is traditionally used when wanting to put emphasis on something or when using foreign words in the Japanese language (such as for scientific purposes.) Katakana is considered the simplest of all forms of Japanese symbols. The katakana pictured is the one for sa.

Kanji is a writing system of symbols adopted from Chinese and is used quite frequently around Japan. Hiragana is generally used in place of kanji when the kanji symbols are obscure or do not exist in everyday Japanese. Romaji is a translation of Japanese words that uses Roman letters instead of symbols.

Answer: Peaceful gardens perfect for meditation

Karesansui gardens are better known as Zen gardens. They are filled with white sand and a few large rocks. These Zen gardens can be found in public parks, private residences and even businesses all over Japan.

Answer: Manga

Manga are comics that typically deal with darker subjects such as horror, but can be about anything. Oftentimes, popular television shows and video games will have a companion manga series that differs greatly from the plot of the original media.