When I was playing the game, I noticed that there were several Japanese words(or names) in the game. First the sword "Yamato" which you can buy at watchers keep. Yamato being the clan that brought Japan together and the greatest battleship in history. Another is Tomoko, Sarevoks girlfriend, that is a fairly common name in Japan. Another would be Sendai, I dont remeber the meaning but I know its a Japanese word... maybe Ill find out soon. There was one more I think...In SoA there was a thief inside the shadow thieves guild right at the entrance.. I believe she had a Japanese name too... Maybe there is more though.. Also Yaga Shura is NOT a Japanese name.(you probably know that though)

Well Jaegan, in Faerun, they have a continent comparable to Japan/China called Kara-Tur, this is where Yoshimo comes from (SoA). This is why you find weapons such as Yakizashis and Ninja-Tos too. This Kara-Tura influence in the game is quite noticeable in the aforementioned weapons, but also in the names of people you mentioned yourself.

Also, there is a series of books called I think Legend of the Five Rings..about different Clans...one is Scorpion. Kachiko's (from Clan Scorpion) wakazashi is for sale I think from Jouluv(sp) in the Inn?tavern where you fight in the arena...Copper Coronet? Anyway Jolouv(sp) is one of the bonus merchants...not th eone in Adventure's Mart...

I believe Yoshimo speaks Japanese in the game?

This may be a triggered voice.

Oh yeah, now I remember what Sendai is, Sendai is a Japanese City or town way up north from tokyo and past another area called Urabandai. Also I was wondering how you know about Kara-tur? Cause Ive never heard of it before in the game...

Kara-Tur is the " oriental " land in the forgotten realms game setting for the pen and paper version of D&D. They also have an Arabian setting called " Al-Quadim " and if you go waaaaaaaaaaaay , waaaaay back they had a mexican/south american seting called "Maztica"

Hello. I have studied a little japanese, and while I think there is no such word as "Yaga", I´m pretty sure the word "Shura" means something like a battlefield, or a scene of great destruction, and it could also refer to the name of the god of war, "Ashura".

Also, it was the name of a character from the Saint Seiya anime, the Capricorn saint.

Yeah thats what it means. I wonder what it would be like if there was a class like a samurai?... Actually it be really strange..
btw Any words from other languages?

there is a lot in arabic....

I believe the god of war is Shura, not Ashura.
And Yoshimo don't speak Japanese in the game to my knowledge. He looks sorta Chinese.

I wouldn't know what Yoshimo means in Japanese, but in Chinese it means cat.

Actually the god of war is both...no wait Ashura is the God of war and shura is a killer machine or somethin on the battle field.
Yeah also Ive never heard of a Yoshimo in Japan.....it must be chinese or somethin, he looks Asian but.. I dono, his eyes are just to big for the more thin eyed Chinese

There's an old Japanese text called The Book of Five Rings, written by the samurai Miyamoto Musashi. By the time he was 30, Musashi had fought over 60 duels, and was never defeated. Because of this, his fellows nicknamed him "Sword Saint," or kensei.

Yoshimo *does* speak Japanese in the game. One of his responses is "yokatta" which directly translated means "was good", but is used to mean "I understand" or "very well".

Matane (see ya),

Rankor

As above, Yoshimo certainly does speak Japanese. His NAME contains Japanese syllables in the common 3-syllable style.
'Yokatta' is basically an equivilent of, "Excellent," or a similar english exclamation. He also says, "Sou desu ne" (lit. Really? Is that so?) which is a conversational affirmer meaning, "Ah, I see." basically telling the speaker that you are listening to them.
But I agree on his appearance, he looks much more Vietnamese than Japanese.

There is in Oriental Adventures. In 3E it's basically a modification on the fighter class.

<font color="lawngreen" face="trebuchet MS">It could probably be easily made with a kit Editor also [img]smile.gif[/img] </font>

As to Yoshimo's exact race, it's a fallacy to try to equate the Forgotten Realms with historical Earth. The former is strongly based on the latter, of course, but does not have to conform to its rules. Yoshimo hails from Kara-Tur, a region roughly, but not precisely, equivalent to 14th-15th century China/Japan. The fact that Yoshimo tosses around a few Japanese phrases is simply a way to add flavor without conflicting with what we know of Kara-Tur. (As are the Asian weapons; Katana, Wakizashi, and Ninja-to. I want to make a Nunchaku (proficiency type: Flail), usuable by Thieves.)

[ 05-23-2002, 08:15 PM: Message edited by: SixOfSpades ]

Ahaha a nunchaku huh? Maybe a shuriken too, proficiency dart.
And for scrolls we have one of those makimono? Theres more too... I dont quite remember em though.. If someone had a book on Japanese weapons they can tell us.. Then you can apply em to a baldurs gate add on, "Quests in Kara Tura" Yeah that might be cool.... One thing I dont get though is why the name Kara Tura... that is so Un-Japanese or Chinese..(well Im not really sure about Chinese)......but Im pretty sure it isnt