Shiritori

Shiritori (しりとり) is a Japanese word game in which the players are required to say a word which begins with the final kana of the previous word. No distinction is made between hiragana, katakana or kanji. "Shiritori" literally means "taking the end" or "taking the rear".[1]

Shiritori

Basic rules

• Two or more people take turns to play.
• Only nouns are permitted.
• A player who plays a word ending in the mora N (ん) loses the game, as no Japanese word begins with that character.
• Words may not be repeated.
• Phrases connected by no (の) are permitted, but only in those cases where the phrase is sufficiently fossilized to be considered a "word".[2]

Example: sakura (さくら) → rajio (ラジオ) → onigiri (おにぎり) → risu (りす) → sumou (すもう) → udon (うどん)

The player who used the word udon lost this game.

There are various optional and advanced rules, which must be agreed on before the game begins.

Music

In the Pokémon anime new series, there are two versions of the ending song, "Pokémon Shiritori (Pikachu → Mew Ver.)" (ポケモンしりとり ピカチュウ→ミュウVer., Pokémon Shiritori Pikachū → Myū Ver.), & "Pokémon Shiritori" (Mew → Zamazenta Ver.)" (ポケモンしりとり ミュウ→ザマゼンタVer., Pokémon Shiritori Myū→Zamazenta Ver.). Also, there's a full ending song, "Pokémon Shiritori (Full Size Ver.)" (ポケモンしりとり フルサイズVer., Pokémon Shiritori Furu Saizu Ver.). It's a brand new version of the Japanese word game sung by children. Also there are two instrumental versions of the ending song "Pokemon Shiritori (Pikachu → Mew Ver.) (Karaoke)" (ポケモンしりとり ピカチュウ→ミュウVer. カラオケ, Pokémon Shiritori Pikachū → Myū Ver. Karaoke), & "Pokémon Shiritori (Mew → Zamazenta Ver.) (Karaoke)" (ポケモンしりとり ミュウ→ザマゼンタVer. カラオケ, Pokémon Shiritori Myū→Zamazenta Ver. Karaoke). In Pokémon Shiritori (ポケモンしりとり, Pokémon Shiritori), The title of the song is shown. The waveform of the song appears in the background with many Poké Balls. Pokémon appear in a line, moving right-to-left as they are named, while a Poké Ball corresponding to the initial kana of the Pokémon's name in gojūon order flashes in the color of the Pokémon in the background. But if there's a "n" at the end, the shiritori chain ends in failure and a jingle plays. The background Poké Balls flip to briefly show silhouettes of various Pokémon and other Poké Balls change in size to the beat. Another line of Pokémon is shown and ends successfully. In the first version, five wheels each with five Pokémon move and rotate. In the second version, Pikachu, Raboot, Yamper, and Riolu (its Egg in SS020) are displayed each in chains of three, with all four as well as Mimey dancing at the end. After that, in both variations, the title of the song is shown again at the end.

Optional rules

• Dakuten and handakuten may be ignored or added. Thus suupu (スープ) may be followed by furo (ふろ), and sato (さと) may be followed by dochi (どち).
• A long vowel may either be ignored or considered as a vowel. Mikisaa (ミキサー/みきさあ) can be followed by either sakura (さくら) or aki (あき).
• Common pronouns and place names may be permitted. Example: Edo jou (えどじょう) lit. Edo castle is acceptable.
• Two words spelled with the same kana but different kanji may be permitted. For example, Su (す) can either be spelled as "巣" (lit. a birdnest) or "酢" (lit. vinegar).

Advanced rules

• Words are limited to a certain genre.
• Instead of using only the last kana, the final two kana must be used again. In this case, only the first kana may not be the mora N (ん).
• The length of a word must be three or more syllables.[2]

English shiritori

A Shiritori game using only English words was invented to help people learn English. Most rules are the same, yet there are several original and optional rules that are used.

• For students of English, any words including nouns, verbs, and adjectives can be used.
• Players cannot use different tenses of previously used verbs unless they have nonstandard conjugation. For example, a player may use "be," "was," and "is," but not both "kick" and "kicked."
• When a word ends in a silent vowel, like "life," one may either use the vowel in another word or use the preceding consonant instead.

Similar games

In English, the most similar game is Word chain.

There are Russian wordgames similar to shiritori known as "Igra v slova" ("Игра в слова" -- A game of words), where players are required to say a noun that begins with the final letter of the previous word, and "Igra v goroda" ("Игра в города" -- A game of cities), where players are required to say a name of a city or town that begins with the final letter of the previous word.

There is also a similar South Slavic game called Kalodont, in which players continue the chain by beginning with last two letters of the previous word.

In Korean there is a game called ggeut-mar-it-gi (끝말잇기 -- End Word Continue), in which players must say a word that starts with the last Hangul letter of the previous word.

In Romanian there is a game called "Fazan" ("Pheasant"), in which players must say a word that starts with the last two letters of the previous word.

Examples from popular culture

• In the Japanese Version of Tomodachi Life, there is a event called Shiritori Tournament but obviously changed into Word Chain in the European version, and ggeut-mar-it-gi in the Korean version, the North American version lacks the game but there is a similar event called Rap Battle.

References

1. Backhaus, Peter (16 January 2017). "Shiritori: a simple game that's great for practicing your Japanese vocab". The Japan Times. Japan: Yukiko Ogasawara. Archived from the original on 2 November 2017. Retrieved 2 November 2017. しりとり (shiritori) is the name of the game, derived from the phrase 尻を取る (shiri o toru). It literally means “take the rear” — and that is basically what you do.
2. Koichi (4 October 2008). "Shiritori, the Japanese Game That Will Improve Your Japanese". tofugu.com. Tofugu. Archived from the original on 6 January 2017. Retrieved 2 November 2017.