Jjokbari

Jjokbari
A Korean language banner in 2005 reads: "Dokdo! Don't worry. The ghost and jjokbari-catching ROK Marines are here. — Local association of retired ROK Marines"
Japanese name
Kana	チョッパリ
Transcriptions Romanization Choppari
Korean name
Hangul	쪽발이 / 쪽바리
Transcriptions Revised Romanization Jjokbari McCune–Reischauer Tchokpari

A pair of Japanese traditional footwear, geta. Geta separates thumb toe and the other four toes.

Jjokbari (Korean: 쪽발이) is a Korean language ethnic slur which may refer to Japanese citizens or people of Japanese ancestry. According to one survey, it was Korea's second-most commonly used slur against Japanese people, ahead of wae-nom and behind ilbon-nom (both roughly mean "Japanese bastards").

Origin

Jjok means a "piece" and bal means "feet" in Korean, and when combined it roughly translated to "split feet" or "cloven hoof". This refers to the fact that the Japanese wore geta, a traditional Japanese wooden sandal, which separated the big toe from the others when wearing it. Unlike Korean-style straw shoes which completely cover the foot, Japanese-style straw shoes consisted only of a sole and straps to bind it to the foot, leaving the top part of the foot exposed. Because of that, Koreans thought Japanese shoes are incomplete compared to theirs. Alternatively, jjokbari may came from the sound made by a person wearing geta when they are walking. A third theory explains that jjokbari could also mean "pig's foot". This is from a comparison between the appearance of a pig's cloven hooves and the feet of a person wearing tabi or geta.

In Japan

The term has also been borrowed into Japanese language spoken by ethnic Koreans in Japan, where it is rendered Choppari. The form ban-jjokbari (literally, "half jjokbari") originated as a derogatory reference to Japanized Koreans during the Japanese colonial period in Korea; later, it came to be used by Koreans to refer to Japanese with Korean ancestry. The Japanized pronunciation of this form, ban-choppari, is also widely used by Koreans in Japan, either to refer to Japanized Koreans or to people with both Japanese and Korean ancestry.

See also

• Anti-Japanese sentiment in Korea
• Zainichi Korean language