Japan-filter: From Bullfighting to Kurosawa in a Cocktail

April 22, 2015 9:09 PM

How do you say "Blood and Sand" in Japanese?

I'm developing a cocktail with Japanese ingredients and I'm at the naming part. The original inspiration was the Blood and Sand, which was itself inspired by the 1922 bullfighting movie of the same name

My "Blood and Sand" is more Toshiro Mifune on the beach than Valentino in the bull-ring in its inspiration.

Google tells me that "Blood and Sand" in Japanese is:

血と砂
Chi to Suna

1) Does this make sense to Japanese speakers?
2) Does the English alphabet version make sense?
3) "Chitosuna"? Sunatochi? (Sand and Blood?)
3) Does Google translate suck and there's a nicer translation?

Help me not end up like a poor beleaguered pop-star who meant to get a tattoo (in a language she didn't speak or read) that read "Curious" and ended up with one that means "Strange".

Japan-filter, help me not be the cocktail version of that.

And yes, when the final recipe is dialed in I will post it here.

Thanks in advance

posted by Pirate-Bartender-Zombie-Monkey to Writing & Language (11 answers total)

1. 血と砂 is fine. There was a stage show in Takarazuka with that name some years ago, in fact. This is also the Japanese name for the 1922 film.
2. I don't know if it "makes sense" but it is the correct transliteration of the Japanese. Pronouncing the letters as you would pronounce Spanish gets you close enough to the pronunciation.
3. I don't understand what you are asking. If you are asking if there should be spaces or no spaces, there should be spaces.
3 (second). Google Translate is serviceable so long as you understand what it is and what it is for. But, 血と砂 is perfectly fine for "blood and sand"

FWIW, if the drink is on an English menu for predominately English speakers, I would just call it Blood and Sand in English.
posted by Tanizaki at 9:43 PM on April 22, 2015

I *think* what you are asking in #3 is which part is which. Yes? If so, "Chi" means blood. So if you want to say "Blood and Sand" it would be Chi to Suna.

I really want to know what's in this cocktail.
posted by ananci at 9:52 PM on April 22, 2015

血(chi)=blood (Chi as in the beginning of "Children")
と(to)= and (To pronounced "Toe", not "Two")
砂(suna)=sand (Su as in "Soup", na rhymes with the end of "Jessica")

In this case, Chi to Suna is fine for Blood and Sand.
posted by xmts at 10:19 PM on April 22, 2015

xmts: "Chi as in the beginning of "Children""

No, "Chi" as in "Cheap".
posted by Bugbread at 11:12 PM on April 22, 2015 [3 favorites]

(Su as in "Soup", na rhymes with the end of "Jessica")

Not so fast. It's not a long 'ooh' like "soup"; it's a shorter sound more like the 'u' in "putti."
posted by fifthrider at 6:08 AM on April 23, 2015

Response by poster: #3 was supposed to be asking "If I called it "Sand & Blood" would it be Sunatochi? There already exists a Blood and Sand cocktail made with scotch whisky, which is why. Need a new name.

And while it's an American cocktail, I'm in Northern California. It'll be fine.

Also, "Sunatochi" is growing on me bc it rolls off the tongue easier & kinda sounds like a Sumo wrestler'a fighting name.

Thanks, everyone!
posted by Pirate-Bartender-Zombie-Monkey at 10:59 AM on April 23, 2015

If I called it "Sand & Blood" would it be Sunatochi?

Yes. Fun fact about 砂, the sand character: it's the character for rock/stone mashed up against the character for little/small.
posted by Rash at 11:14 AM on April 23, 2015 [1 favorite]

"Sunatochi" is growing on me bc it rolls off the tongue easier & kinda sounds like a Sumo wrestler'a fighting name.

That wrestler's name would be 砂土地 or "sand lot". You should be sure to print it on any menu as "Suna to Chi" rather than "Sunatochi". They would have different pronunciations and meanings.
posted by Tanizaki at 5:44 PM on April 23, 2015 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Ok, thanks everyone.

What this thread has taught me is "Don't try to name cocktails in languages you don't speak".

So, having learned that lesson I have decided to take a slight sideways step, and name the cocktail... Yojimbo.

Like a Blood and Sand, Yojimbo is named after a black & white movie, is whisky-based, and uses a sweet fruit liqueur. It's also almost completely Japanese ingredients. Noting that I may do some final tweaking to proportions, but it's pretty much dialed in. And so for your cocktailian pleasure,

Yojimbo

• 2oz Hakkushu 12 Japanese Whisky
• .75 oz lemon juice
• .5 oz Choya Umeshu Classic
• .5 oz matcha simple syrup*
• .5 oz egg whites
• Dash Peychaud's Bitters

-Combine all ingredients in your Boston Shaker
-Dry-shake thoroughly to combine & whip up the egg white froth. I like to use a blender ball
-Remove the blender ball with your barspoon.
-Add ice, roll back & forth several times to chill the drink
-Fine strain into a coupe. Optional design in the foam drawn in Peychaud's Bitters.
-----
*Matcha simple syrup is easy to make. Add 1 tsp of matcha powder per cup of liquid when you make your simple. Add a little bit of warm water and whisk to get an ever consistency. Add to cooled simple syrup, and bottle.
posted by Pirate-Bartender-Zombie-Monkey at 7:55 PM on May 20, 2015 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: ADDITIONAL: They Peychaud's Bitters is very much not Japanese. But it ties together the flavors quite well, so it echos Tatsuya Nakadai's pistol in Yojimbo; an exotic import, a bit out of place, but still vital to the tale.
posted by Pirate-Bartender-Zombie-Monkey at 8:01 PM on May 20, 2015

Response by poster: Final refinement:
.25 oz egg whites
2 dash Peychaud's Bitters
posted by Pirate-Bartender-Zombie-Monkey at 2:51 PM on May 21, 2015