コスプレ
こすぷれ
kosupure
= cosplay / costume play
コスプレ (kosupure) is the Japanese contraction of ‘costume play’ — and Japan is where cosplay as we know it today was born, shaped, and turned into a global subculture.
Kosupure refers to the practice of dressing as a character from manga, anime, video games, tokusatsu, or other pop culture media. It functions as both a noun (コスプレをする — to do cosplay) and an adjective (コスプレイヤー — cosplayer). Unlike Halloween costumes, kosupure typically involves meticulous craftsmanship: handmade costumes, wigs, props, and styled makeup that replicate a specific character as accurately as possible. The person who performs kosupure is called a コスプレイヤー (kosupureiyaa) or simply コスプレer.
Kosupure is a wasei-eigo (和製英語) — a Japanese-made English expression. The word ‘cosplay’ was coined in Japan in the 1980s and only later spread internationally. If you want to say you are cosplaying as a specific character, use the particle で: ‘ナルトのコスプレをする’ (Naruto no kosupure wo suru). The verb form コスプレする is casual and very common.
Everyday use
彼女は自分でコスプレの衣装を手作りしている。
Kanojo wa jibun de kosupure no ishou wo tezukuri shite iru.
She makes her cosplay costumes by hand herself.
Casual / Social Media
コミケでコスプレした！写真撮ってもらいまくった笑
Komike de kosupure shita! Shashin totte morai makutta w
I cosplayed at Comiket! So many people asked to take photos with me lol
Formal / Cultural context
コスプレ文化は日本から世界に広まり、今や国際的なイベントとなっている。
Kosupure bunka wa Nihon kara sekai ni hiroma ri, ima ya kokusaiteki na ibento to natte iru.
Cosplay culture originated in Japan and has since spread worldwide, now becoming an international phenomenon.
Cosplay as an organized practice took shape at Japanese sci-fi conventions in the early 1980s. The term itself is credited to Nobuyuki Takahashi, who wrote about the phenomenon after attending the 1984 World Science Fiction Convention in Los Angeles and being struck by fan costumes. He coined コスプレ as a compact Japanese description of what he saw, and the word entered Japanese popular usage through his reporting.
Japan’s cosplay culture is distinctive for its emphasis on precision and community. At events like Comiket (コミックマーケット) and AnimeJapan, cosplayers are treated as part of the event rather than a sideshow — dedicated photography areas, changing rooms, and etiquette rules for photographing cosplayers are all standard. The craft element is taken seriously: online communities share tutorials, material sourcing, and construction techniques for achieving screen-accurate results.
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