繰り返す
くりかえす
kurikaesu
= to repeat; to do again; to go over and over
In Japan, the act of repeating something is not seen as mere monotony — it is the very foundation of mastery. Kurikaesu (繰り返す) captures this philosophy, echoing the spirit of keiko (稽古), the disciplined practice of going over and over a skill until it becomes second nature.
繰り返す means to repeat an action, to do something again, or to cycle through something multiple times. It is a transitive godan verb, so it takes a direct object: tango wo kurikaesu (単語を繰り返す) means “to repeat vocabulary words.” The nuance is one of deliberate, ongoing repetition rather than a single accidental recurrence. In casual speech it often appears adverbially as kurikaeshi (繰り返し), meaning “repeatedly” or “over and over.” Unlike mata suru (またする), which simply means “to do again,” 繰り返す emphasizes a cycle or loop — something that keeps coming back around.
The core pattern is [noun] を 繰り返す — the thing being repeated is marked with を. For example, onaji machigai wo kurikaesu (同じ間違いを繰り返す) means “to repeat the same mistake.” A second common structure uses the て-form of a verb: kurikaeshite renshuu suru (繰り返して練習する) means “to practice by repeating” and emphasizes the method rather than the object. Be careful not to confuse kurikaeshi (繰り返し, noun/adverb) with kurikaesu (繰り返す, verb). Learners also sometimes mix this up with くり返す, which is simply the hiragana spelling of the same word — both forms are correct.
The first kanji, 繰, combines the thread radical 糸 (ito) with 區, which suggests a divided or sectioned space. Together they evoke the image of winding thread onto a spool in ordered, repeated turns — a fitting root for a word meaning cyclic repetition. The second kanji, 返, pairs the movement radical 辶 (shinnyuu) with 反, meaning “to turn back” or “reverse.” So 繰り返す literally reads as “to wind and turn back” — the motion of spooling thread that always returns to its starting point.
Everyday use
毎晩、新しい単語を繰り返し声に出して練習している。
Maiban, atarashii tango wo kurikaeshi koe ni dashite renshuu shite iru.
Every evening, I practice new vocabulary words by reading them aloud over and over.
Casual / Social Media
この曲が好きすぎて、一日中繰り返して聴いてしまう。
Kono kyoku ga sukisugite, ichinichijuu kurikaeshite kiite shimau.
I love this song so much that I end up listening to it on repeat all day.
Formal / Cultural context
新入社員は同じ手順を繰り返すことで、業務を確実に身につけていく。
Shinnyuu shain wa onaji tejun wo kurikaesu koto de, gyoumu wo kakujitsu ni mi ni tsukete iku.
New employees internalize their work procedures by repeating the same steps until they become reliable.
The kanji 繰 traces its image to the winding of silk thread — a craft that demanded thousands of identical, unhurried turns before a single length of usable thread was produced. This origin gives 繰り返す a quietly positive undertone in Japanese. Repetition is not tedium; it is the mechanism by which raw effort becomes refined skill. The concept surfaces clearly in keiko (稽古), the structured rehearsal practice central to martial arts, classical music, and traditional performance. A student of kendo or noh theatre does not move on from a technique after one success — they kurikaesu it hundreds of times until the body remembers.
In literature and cinema, 繰り返す carries a heavier emotional register. The phrase kurikaesu higeki (繰り返す悲劇) — “a repeating tragedy” — appears in journalism and literary criticism to describe cycles of disaster, whether historical or personal. This darker sense of the word reflects a broader cultural awareness that repetition is not always chosen: grief, conflict, and systemic failure can also kurikaesu, returning in patterns that resist change. The word therefore holds both the disciplined hope of practice and the cautionary weight of history.