肉
にく
niku
= meat; flesh
肉 (niku) means meat — but in Japanese, the default assumption of 肉 (with no further specification) differs from English. Ask 「今日は肉の日？」(Today is a meat day?) and most Japanese people will picture pork or beef, not chicken. Understanding Japan’s meat culture — which cuts are prized, which animals are assumed, and how 和牛 (wagyu — Japanese beef) became a global luxury — opens up a key part of Japanese food vocabulary.
Niku (肉) means meat or flesh. Types: 牛肉 (gyuuniku — beef), 豚肉 (butaniku — pork), 鶏肉 (toriniku — chicken), 羊肉 (hitsuji-niku — lamb), 鹿肉 (shika-niku — venison). In everyday conversation, just saying 肉 (niku) often implies beef or pork by context. Usage: 肉を焼く (niku wo yaku — to grill meat), 肉屋 (niku-ya — butcher shop), 肉まん (niku-man — steamed pork bun). Note: 魚 (sakana — fish) is considered separate from 肉 in Japanese categorization — fish is not typically called niku.
In Japanese supermarkets, meat is sold in very specific cuts. For sukiyaki and shabu-shabu (hotpot dishes), 薄切り (usugiri — thinly sliced) beef or pork is standard — paper-thin slices that cook instantly in the hot broth. For yakiniku (焼肉 — grilled meat), thick cuts are used. 和牛 (wagyu — Japanese beef) is specifically cattle breeds raised under Japanese methods, known for extreme 霜降り (shimofuri — marbling, literally ‘frost falling’). The most famous wagyu is 神戸牛 (Kobe beef) and 松阪牛 (Matsusaka beef).
肉 is a radical itself (月 as a variant of 肉 — the meat radical, 肉月, nikuzuki). As a pictograph, it shows a piece of meat with striations. This radical appears in dozens of body-related kanji: 背 (se — back), 腕 (ude — arm), 腹 (hara — belly), 胸 (mune — chest), 脳 (nou — brain). When the 月 shape appears in body-part kanji, it’s derived from 肉 (meat/flesh), not from 月 (moon).
Everyday use
今日は焼肉食べたい気分だ。無性に肉が食べたくなる日ってある。
Kyou wa yakiniku tabetai kibun da. Mushou ni niku ga tabetaku naru hi tte aru.
I’m in the mood for yakiniku today. There are days when you just have an uncontrollable craving for meat.
Casual / Social Media
スーパーで和牛の半額シール貼ってあるやつ見つけた！！ 今夜のご飯確定です
Suupaa de wagyu no hangaku shiiru hatte aru yatsu mitsuketa!! Konya no gohan kakutei desu
Found wagyu with a half-price sticker at the supermarket!! Tonight’s dinner is decided
Formal / Cultural context
日本における肉食の歴史は複雑であり、仏教伝来（538〜552年）以降の殺生禁断令により公式には禁じられた時期が長く続いた。しかし実際には薬食い（やくぐい）として鹿・猪・兎などの摂取が継続され、江戸時代には「もみじ（鹿肉）」「牡丹（猪肉）」「桜（馬肉）」といった隠語が発達した。明治政府が1872年に肉食を公認し天皇が牛肉を食したことで西洋食文化の受容が加速し、現代日本の肉食文化の基盤が形成された。
Nihon ni okeru nikushoku no rekishi wa fukuzatsu de ari, Bukkyou denrai (538-552-nen) ikou no sesshoo kindan-rei ni yori koushiki ni wa kinjirareta jiki ga nagaku tsuzuita. Shikashi jissai ni wa yakugui (yakugui) toshite shika inoshishi usagi nado no sesshu ga keizoku sare, Edo jidai ni wa ‘momiji (shika-niku)’ ‘botan (inoshishi-niku)’ ‘sakura (ba-niku)’ to iu ingo ga hatten shita. Meiji seifu ga 1872-nen ni nikushoku wo kounin shi tennou ga gyuuniku wo shokushita koto de seiyou shokubunka no juyou ga kasoku shi, gendai Nihon no nikushoku bunka no kiban ga keisei sareta.
The history of meat eating in Japan is complex; following the arrival of Buddhism (538-552 CE) and edicts prohibiting killing, it was officially forbidden for long periods. However, in practice, deer, boar, and rabbit were consumed as ‘medicinal food,’ and during the Edo period euphemisms developed: ‘momiji (maple, for deer meat),’ ‘botan (peony, for boar),’ and ‘sakura (cherry blossom, for horsemeat).’ When the Meiji government officially approved meat eating in 1872 and the Emperor ate beef, acceptance of Western food culture accelerated and the foundation of modern Japanese meat culture was formed.
焼肉 (yakiniku — grilled meat) is one of Japan’s most popular restaurant categories, with roots in Korean barbecue (Korean-Japanese influence in the post-war period). At a yakiniku restaurant, raw meat is brought to the table and grilled on a tabletop grill (卓上コンロ, takujou konro). The experience is communal — everyone grills together, sharing plates of different cuts. Kalbi (カルビ, karubi — short ribs), risu (ロース, roosu — loin), and tan (タン — tongue) are standard orders. The smell of yakiniku grilling is considered one of the most appetite-stimulating aromas in Japanese food culture.
和牛 (wagyu — Japanese beef) has become one of Japan’s most globally recognized luxury food exports. The extreme marbling (霜降り, shimofuri — literally ‘frost falling’) of A5-grade wagyu results from a combination of specific cattle breeds (Wagyu cattle), extended fattening periods (typically 28–32 months vs. 18–20 months for standard beef), and precise feeding regimens. Kobe beef (神戸ビーフ) — a specific brand of wagyu from Hyogo Prefecture — has become internationally synonymous with premium Japanese beef, though authentic Kobe beef is certified and regulated, making fraudulent labeling a genuine international trade issue.
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