Bouken is the Japanese word for ‘adventure’, explained

What does “bouken” mean in Japanese?

Native speakers use bouken to mean an ‘adventure’ in Japanese. Perhaps, some Japanese learners know this word as it is sometimes used in Japanese movies, songs, novels, manga, anime, and the like. In this blog post, however, I will explain this word in detail based on its kanji expression. And also, I will explain how to use it through example sentences. My explanations would help Japanese learners understand bouken more clearly. Then, let’s get started!

Contents

• Definition and meaning of “bouken”
• Bouken in kanji
  • How to say “adventure” in Japanese
  • Another example of “bouken”
• Summary

Definition and meaning of “bouken”

Let me start with the definition and meaning of bouken.

• bouken – 冒険 (ぼうけん) : a noun meaning an ‘adventure’ in Japanese. This can also work as plural. Learn more about Japanese plural.

The definition and meaning are simple and clear. To understand this noun more clearly, however, let me explain its kanji characters in detail, one by one.

Bouken in kanji

The kanji expression of bouken consists of the following two kanji characters:

• 冒 : a kanji character sometimes used to refer to the act of running a risk.
• 険 : a kanji character sometimes used to refer to a difficult situation.

From these two kanji characters, we can understand that bouken literally means ‘running risks in difficult situations’ in Japanese. This literal interpretation is not completely in line with the actual meaning, but still understandable, I think. Adventures often require us to run risks in difficult situations.

When we meet new kanji expressions, we should check their kanji characters in detail to understand their meanings clearly and deeply. In many cases, kanji characters tell us a lot about the meanings of the expressions they form. Actually, here, we could get the better understanding of bouken through the detailed kanji check above.

So far, I’ve explained the definition and meaning of bouken together with its kanji characters. Then, let me explain how to use it through the example sentences below.

How to say “adventure” in Japanese

Below are the new words used in the example sentence.

• kanojo – 彼女 (かのじょ) : a pronoun meaning ‘she’ in Japanese.
• no – の : a case particle used after a noun or pronoun to make its possessive case. In the example, this is used after kanojo to make its possessive case, kanojo no, which means ‘her’ in Japanese.
• wa – は : a binding particle working as a case marker or topic marker. In the example, this works after kanojo no bouken to make the subject in the sentence.
• totemo – とても : an adverb of degree meaning ‘very’, ‘much’, ‘so’, or such in Japanese. In the example, this works in front of abunai to emphasize its meaning.
• abunai – 危ない (あぶない) : an i-adjective meaning ‘dangerous’ in Japanese.

This is a typical usage of bouken. In this example, it works together with kanojo and no to mean ‘her adventures’ in Japanese.

Another example of “bouken”

Below are the new words used in the example sentence.

• watashi – 私 (わたし) : a pronoun meaning ‘I’ in Japanese.
• no – の : a case particle used to join two nouns or noun equivalent words. Normally, the first one can work as a modifier to describe the second. In the example, the second no is used to join kanojo no bouken and hanashi. The formed phrase literally means ‘the stories of her adventures’ in Japanese. Word orders in Japanese and English are different, but the role of this case particle is similar to that of the English preposition, of.
• hanashi – 話 (はなし) : a noun meaning a ‘story’ in Japanese. This can also work as plural.
• ga – が : a case particle used to make the subject word or the object word in a sentence. In the example, this is used after kanojo no bouken no hanashi to make the object in the sentence.
• suki – 好き (すき) : the stem part of the na-adjective, sukina, which means ‘favorite’ in Japanese. Native speakers, however, often use this as an individual word to mean ‘to like’ or ‘to love’ in Japanese. In the example, this is used to mean ‘to love’ in Japanese.
• desu – です : an auxiliary verb used after a noun or adjective to make it polite. Probably, this is well known as a part of Japanese desu form. In the example, this is used after suki to make it sound polite.

This is another example of bouken. When we want to mean an ‘adventure’ or ‘adventures’ in Japanese, anyway, this noun is always a very good option.

Summary

In this blog post, I’ve explained the definition and meaning of bouken in detail based on its kanji expression. And also, I’ve explained how to use it through the example sentences. Let me summarize them as follows.

• bouken – 冒険 (ぼうけん) : a noun meaning an ‘adventure’ in Japanese. This can also work as plural. These two kanji characters literally mean ‘running risks in difficult situations’ in Japanese. This literal interpretation is not completely in line with the actual meaning, but still understandable, I think. Adventures often require us to run risks in difficult situations.

Hope my explanations are understandable and helpful for Japanese learners.