Glossary

Words you’ll meet on menus and in Chinatown, in alphabetical order. Terms with a Yokohama connection include a note.

A

Ankake餡かけ: A thick sauce made with potato starch, poured over food. It keeps dishes hot.Sanma-men is noodles topped with a vegetable ankake.

Baiben (comprador)買弁: Chinese brokers in the port-opening era who negotiated contracts between Western merchants and Japanese traders.The people who started Yokohama Chinatown.
Beijing cuisine北京料理: Northern cooking with many wheat-based dishes and roots in imperial court cuisine.

Cantonese cuisine広東料理: Southern Chinese cooking with light seasoning that brings out the ingredients.Early Chinese residents of Yokohama were mainly Cantonese.
Chashu叉焼: Cantonese roast pork, marinated and roasted while hanging.

Dim sum (tenshin)点心: Light dishes eaten between meals, from shumai and spring rolls to buns and sweets.

Kantei (Guan Yu)関帝: The deified name of Guan Yu, the Three Kingdoms general, worshipped as a god of business.The main deity of Yokohama Kanteibyo.
Kyoryuchi (foreign settlement)居留地: Areas where foreigners were allowed to live and trade after the ports opened. Abolished in 1899.

Laojiu老酒: Aged Chinese brewed wine. Shaoxing wine is the best known.
Lunar New Year (Shunsetsu)春節: New Year on the lunar calendar, falling on a new moon between late January and mid-February.Celebrated in Yokohama Chinatown since 1986.

Mala麻辣: The numbing (ma) of Sichuan pepper and the heat (la) of chili. The base flavor of Sichuan cooking.
Mazu媽祖: A sea goddess who protects sailors, widely worshipped along the Chinese coast and in Taiwan.Yokohama Masobyo opened in 2006 where the Qing consulate is said to have stood.

Nankin soba南京そば: The Meiji-era name for Chinese noodle soup eaten in Nankinmachi.Later called shina soba, chuka soba, and finally ramen.
Nankinmachi南京町: The old name for Yokohama Chinatown.The name “Chukagai” took over after the first Zenrinmon gate of 1955.

Paifang (pailou)牌楼: A Chinese-style gate. Yokohama Chinatown has ten.The four gates at east, south, west and north each have a color and guardian.

Sanma-men生馬麺: Soy sauce noodles topped with stir-fried vegetables and pork in a thick sauce.Said to come from Yokohama.
Shanghai cuisine上海料理: Eastern cooking with many dishes simmered or steamed in a slightly sweet seasoning. Known for xiaolongbao.
Shumai焼売: Steamed dumplings of minced meat in a thin wrapper, left open at the top.Kiyoken spells it “Shiumai.”
Sichuan cuisine四川料理: Known for the heat of chili and the numbing of Sichuan pepper. Mapo tofu and dandan noodles.

Tsaiching採青: A Lunar New Year custom in which a lion snatches a gift envelope at a shop front and dances for prosperity.Named after the old practice of wrapping the envelope in greens.

Yamcha飲茶: The Cantonese custom of drinking tea while eating dim sum.
Yokohama Shinden横浜新田: Farmland in the Chinatown area before the port opened.Chinatown’s streets are angled because the paths between its fields are said to have become roads.