List of terms in The Twelve Kingdoms

The following are a list of the terms used in the anime The Twelve Kingdoms. There are many terms that are unique to this series.

Places
Gyouten: Capital of Kei Kingdom.

Kankyuu: Capital of En Kingdom.

Chizu Palace: A palace within the Kokai. It holds a map of the Twelve Kingdoms. It indicates the standings of the Kingdoms, darker areas indicate misfortune. Nyosen are only allowed to enter when in the presence of a Kirin. It is off limits to people.

Daigaku: A national university. Highest level of schooling in the Twelve Kingdoms.

Houto Palace: Where the kirin meet people coming to seek the throne. (shouzan)

Hourai: The name for Japan in the Twelve Kingdoms. It is also referred to as Wa. Hourai can be accessed by passing through a shoku.

Jyojku: A village school.

Jyoushou: A city academy.

Kouki: Capital of Tai Kingdom

Kyokai: A large sea that separates Hourai from the Twelve Kingdoms. It is impossible to sail across it. It is also called the Sea of Emptiness.

Mount Hou: A holy land where the kirin are hatched and cared for, and where the new ruler of a Kingdom is crowned.

Reikon Gate: Southwest gate of the Kokai, opened on summer solstice.

Titles and other names
Fumin: expatriates who abandon their home countries. They are not given land or residency anywhere and are not allowed to attend school, marry, or have children.

Kaikyaku: People from the sea. They are people who have been caught in a shoku from Japan and blown to the world of the Twelve Kingdoms.

Nyosen: Sennin that serve the kirin on Mt. Hou.

Sankyaku: People from the mountains. They are people who are swept away from China and end up at the foot of the Kongou Mountains.

Saiho: Another word for 'Taiho'. The rank of a kirin, that of second-in-command next to the king.

Shusei: Shushei are people who do not belong to any particular country and travel around the world. They are usually entertainers.

Shuukou: The ruler of a province.

Taiho: The formal title of a kirin. (note: Actually, their title is 'Saiho', but the people are reverent of them and so use the word 'taiho')

Taika: A person who is blown by a shoku into Hourai when he or she is still inside a ranka. A taika is born to human parents. If a taika returns to the Twelve Kingdoms, he or she will change to the "natural" state that he or she would have hatched as.

Gods
Gyoutei: The god of the harvest.

Koutei: The god who protects people from Youman. Throughout the anime, he is known as 'Kouya' in his younger years, and 'Kenrou Shinkun' in the later years after the last arc.

Seioubo: The goddess who lives in the Gozan.

Sennin: An immortal. When a person becomes a sennin, he or she will not age and will not die from old age or disease. However, if the person loses the sennin status, he or she will age normally. Rulers become sennin when they ascend the throne, and most make their advisors sennin as well. A normal person can become a sennin by petitioning the king or queen of a county or by fasting and praying to Seioubo. A sennin is also granted the power to understand the languages of Hourai and the Twelve Kingdoms. The only ways for a sennin to die without losing his or her status is to be killed by Touki weapons, to be cut in half, or to be beheaded.

Shinsen: The collective noun for gods and sennin.

Tentei: The creator god of the Twelve Kingdoms. People also pray to Tentei when they want a ranka. It is said that Tentei selects the next ruler of each country through the kirin.

Creatures
Genbu: A holy creature, that resembles a turtle and is as big as a small island. It carries a new ruler from Mt. Hou to the kingdom and leaves a trail of clouds called a zuiun.

Hakuchi: A bird that is kept in each kingdom's palace. It cries twice in its lifetime: once when the ruler is crowned, and one when the ruler dies. Its leg is used as the official seal when the kingdom has no ruler. A hakuchi is also called a nisei ("two cries").

Hanjyuu: A half-beast that has both a human and an animal form. Hanjyuu are considered less than humans in some kingdoms.

Hinman: A youma that can possess a human. They possess great fighting skills.

Hou-Ou: A pair of birds in each kingdom. The hou is male and the ou is female. The ou of one country can communicate with the ou of another. The hou cries when the ou receives important news.

Kijyuu: A youjyuu that has been trained to carry people. Kijyuu are capable of flight.

Kirin: The holy creature that is bound to and chooses the ruler of each kingdom. It resembles a white horned deer; black kirin are rare. A kirin also possesses a human form. Kirin abhor the scent of blood, and killing a person near a kirin will greatly weaken it. A kirin will only bow before his or her ruler. Kirin are named after the kingdom that they are bound to, with "ki" and "rin" used for male and female kirin, respectively. (The male kirin of Tai is named Taiki and the female kirin of Hou is named Hourin.)

Nyokai: A Youma that is hatched previous to a kirin to guard the kirin's ranka and protect it when it is young. Nyokai are chimeras and each has a different form.

Shirei: The youma that are bound into service by a kirin. In return for their life-long service, the shirei are given permission to eat the kirin after his or her death.

Toutetsu: A shapeshifting youma. Only one toutetsu has ever been bound to a kirin.

Youma: Evil creatures with supernatural powers. A term generally for "monsters". Plural: youman

Youjyuu: Another type of creature with supernatural powers. It does not submit to Kirins' in the same way Youma do, and cannot be bound into Shirei like Youma.

Other terms
Goyoukanda: The imperial treasure of Ren. It can bridge the world of the Twelve Kingdoms and Wa.

Hekisojou: The crystal attached to the sword Suiguu. It has the power to heal wounds and ease hunger.

Kokki: A black kirin, thought to bring good fortune to its kingdom.

Ranka: The enchanted fruit that all life is hatched from. Ranka grow on trees called ribokus and yabokus.

Riboku: Trees bearing the ranka of humans, hanjyuu and kirin.

Shitsudou: The sickness that a kirin suffers when the ruler of a kingdom fails to govern properly. Shitsudou can only be cured if the ruler reforms or dies.

Shoku: A magical storm that connects the Twelve Kingdoms to the real world. Kirin and rulers are capable of summoning shoku to cross between the worlds.

Shoshinboku: A tree in the Kokai that bear the kirin.

Shouzan: The pilgrimage to Mt Hou to be selected by a kirin to become the new ruler of a kingdom.

Suiguu: The sword of the kingdom of Kei. It contains a demon and can be used to scry. Only the ruler of Kei may wield it.

Yaboku: Trees bearing the ranka of plants and animals, including youma.

Touki: A type of metal. Weapons made of Touki are able to slay youma and sennin.

Uunkyou: Fortified carriages bound together for use in battle.