kokutai
/ˌkoʊkuˈtaɪ/noun
kokutai is a noun meaning “The national essence and character of Japan viewed as conforming to Shinto-Confucian ideals, with the emperor as its ethical, spiritual, cultural and…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled K-O-K-U-T-A-I, and it appears about once in every 91 million words in written English (wordfreq, 2021 data).
What does kokutai mean?
noun
- 1
The national essence and character of Japan viewed as conforming to Shinto-Confucian ideals, with the emperor as its ethical, spiritual, cultural and political center.
In response to the international communist movement, the Peace Preservation Law was enacted to criminalize attempts to change the Japanese kokutai.
- 2
The ideology centered on the principle of kokutai.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you pronounce kokutai?
- UK /ˌkəʊkuːˈtaɪ/
- US /ˌkoʊkuˈtaɪ/
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How common is kokutai?
Kokutai appears about once in every 91 million words in written English, the 305,310th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Kokutai in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense national character of Japan viewed as centered on the emperor:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | kokutai |
| German | Kokutai |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does kokutai come from?
Borrowed from Japanese 国体(こくたい) (kokutai, literally “national character”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).