The other day, a girl in one of my classes exclaimed: “Sahshii!”, which caused another girl to make a quizzical look and ask, “What on earth does that mean?” With half of the class coming from outside Fukuoka Prefecture, this sort of thing happens from time to time: one of the girls will speak in the dialect she has grown up only to be greeted with either blank stares or derisive laughter.
“Sahshii!” means urusai (煩い, 五月蝿い, literally “May flies”), which is standard Japanese for “noisy”, “troublesome”, or “persistent”. Another common word is yakamashii (喧しい) can also mean “noisy”, as well as “up in arms” and “raising a clamor” or “strict” and “finicky, picky”. Lucky for my students, I am neither urusai or yakamashii. I wish I could say the same about them.
A note about the following: while some prefectures may use the same word or phrase, the way they say it will vary greatly due to the altered intonation.
Hokkaidô
1. Hokkaidô
やがましい!
Yagamashii!
Tôhoku
2. Aomori
さしね!
Sashine!
3. Iwate
やがまし！
Yagamashi!
4. Miyage
すんずねぇ!
Sunzuneh!
5. Akita
やがまし！
Yagamashi!
6. Yamagata
うるせえ！
Uruseh!
7. Fukushima
うっしゃし！
Usshashi!
Kantô
8. Ibaraki
うっせえ！
Usseh!
9. Tochigi
うるせー！
Uruseeh!
10. Gunma
うるせー！
Uruseeh!
11. Saitama
うるせー！
Uruseeh!
12. Chiba
うるせ！
Uruseh!
13. Tôkyô
うるさい！
Urusai!
14. Kanagawa
そーぞーしー！
Sôzôshî!
Chûbu
15. Niigata
うるせぁー！
Uruseah!
16. Toyama
やかましー！
Yakamasii!
17. Ishikawa
やかましー！
Yakamashii!
18. Fukui
やかましー！
Yakamashii!
19. Yamanashi
やたかしー！
Yatakashii!
20. Nagano
うるせー！
Uruseeh!
21. Gifu
やかましー！
Yakamashii!
22. Shizuoka
うるせー！
Uruseeh!
23. Aichi
やかましー！
Yakamashii!
Kansai
24. Mie
やかましー！
Yakamashii!
25. Shiga
うるさい！
Urusai!
26. Kyôto
うるさい！
Urusai!
27. Ôsaka
じゃかましー！
Jakamashii!
28. Hyôgo
やかましー！
Yakamashii!
29. Nara
やかましー！
Yakamashii!
30. Wakayama
うるさい！
Urusai!
Chûgoku
31. Tottori
やかましー！
Yakamashii!
32. Shimane
やかまし！
Yakamashi!
33. Okayama
やかましー！
Yakamashii!
34. Hiroshima
うるさい！
Urusai!
35. Yamaguchi
しろしー！
Shiroshii!
Shikoku
36. Tokushima
やかましー！
Yakamashii!
37. Kagawa
やかまし！
Yakamashi!
38. Ehime
やかましー！
Yakamashii!
39. Kôchi
うるさい！
Urusai!
Kyûshû
40. Fukuoka
しぇからしか！
Shekarashika!
しゃーしー！
Shahshii!
しからしい！
Shikarashii!
しゃーしいちゃ！ (筑豊)
Shahshiicha! (in the Chikuhô region)
41. Saga
しぇからしか！
Shekarashika!
やぐらしい！
Yagurashii!
42. Nagasaki
せからしか！
Sekarashika!
やぐらしか！
Yagurashika!
やかまっさよ！ (五島)
Yakamassayo! (Gotô Islands)
43. Kumamoto
せからしか！
Sekarashika!
44. Ôita
せせかましー！
Sesekamashii!
うるせーっちゃ！
Uruseehcha!
45. Miyazaki
せからしい！
Sekarashii!
せわし！
Sewashi!
46. Kagoshima
やぞろし！
Yazoroshi!
やぜろしい！
Yazeroshii!
Okinawa
47. Okinawa
かしまさん！
Kashimasan!