What Does Kagurabachi Mean?

Kagurabachi is one of the hottest manga in serialization right now, but one thing that sets it apart is the mysterious origins of its name. While we might need to wait to know for sure, here are the best translations of what Kagurabachi means.

What Does the Name Kagurabachi Mean?

It hasn’t been officially revealed what the meaning of Kagurabachi is, however, there are several different translations crafted by using the words that make up the title.

“Kagura-Bachi”

Kagura is a Japanese phrase that means a dance to entertain the gods. As anyone who has read the manga will know, there’s no dancing in this series, it’s just violence, but most likely this combat is what the title refers to as the dance for the gods. On the other side, Bachi may have multiple meanings, depending on the translation. 

Bachi is a word for divine punishment or retribution that can be thought of as similar to the concept of karma. Perhaps this part of the word refers to Chihiro’s journey to get revenge against those who killed his father.

As one social media user points out, the kanji translation for the word may actually be read as Hachi, which changes the meaning entirely. Hachi is used to represent a bowl, which might be hinting at a fishbowl. It’s no secret that goldfish are tied to Chihiro’s character, most notably with Enten having three supernatural goldfish tied to it. Perhaps this significance is why Takeru Hokazono chose to call the series Kagurabachi.

Whatever translation or theory you subscribe to, we won’t know for sure what the meaning of this series title is until Hokazono finally shares the truth. Once we do know, expect this article to be updated.

In the meantime, you can enjoy Kagurabachi as the series unfolds weekly via the Viz Media website or the Shonen Jump app.