Japanese symbol for “otherworldly”
仏臭い
ほとけくさい
Romaji: hotokekusai
otherworldly; sanctimonious
In Japanese, otherworldly is 仏臭い, read ほとけくさい (hotokekusai).
Before using these characters for a tattoo, check them with a native speaker. Dictionary words often have several meanings, and the right choice depends on context.
Meanings
- adj-i otherworldly; sanctimonious
Kanji and stroke order
Other Japanese words for “otherworldly”
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| この世のものとも思えない | このよのものともおもえない konoyonomonotomoomoenai | unearthly; otherworldly; out of this world |
| この世のものとも思えぬ | このよのものともおもえぬ konoyonomonotomoomoenu | unearthly; otherworldly; out of this world |
Related words
Words that share a kanji.
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 仏教 | ぶっきょう bukkyou | Buddhism |
| 仏像 | ぶつぞう butsuzou | statue of Buddha; image of Buddha; Buddhist statue |
| 大仏 | だいぶつ daibutsu | large statue of Buddha (trad. at least 4.8m high) |
| 念仏 | ねんぶつ nenbutsu | nembutsu; nianfo; the three-word invocation "Namu Amida Butsu" dedicated to the Amitabha Buddha |
| 仏壇 | ぶつだん butsudan | Buddhist (household) altar |
| 石仏 | せきぶつ sekibutsu | stone Buddhist image |
| 臭い | くさい kusai | stinking; smelly |
| 悪臭 | あくしゅう akushuu | bad smell; foul smell; offensive odor |
See also: Chinese symbol for “otherworldly”.
Data: JMdict (CC BY-SA 4.0); KANJIDIC2 (CC BY-SA 4.0); KanjiVG (CC BY-SA 3.0); wordfreq (CC BY-SA 4.0 (data)). Retrieved 2026-10-22.