Shiritori (しりとり) is a popular Japanese word chain game where two players trade nouns back and forth using the last kana of one word to begin the next word.
In this iteration, recorded by Brinc. and Kazumichi Komatsu at the Kyoto University of Art and Design back in 2013, wooden clogs begets eggs begets gorilla. Apple begets sesame begets mask. Skull begets nail begets maze, and on it goes, until “Biwa” slips into the English “one” and the delightful linguistic ping-ponging comes to an end.
Try this out in whatever language you may speak next time you need an ice breaker, or a poem on the fly. Or else just watch as the two players cautiously wade through their minds and leap towards words in delight.
More about: brinc., Kazumichi Komatsu
