NIKKA-RI にっかり
Meanings
1. Nikkari Aoe is the name of a famous Japanese sword.
2. In the author’s usage, describes a broad, conspicuous, deeply satisfied grin.
Examples
My son was wearing an enormous satisfied grin in the photo we took at Grandma’s house during summer vacation.
ばあちゃんの家で夏休みに撮った写真に息子はにっかりして写っている。
Dogmatic Opinion
I cannot find the smiling sense of NIKKA-RI in ordinary dictionaries.
Still, the protagonist of the manga Hanada Shōnen-shi, or the signature posing face of comedian and bodybuilder Nakayama Kinnikun, seems to me to go beyond NIKKO-RI and into NIKKA-RI territory.
I imagine the corners of the mouth raised, the mouth open, the teeth clearly visible, and the expression deliberately held long enough to advertise to everyone: “Look, I am smiling.”
With a child, it suggests even stronger satisfaction than NIKKO-RI—something like, “I caught a rhinoceros beetle! YES!!!”
It is not a face I imagine someone making when completely alone.
Proximate Expression
grin
Related Words
For Japanese Learners
Broad grin, big grin, or grin from ear to ear may capture the author’s smiling sense. This use is nonstandard and should be presented as the site author’s expressive interpretation, not as an ordinary dictionary meaning. Nikkari Aoe, meanwhile, is a proper name and unrelated to translating a smile.
