SHIPPO-RI しっぽり
Meanings
1. Describes a man and woman spending quiet, intimate, affectionate time together.
2. Originally, describes rain falling gently or something becoming thoroughly damp or wet.
Examples
1. Apparently the department head spent last weekend quietly enjoying an intimate stay at a hot-spring inn with his mistress.
先週末、部長は愛人と温泉旅館でしっぽり過ごしたらしい。
Dogmatic Opinion
Sense 2—the rain and wetness sense—is the older one. Like SHITTO-RI, SHIPPO-RI has a moist, “wet” sound to it, though that meaning is probably not heard very often today.
People say things such as SHIPPO-RI SURU or SHIPPO-RI SHITAI, but the nuance is surprisingly difficult to explain even in Japanese.
Since this is my Dogmatic Opinion, I will be specific: I imagine going to a traditional Japanese hot-spring inn with a lover who is not your spouse, drinking sake, and spending the night together.
Simply having a meal together is not enough. Sex is not necessarily required, but the atmosphere is certainly close to it.
Could two people sipping wine together at the Ritz-Carlton be SHIPPO-RI? Part of me thinks yes, and part of me thinks no. My strongest image remains hot springs, sake, tatami, and futons.
Proximate Expression
soaked
wet
sensual
Related Words
For Japanese Learners
Intimately, quietly together, or spend an intimate evening together may convey the modern relationship sense. The older wetness sense may require gently raining, damp, or thoroughly wet depending on context. SHIPPO-RI is culturally and atmospherically loaded, so a short explanation is often better than a one-word translation.
