Sunagakure Specifics and Sayings

This will be a topic where we post and then discuss typical Suna things. Typical characteristics, sayings, habits, fashion, anything.

I will let people discuss, I will participate in those discussions as well. And when we've reached a consensus I will edit this first post so that anyone can access this topic and easily and quickly see the characteristic traits that Suna and it's people have.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Clothing, fashion

Regular clothes are often covering the body and loose to protect against the sun and heat. The clothes are often layered and of lightweight material, often not too dark material, to make sure the heat of the sun is reflected. Head covers are not uncommon (hoods, cloths), nor are scarves to keep the dust from entering your lungs.
They will try to discourage tourists to wear tight clothes, because of the heat. Though the Suna people are more used to the heat, thus allowing the shinobi to wear relatively tight clothes for the sake of stealth. Though it will be warmer than loose fitting clothes.

Formal wear consists of a looser, lighter version of the yukata and kimono.

--- --- --- --- ---

Sayings:

Greetings/Goodbyes

I see you, [name].
A polite greeting.

Cool morning?
A very informal greeting. Not unlike "Sup bro?"

May you always find water and shade.
A polite farewell. A goodbye when you know sure you're not going to see that person for a while.

Clear winds to you.
A farewell you give to someone who is going to travel a significant distance away. (Not someone who's going to stay within the city walls.)

Sleep well and wake.
A polite goodbye.

Sleep to wake.
The equivalent of "Goodnight!"

---

Etiqutte/Polite ways of speaking

My water is yours and the shade of my roof will welcome you.
A polite invitation into your home. It shows you will be a good host and share valuable things with your guests. Water and shade are rare and of great importance in the desert.

Your honour is mine.
When someone answers "It's an honour to meet you." with this, it is a great sign of respect.

May I never know shade if I do/don't.
Added to a promise.

Some time again maybe, someday.
A polite way of saying "Never ever ever. Forget it, bitch."

---

Battle related sayings

Till shade is gone, till water is gone, into the battle with teeth bared, screaming defiance with my last breath, to spit in their eyes on my last day.
A battle oath. In other words, a promise to fight well. Used when you want to make sure your opponent knows absolutely sure that you will fight with everything you've got and until your last breath.

Dance with me. or Let's dance.
A saying used to invite for battle. Fighting is seen as a dance.

If you watch the hyena too hard, a scorpion will sting you on the ankle.
Don't forget to also watch your surroundings and back. Especially useful advice for shinobi. Don't use all your focus on your enemy, you might get attacked from a different angle or by a different opponent.

If your enemy offers you two targets, strike at a third.
Your enemy probably has a back up plan for both options. Don't trust him. Follow your own plan.

Always leave a way out, unless you really want to find out how hard a man can fight when he’s nothing to lose.
When people are standing with their backs against the wall, they sometimes find the strength to do unimaginable things.

One more dance along the razor's edge finishes. Almost dead yesterday, maybe dead tomorrow, but alive, gloriously alive, today.
A saying, much used among soldiers/warriors.

Killing is as easy as dying, any fool can do both.

Death comes for us all, we can only choose how to face it when it comes.

---

General sayings

Water and shade will/must be found for you.
And insult. It states that the person is not capable of finding water and shade himself. When using 'must' it is more of a "I can't believe you would be capable of fending for yourself".

Turning a spear on someone.
Giving someone a taste of their own medicine.

Grounding the spears.
Making peace with one another. The equivalent of "burying the hatchet".

When Suna(gakure) freezes over.
When hell freezes over. Not gonna happen.

His tongue tosses bright colour in the wind.
Said about someone who boasts about himself a lot.

You're the shade of my heart.
I love you. The shade of your heart is the love of your life.

Do little things now, so shall big things come to you.
One shouldn't underestimate the small things/actions/people, as those small things together form the large and important whole.

He who strains to hear a whisper who refuses to hear a shout.
When you are too focused on something, you might miss the obvious. (Example: looking for footsteps on the forest floor and thus missing the obviously broken branches in the trees.)

When you have a hyena by the ears, it's as hard to let go as it is to hang on. a variation could be Having a hyena by the ears.
Having to make the choice between two difficult options. "Stuck between a rock and a hard place."

What cannot be changed, must be endured.
Says a lot about the mindset of Suna people. They are a people that endure. If you can't change something (like the heat or the drought) you'd better suck it up and continue anyway.

Whether the snake beats the scorpion or the scorpion beats the snake, the jackrabbit always loses.
It doesn't matter which one of the two will win, a third person will lose anyway.

Better ten days of loving than years of regret.

Duty is heavy as a mountain, death is light as a feather.

In a cruel land, you either learn to laugh at cruelty or spend your life weeping.
A little bit more about the mindset in Suna and why they are such a tough people. Their climate is tough.

Doubt is key to knowledge.
Those who question things will know whether it's true or false, rather than take assumptions and take the chance of that assumption being wrong.

Examine what is said, not the speaker.
You should listen to what is said, and it shouldn't matter who says it.

Four things come not back. The spoken word, the thrown kunai, the past life, and the neglected opportunity.
Pretty self explanatory.

May your left ear wither and fall in your right pocket.
Said to eavesdroppers. You hope he gets what he deserves by his ear falling off. It's symbolical for his "bad ear" having heard those things and ending up in his "right pocket" (his own gain). The left side is considered the "bad" side, and the right side the "good" side.

He who sacrifices his conscience to ambition burns a picture to obtain the ashes.
If you sacrifice everything to obtain your goal, you may find out that you have nothing more to obtain from that goal. (Example: Sasori gave up everything to become the greatest puppet master, but he lost everything in the process as well: his family, friend, and own body.)

When you go to buy, use your eyes, not your ears.
When you give something value or judge it, use your own experience rather than what has been said about it by others.

Dance with a woman and she'll forgive you much. Dance well with a woman and she'll forgive you everything.
Remember that this can be used with a double meaning. Dancing can mean fighting as well.

It's better to be the hammer than the nail.

Swing the hammer in haste, and you usually hit your own thumb.
Be calm and composed. Don't rush things.

---

Poetry/Literature

We rode on the winds of the rising storm
We ran to the sounds of the thunder
We danced among the lightning bolts
And tore the world asunder.
A poem about the war and Suna's role in it. Quite known in Suna, at least for those who like poetry.

Greeting:
I see you, ... (insert name)

Polite Goodbye:
May you always find Water and Shade
Sleep well and wake

Respectful invite/request:
My water is yours and the shade of my roof will welcome you

May you always have water and shade, roofmistress. I ask leave to defend your roof

Insult:
Water and Shade will be found for you (signifies (s)he cannot do so themselves)

Promise:
May I never know shade if I do (/don't)

Battle oath:
Til shade is gone, til water is gone, into the battle with teeth bared, screaming defiance with my last breath, to spit in their eyes on my Last Day.

Battle saying:
Dance with me. (dancing = fighting)

This is fun!

I've got some as well, a couple are identical to Meran's  

May you always find water and shade.
I see this more as a farewell instead of simply a polite goodbye, because the saying suggests you'll never see the other person again.

Sleep to wake.
I consider this the desert equivalent to 'see ya!' Something you'd say at the end of the day, fully expecting to see the other again tomorrow.

My water is yours.
A gesture of friendship. It suggests you're willing to share valuable things with the other person. Water in the desert is, after all, of great importance.

Turning a spear on someone.
Giving someone a taste of their own medicine.

Grounding the spears.
End of battle/fight/argument, making peace with one another.

Your honor is mine.
If someone says 'it is an honor to meet you' and you reply with this, it is a sign of great respect.

Some time again maybe, someday.
If this is a response to you asking when you'll meet again, try reading between the lines! This is a polite way to say NEVER, BITCH.  

Your tongue tosses bright color on the wind.
This means: Stop boasting, pal. Just stop.

They hear only the wind.
Someone isn't listening.

You're the shade of my heart.
 I love you. And if someone is the shade of your heart, that someone is the love of your life.

And of course I love Meran's last one! Akira has already used it in battle.
Let's dance!
An invitation to battle.

Ohw I like these, I like these a lot.
I imagine Suna as a sort of Nomadic/Deser/Middle-Eastern flared people and these all seem to fit such description. Nice work you guys. Cultural build-ups and differences make it that much more epic.

Perhaps add a few proverbs as well rather than just saying that imply something culturally.

Hmmm....like these for example. (not saying they are good,I leave the judgment there to you guys.)

‘Do little things now; so shall big things come to you.’
( An old Persian saying, reffering to the fact one shouldn't underestimate the small things and actions, as well as the weaker or less influential people, as those small things together eventually form the large and important whole. )

‘Doubt is the key to knowledge.’
(Also Persian, stands for the fact that those who question the legitimacy of information will always know it to be really true or really false rather than take assumptions and take the chance of being wrong in their assumption.)

‘Examine what is said, not the speaker.’
(Self Explanatory)

‘Four things come not back. The spoken word, the shot arrow, the past life, and the neglected opportunity.’
(Also self explanatory)

"May your left ear wither and fall into your right pocket."
(Said to those who eavesdrop a lot where they shouldn't and use this information for personal gain then, left ear, left is often considered the 'ill' side and right the 'beneficial side' so the saying basically says that the one saying it hopes that the target of his words gets what he deserves by having his left ear that heard those things wither and fall into their right pocked, symbolical for the personal gain they had gotten from this information.)

He who sacrifices his conscience to ambition burns a picture to obtain the ashes.
(I hope self explanatory.)

When you go to buy, use your eyes not your ears.
(When you give something value, or when you judge it, use your own experience of it and that which you have perceived of it rather than what is said about it by others,itself or even yourself.)

proverbs:

• Killing is as easy as dying, any fool can do both.
  
• Death comes for us all, we can only choose how to face it when it comes.
  
• Dance with a woman and she'll forgive you much, Dance well with a woman and she'll forgive you everything
  (Look to the earlier forms of dancing to get the double meaning, both types work)
  
• It's better to be the hammer than the nail.
  
• Swing a hammer in haste, and you usually hit your own thumb.
  
• He who strains to hear a whisper who refuses to hear a shout
  
• Men are only good for three things, though very good for those. (one of those things is dancing.)
  
• A man is an oak, a woman a willow.
  
• Women are born to please the eye and trouble the mind.
  
• What cannot be changed must be endured.
  
• When you have a Hyena by the ears, it's as hard to let go as it is to hang on.
  
• Whether the snake beats the scorpion or the scorpion beats the snake, the jackrabbit always loses.
  
• If you watch the hyena too hard, a scorpion will sting you on the ankle.
  
• Better ten days of love than years of regretting.
  
• Any fool knows men and women think differently at times, but the biggest difference is this. Men forget, but never forgive; women forgive, but never forget.
  
• Duty is heavy as a mountain, death is light as a feather.
  
• The men in my family are strong because the women in my family kill and eat the weak ones.
  
• Often you don't know whether a woman is friend, enemy or lover until it is too late. Sometimes, she is all three.
  
• We rode on the winds of the rising storm,
  We ran to the sounds of the thunder.
  We danced among the lightning bolts,
  and tore the world asunder.
  
• One more dance along the razor's edge finished. Almost dead yesterday, maybe dead tomorrow, but alive, gloriously alive, today.
  
• In a cruel land, you either learned to laugh at cruelty or spent your life weeping.
  
• If your enemy offers you two targets, strike at a third.
  
• Always leave a way out, unless you really want to find out how hard a man can fight when he’s nothing to lose.

Women are born to please the eye and trouble the mind <-- Surprisingly relevant to Amaya. In a most literal sense XP

Sweet. We've already got a nice couple of ones! I'm going to go ahead and assume that if no one objects that everyone agrees with these things. I believe that the way Admin and, at least, I see Suna it quite the same.

Also, I hope everyone has read the part on Suna. If not: tisk tisk, and go read is naow!

I like what we have so far, but I would like to discuss a couple of them a bit more. (The rest I will add to the first post. With an explanation.)

I see you. Though I really like the thought behind it and it could be a formal greeting, required of etiquette, it might remind a bit too much of Avatar.

He who sacrifices his conscience to ambition burns a picture to obtain the ashes. I.. think I understand this, but would you mind maybe explaining it some more, Admin?

Men are only good for three things, though very good for those. (one of those things is dancing.) What are the other two?

And lastly, these two Women are born to please the eye and trouble the mind. and The men in my family are strong because the women in my family kill and eat the weak ones. Which brings me to a point I'd like to discuss. What role in society do women have? Is there equality? Are women oppressed? To they perhaps have more power than men?

The way I see it is that there is much equality, because both men and women are seen as soldiers of equal value. I have no idea how it is politically... but the next in line to become Kazekage is a woman, and the next in line as leader of the Chikamatsu clan is a woman as well. So I don't think that they discriminate there. Neither negatively nor positively. So, I think (and hope) that women and men are viewed of equal value in pretty much all things. And that they raise children together.
This all could be because of the harsh climate, which forces everyone to carry their own load, pull their own weight and become strong. Men and women (and up to a certain extent children as well) alike.

If no one has anything against the other ones I'll add those. Remember that I'm not only looking for sayings. I want fashion (clothes and hair), mindset, traditions nd other things as well. ^^

He who sacrifices his conscience to ambition burns a picture to obtain the ashes

Pretty much all of the Akatsuki members fall under this proverb.
Sasori in his ambition to obtain more perfect long lasting body has sacrificed so much to that end not just of himself but of others, he became the greatest puppet master ever to walk the planet, but he was nothing more than a puppet himself in the end, no friends, no family , no-one to truely care for or protect, he had lost any reason to be a great puppet master which he now was. All he could do, all that was left for him is to close his eyes in denial to this and pretend he still had reasons, and thus he joins the gloomy Akatsuki, who's leader was also no more than a shadow of his former self. He had obtained it all, just to lose the reason behind wanting it.

In other words this proverb warns us that when we are chasing our goals we should be watchful not to chase them beyond the point where obtaining them would have become meaningless due to the means in which they were obtained.
Like what good would it do you to have obtained ALL the money in the world if you had to kill all other humans to do so? Who are you gonna use that money on? Who are you gonna trade with? Wasn't sharing, buying and trading with other humans the primary reason for obtaining that money? Then what good does it do you to let go of all morals, to lose yourself in the process, if doing so defeats the purpose itself.

At least that's how I see it.

Ooh, that's a nice one. I like it!

Also, another topic for discussion which I think fits in here: how did Suna fare under the war? Did it even have war? Does it still? (I don't even precisely know how the war affects Konoha... But, there is a war, right?)

That's a nice explanation, I like it as well.

Also, I love the way you described Sasori. It's how I view it as well. I also see it as the reason why he didn't dodge the last attack on his life even though he saw it coming, essentially committing suicide. Well, in the manga. I understand he's alive on this forum, right? Right?  (me gusta)

Clear winds to you.
(A traveller's farewell)

Cool morning?
(a greeting in the form of a question, by asking if the morning was cool, or pleasant.)

In the middle-east, clothing is long and loose to keep the heat of the sun and desert away from your body, like a shield. Given that there's still a distinct oriental influence, a combination of more formal japanese wear like the yukata and kimono would be lengthened and loosened up to function as everyday clothing. Tighter clothes, or clothes with multiple layers would be shied away from because of the increased temperature of those styles of clothing.

Yes, Sasorı ıs stıll alıve on here ındeed but hıs wearabouts are unknown, same for Deıdara...and no Hına, there ıs currently no war, but there had very recently been one. Lucky for Suna none of the fıghtıng got far past the borders of the wınd country, makıng suna thereby the only one of the 5 great hıdden vıllages that dıdn't get attacked durıng the last war. You can read the maın proceedıngs of the war ın the tımelıne, I belıeve you can fınd ıt ın the 5 Natıons Lıbrary, but ın short Suna and Konoha collaborated agaınst the other 3 and were havıng a hard tıme at fırst untıl Kumo changed leaders and swıtched sıdes, becomıng the war's maın decısıve factor.

Is everyone okay with me changing the "the shot arrow"-part into "the thrown kunai"? To make it more shinobiesque?

From: "Four things come not back. The spoken word, the shot arrow, the past life, and the neglected opportunity."



Also, I suggest that no selfrespecting Suna shinobi wears sandals. Have you ever tried walking on blazing hot sand during summer?! I have. This summer. It hurts like a bitch!

I say, all shinobi are required to wear closed shoes. Standard shinobi gear.

I agree about the sandals. You don't wear sandals in scorching sand. You just don't. I remember last year when I was in Spain that I full out sprinted across the sand, threw down a blanket and found refuge on it when I went to the beach. Then the parasol. Shade was my friend. Hot sand not so much.

Open toes are appear to be normal though, even in Suna. Temari, Kankuro and Gaara are seen to have bare toes, both pre- and post-shippuden.

I'd like to discuss the subject of tengu. For some reason I got into my head that the tengu are treated differently in Konoha and Suna. Maybe (one of) the admin can elucidate here?