"Jiyuu" is widely used as a translation of "free" but it is not an exact equivalent. There are historic and cultural reasons behind this. One cultural aspect that is often overlooked by foreigners is that Japanese is written in kanji, which are semantic characters.
The "ji" means "self." This is easily understood to any student of Japanese past the introductory level. Its character was originally a picture of a human nose. Japanese schoolchildren learn this character in second grade. "Yuu" is abstract and less obvious. Only etymology are aware of the legacy. Long ago, perhaps more than 3000 years ago it meant "gourd" and was expressed with a picture thereof. In ancient China, as in many parts of the world, the gourd was often crafted into an vessel for porting water. This tool made long journeys possible. "Yuu" now means "cause" "reason" or "wherewithal." Japanese schoolchildren first learn this character in third grade. It should be noted that it some compounds must be memorized before one can grasp the abstract notion. Thus "jiyuu" translates literally to something like "being the director of one's self" or "self motivated." This is obvious from the characters employed to any literate Japanese. There are some notable differences between "free" and "jiyuu." "Free" is used in expressions like "cholesterol-free" "free of impurities" "people free from want" while "jiyuu" is not. "Jiyuu" would never appear in a manual page for the free() c library function. A separate Japanese word "kaihou" which means "release" is appropriate in this context. "Jiyuu" is much better than "furii" but it has limitations. Those who wish to promote free software philosophy in Japan, Korea or China should be aware of this. To be continued.
