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> _Kage Bunshin no Jutsu_ (影分身の術) literally translates into _Shadow Clone
> Technique_.

Is the word " _kage_ " used to suggest that this technique was developed by a
[**Ho-kage**](http://naruto.wikia.com/wiki/Tobirama_Senju#Ninjutsu)? Or does
the jutsu have an actual connection to shadow?


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2015-02-03T14:28:13.643
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naruto
What does the term "Kage" in "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu" actually refer to?


The word "Kage" means "shadow".

That's why they call it the "Shadow Clone Technique" in the English dub (or at
least the early ones).

The suffix "kage" in "Hokage" also means "shadow" ("Hokage" = "Fire Shadow", I
believe).


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2015-02-03T22:40:22.190
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2016-12-30T09:49:32.683
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You said the answer yourself in the comments: the "kage" part means the shadow
clones...well, have a shadow. Regular clones lack substance and do not carry
chakra, whereas shadow clones are basically copies of the person. Shadow
clones carry and use their own bit of chakra that they receive from the
original, so there is actual substance to them. The ninja way of summing this
appears to be to say that "illusions do not cast shadows, but objects with
substance do."

Generally it seems as though from a naming standpoint, a prefix to _bunshin_
gives the clones some physical substance, whether is be water (水分身) or paper
(紙分身) or something else. In my personal opinion shadows are merely quasi-
physical in the sense that they are a **lack** of light in the midst of a more
brightly lit surface, so it feels better if _kage bunshin_ and regular
_bunshin_ were switched around. But hey, I guess adding the word "shadow"
makes it sound cooler so it has to be the stronger spell.


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2015-02-07T13:02:30.223
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