What does 義理 Giri mean?

Giri is what a person owes because of who they are to someone else. Not what they feel, and not what a contract says: what the relationship requires.

The characters

義 (gi) is righteousness, justice, the correct thing. 理 (ri) is reason, principle, the underlying logic of a matter. Together they describe obligation as something with a structure to it, discoverable by working out one's position rather than by consulting one's preferences.

The same 義 appears in words for adoptive and in-law relations, where a bond exists by arrangement rather than by blood. That is the sense exactly: a real tie, created by circumstance.

The classic opposition

Its traditional partner is 人情 (ninjou), human feeling, and the tension between them is the engine of centuries of Japanese drama. A character owes something to a lord, a family or a benefactor, and wants something incompatible with it, and the story is what happens in the gap.

Anyone who has watched a character stay loyal to an organisation that does not deserve it, or honour a promise made to someone now dead, has watched this structure. It is as fundamental to Japanese storytelling as the love triangle is elsewhere, and it is not a love triangle: both sides are legitimate, which is why the resolution costs something.

Where it turns up in ordinary life

Gifts, especially. The term attaches to the chocolate given to colleagues at Valentine's, distinguishing it from the kind given out of genuine attachment, and the fact that the language marks the distinction openly is the point. Nobody is deceived; the category is public.

English handles the same situation by pretending. An obligatory card is presented as a sincere one and everyone silently discounts it, which is a less honest arrangement than naming the two kinds.

Why duty is not a translation

English duty is abstract and moral, owed to principles, countries or roles. This is specific and personal, owed to a named individual because of something that passed between you: a favour, a position, an obligation inherited.

Obligation is closer and sounds cold. What English lacks is a term that keeps the warmth and the compulsion together, which is why the same word can describe a burden and a bond depending entirely on who is using it.