" All we could get out of them was that they were taking us to 'Kurokuma'. We didn't know if that was a place or a person. What does it mean, by the way?'
'I'm told it's a term of great respect,' Horace said, unwilling to admit that he didn't know. "

― John Flanagan , The Emperor of Nihon-Ja (Ranger's Apprentice, #10)