本物 or 偽者？

本物ほんもの (the real thing) and 偽物にせもの (a fake) are opposites. But there is a third word: 偽者にせもの – an imposter.

I’m sure you noticed the
者もの instead of the
物もの. And you probably know that both are pronounced もの here but 者もの is used with people and 物もの is used with things.

Well, while working on an update for our main iPhone app (an absolutely shameless plug!), I came across this sentence:

私わたしには本物ほんものの若殿様わかとのさまがわかります。
I know which is the real young lord.

The scene is about a smart youngster named Hikoichi being tested by the lord. He must figure out which of five children is the real thing, er… I mean the real person. So I asked Yumi why it shouldn’t be 本者ほんもの (even though I had never seen it written as such). She gave me one of those "why-are-you-so-stupid-and-why-did-I-marry-you" looks until I explained there was a 偽者にせもの so why not a 本者ほんもの?! I guess because it is used as an adjective (notice the の), 物もの is just fine?

Anyway, just doing a quick search, it seems the internet is flooded by Japanese mixing up the 偽者にせもの with 偽物にせもの.

For Example:
ティファニーの本物ほんものと偽者にせものの見分みわけ方かた (found on Google)

So are they having trouble deciding if a girl is a real girl (as opposed to an android) or if an item the girl bought from a Chinese retailer on Ebay is a fake? Or is an item bought from Tiffany’s?

I guess it is just as well there isn’t a 本者ほんもの. And regarding the two にせもの (偽者にせもの and 偽物にせもの)… if you want to play safe, just write it in katakana: ニセモノ

(Edit: Found this post by a native Japanese speaker who took a whole two minutes to figure out what 本者ほんもの was. Seems I wasn’t the only one asking the question!)

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