Onegaishimasu
Onegaishimasu is a formal greeting used in the game of Go before a game starts.
"Onegaishimasu" is the correct polite Japanese phrase to say to one's opponent before starting to play: o negai shimasu
"Please do your best", "Please have a good game", "if you please", or "I pray you..." Literally: "do me this favor"
The English-language version of Hikaru no Go retains the words "Onegaishimasu" and "Yoroshiku Onegaishimasu" in the translation and adaptation.
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1. Etymology
Chestnut: onegai is the honorific form of negai which is a "wish" (verb negau). shimasu is just the formal form of the verb suru which means "to do". So saying onegai shimasu is like saying "do me this favor". It's a common phrase in Japanese, and is what you generally will say to someone when they're going to do something for you or when you're asking them to do something for you. In greetings it's kind of like saying "please favor me with your attention" or something.
Jared: Also, part of a deeper tradition using the same phrase with sensei at the martial-arts dojo?.
empi?: There is a nice explanation at http://www.aikiweb.com/language/onegai.html
Bill: I wonder what the onegai (request) is. "Please don't beat me too badly"? ;-)
Bisqwit: "Please do your best", "Please have a good game", "Please begin" (although it wouldn't make sense to say "please begin" to white)... I think it's just a common polite phrase to say when somebody is to start doing something. In the plain form ("onegai"), it can be used in negative, as "please don't ...", too.
kokiri I always took it for an abbreviation for 'yoroshiku onegaishimasu' as this is what you say when you meet someone for the first time, at new year etc
Bob Myers: Rather than thinking of the "yoroshiku" part as something that's being abbreviated in the shorter form, you can think of it as adding additional emphasis--"please do be so kind as to...".
2. Usage
Sebastian: When exactly do you say this? Before or after nigiri? (I was trying to order the list in Go etiquette chronologically.)
RafaelCaetano: After nigiri.
joh?: What is the proper response?
Bob Myers: Just say onegai shimasu back.
nodog: Is there a Korean or Chinese equivalent to this?