【Purpose】 This study aims to clarify and compare the usage of the term “triage” in academic research in Japan to facilitate interdisciplinary discussion. 【Method】 We undertook a scoping review of academic literature on medicine, sociology, law, and ethics in Japanese, including “triage” and covering publications from 1990 to 2023. 【Results】 In total, 438 documents were reviewed. We found that triage is used in multiple ways while sharing the core element of ‘prioritizing someone or something’ and can be discussed from at least seven perspectives. In the medical field, there was a tendency to discuss triage after clearly defining the situations where it is carried out, but there was a marked difference between disaster medicine and emergency medicine in whether or not the black or deceased/expectant category was considered. In the non-medical fields, various aspects of triage were discussed across different articles, even within the same discipline. This caused multiple interpretations of triage to coexist. 【Conclusion】 It is necessary to specify definitions and contexts of triage to facilitate discussion among different academic backgrounds.