Ukiyo-e Prints浮世絵版画Port Townsend, Washington |
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INDEX/GLOSSARY
Ya thru Z |
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The white lilies are being used
to mark addition The negative image of the iris posted at commons.wikimedia.org by D. L. Lindwall was used in March and April, 2010 to mark additions. |
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TERMS FOUND ON THIS PAGE:
Yamauba, Yamauba mono, Yamazakura, Yanagi no mayu,
Yang Gui-fei, Yari,
Yashima Gakutei, Yasuo Kume,
Yōkai Attack: The Japanese Monster Survival Guide, Yomogi-soba,Yōshi, Yoshisato, Yoshitsune, Yoshiwara, Yoshiwara: The Glittering World of the Japanese Courtesan, Yotsude-ami, Yotsume, Yüan (dynasty), Yuiwata, Yukata, Yuki, Yuki-Daruma, Yukimi dōrō, Yukiwa, Yumiya, Yūrei, Zakuro, Zangiri-mono, Zarusoba, Zori, Zuishin and Zukushi
柳の眉, 楊貴妃, 槍, 八島岳亭,
養子, 芳里, 源義経, 吉原, 四つ手網, 四つ目, 元(朝), 浴衣, 雪, 雪達磨, 雪見灯籠, 雪輪, 幽霊, 弓矢, 石榴, 残切物, 笊蕎麦, 蔵版, 草履, 随身 and 尽くし
やまうば, やまうばもの,
ぞうはん, ぞうり, ずいしん and ずくし
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One more note about this page and all of the others on this site: If two or more sources are cited they may be completely contradictory. I have made no attempt to referee these differences, but have simply repeated them for your edification or use. Quote anything you find here at your own risk and with a whole lot of salt. |
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TERM/NAME |
KANJI/KANA |
DESCRIPTION/ DEFINITION/ CATEGORY Click on the yellow numbers to go to linked pages. |
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Yakusha hyōbanki |
役者評判記 やくしゃ.ひょうばんき |
Annual actor critiques in printed form which appeared until c. 1890. |
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Originally courtesans were rated on an annual basis and it was not a great leap to start doing so for actors too. The first such publications paid emphasis on the homoerotic allures of young male actors, but eventually covered the full range of actors. Samuel L. Leiter notes: "The contents of such books were likely to include descriptions of he actors' appearance, disposition, dancing ability, vocal quality, partying tastes, sexual proclivities, and so on, including examples of the actors' poetry and pictures of them and their mon [or crest].
This description sounds sneakily like the classified ads placed in the mostly 'adults only' alternative publications and on-line solicitations.
Leiter added: "In the early days the actors' looks and sex appeal were given more importance than their talents." I might add, that little has changed today. Many contemporary actors have better bodies and looks than skills and depth. But everyone knows that. (Quotes from: New Kabuki Encyclopedia: A Revised Adaptation of kabuki jiten, 1997, p. 696)
Regis Allegre at Kabuki21 gives the last date for such books as 1890 while Leiter gives their terminus ante quem as 1877. |
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Yamaboko |
山鉾
やまぼこ
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A festival float. Also, referred to as hikiyama (曳山 or ひきやま) or festival floats. Members of a neighborhood association "who are in good physical condition are assigned by a steering committee made up of representatives of the older wealthier families in the community to build festival wagons (hikiyama). To be considered 'alive' or funciotning, a wagon requires two leaders, two traffic negotiators, abundant decorations, and a continuous source of music. The hikiyama often carries structures upon which a yorishiro, or place suitable for a deity to alight is built. This usually takes the form of a mountain (yama) sculpted of papier-mâché. It is deemed an appropriate 'god-seat' since mountains, particularly impressive mountains, have been considered holy since earliest times. It is thought that in Japan 'sacred mountains' were originally designated as such because of their significance as sources of water for the surrounding farmland."
Quote from: :Matsuri: Japanese Festival Arts, by Gloria Granz Gonick, UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History, 2002, p. 45.
Right after I posted this entry I wrote to one of our great contributors to see if he had any print images of yamaboko. He didn't, but he did have these photos. Brilliant!, aren't they? The top one shows a detail of the float itself. Brilliant!
Properly speaking hikiyama (曳山) means 'mountain pulling' because they are moved by men using large, thick ropes. In the Kantō region these floats are called dashi (山車 or だし) which literally would mean 'mountain vehicle'. Ostensibly dashi are meant to be of a size intended to draw the attention of the kami. (See our entry on kami on our Kakuremino thru Ken'yakurei index/glossary page.) Dashi is supposedly derived from dasu (出 or だす) which means 'to stick out' among other things. |
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Yamabuki |
山吹
やまぶき
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Yamabuki or Japanese Rose is also known under the botanical name Kerria japonica.
In the catalogue to the great Utamaro exhibition at the British Museum Timothy Clark describes a courtesan arranging a flowering kerria branch and notes "This is an oblique reference to the most common pictorial representation of the Ide Jewel River, which was a courtier crossing the river on horseback, with kerria blooming at the water's edge."
Quote from: The Passionate Art of Kitagawa Utamaro, published by the British Museum Press, London, 1995, text volume, p. 117.
The detail of the image with the rider is by Hiroshige shows the poet Fujiwara no Shunzei (1114-1204) crossing the Ide Tama River inspired to write a poem about the yamabuki flowers clustered there.
こまとめてなを水かはんやまぶきの
花のつゆそふ井での玉河 The image below that is a detail from a print by Kunisada - seen above. In the foreground is an actor. Behind him is an aizuri-e landscape with a relatively subtle reference to the crossing of the Ide Tama River. Here, of course, the flowers are printed all in blue, but the connection is clear. I want to thank my great friend Mike for sending me this image. 1
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Yamaotoko |
山男 やまおとこ |
Wild men who live in the mountains and seem not unlike yeti or bigfoot if one follows traditional descriptions. Carmen Blacker in her "Supernatural Abductions in Japanese Folklore" (published by Nanzan University, Asian Folklore Studies, Vol. 26, No. 2, 1967, p. 115) gives a full description as to their nefarious intents: "The tall, hairy difficult if not impossible to escape, were yamaotoko or 'mountain men'. These mysterious, semi human denizens of mountains, the belief in whom some Japanese folklorists think may have originated in an ancient and unfamiliar race of mountain people, are described fairly uniformly by woodcutters of various districts. They are very tall, with glittering eyes and long hair straggling down to their shoulders. Sometimes they are covered with leaves or tree bark instead of fur. These creatures, it will be noted, never take the child on entertaining journeys to strange lands and mountains. They carry it straight back to their lair in the mountains, there keeping it in strict durance as a servant or catamite. [Now there's a euphemism for you.] Women, it will also be noted, are kidnapped only by yamaotoko and for the sole purpose of becoming the wives of the creatures. They are never taken on the magic journey." (See also our entry on kamikakushi or spirit abductions.) |
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Yamauba |
山姥
やまうば
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"Yamauba
was originally a female flesh-eating ogre who lived deep in the mountains,
but in the Edo period she was transformed into the mother or wet-nurse of
the strong boy Kintarō (Kidō-maru), who grew up to be the warrior hero
Sakata Kintoki, one of the four great retainers of Minamoto no Yorimitsu." Quote from: Demon of Painting: The Art of Kawanabe Kyōsai, by Timothy Clark, British Museum Press, 1993, p. 105. The top example to the left is a detail from a print by Kuniyoshi showing Yamauba in them more romantic mode of the Edo period. The one in the center is from a book illustration where she is shown as a truly frightening had. The Utamaro at the bottom portrays her as the doting mother.
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Yamauba mono |
山姥物 やまうばもの |
"Mountain hag
play": "'Yamauba pieces' is the name given to the lineage of Kabuki dances
deriving from the concluding scene of Chikimatsu Monzaemon's puppet play
Komachi Yomamba." This genre became a motif in print form for the
expression of love of a mother for a child. Quote from: The Passionate Art of Kitagawa Utamaro, published by the British Museum Press, London, 1995, text volume, p. 224. Chikimatsu's Yamauba "...appears as a wild old woman with long hair and ragged clothes who dances opposite the infant Kintarō." Quote from: Quote from: Demon of Painting: The Art of Kawanabe Kyōsai, by Timothy Clark, British Museum Press, 1993, p. 105. |
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Yamazakura |
山桜
やまざくら |
One of several woods used to print woodblocks, but this was the most common and popular one of the ukiyo period. Referred to as the wild mountain cherry tree or Prunus serrulata in the West. 1
On a mountain slope,
The image shown above is courtesy of Shu Suehiro at http://www.botanic.jp/index.htm. He identifies this tree using the synonymous term Prunus jamasakura. |
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A fleeting glimpse as of mountain cherries through the thick veil of spring mists I scarcely saw the one who captured my heart
The mountain cherries - how my longing for them is enhanced by the haze!
Quoted from: Song in an Age of Discord: The Journal of Socho and Poetic Life in Late Medieval Japan by H. Mack Horton, p. 37.
Is it blossoming because of lonliness? the mountain cherry
Oh how pitiful it is That mountain cherry trees Whether they be young or old, Whether they blossom early or late, Must in the end shed their flowers.
"...the Taira warriors [i.e., the Heike] are being compared with the cherry blossoms. Elegant and refined they may be, but in the end they too are destined to fall." (Source and quotes from: The Russo-Japanese War in Cultural Perspective, 1904-05, edited by David Wells and Sandra Wilson, p. 54)
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Yanagi |
柳
やなぎ
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Willow tree: In an article entitled "Chinese Flower Symbolism" by Alfred Koehn in the Monumenta Nipponica, Vol. 8, No. 1/2, 1952, p. 131 it states: "As a symbol of Spring and Meekness, the Willow has inspired poets and painters; they are fond of using it as an emblem of Femininity. Popular belief holds that the Willow exercises power over evil spirits. Tombs are swept with it, and its branches are fixed to the gates of houses as an omen of Good Luck."
Merrily Baird (Symbols of Japan, p. 66) adds that the Chinese also believed that it could prevent blindness and purify. Baird notes that in Japan that yanagi "...is commonly represented with water, snow, swallows, or herons. A branch of willow (yoshi) is one of the attributes of Buddhist deity Senju Kannon [観音 or かんのん] (Thousand-Armed Kannon), who is said to use the branch to sprinkle the nectar of life contained in a vase."
The top two photos were graciously supplied by Shu Suehiro at http://www.botanic.jp/index.htm. The bluish print detail is from a work by Kasamatsu Shirō (1898-1991: 笠松紫浪 or かさまつ.しろう). The title is given as "Evening Rain at Shinobazu Pond" (夜雨不忍池 or やうしのばずのいけ) from 1932.
Koehn in his Japanese Flower-Symbolism from 1939 noted that the display of a willow branch which has been twisted to form a circle somewhere along the branch at a farewell gathering was meant to convey "...wishes for a safe return."
In China the custom was different, but its similarities seem clear. "Willow branches were commonly snapped when parting form a firend, 'willow' (liu) being homophonous with 'stay' (liu). Since officers in Chang-an were constantly being sent off in military service or to civil posts in the provinces, the willows by the royal moat tended to have more snapped branches than most."
Quote from: An Anthology of Chinese Literature: Beginnings to 1911, edited and translated by Stephen Owen, W. W. Norton & Company, 1996, footnote, p. 394. |
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Mock Joya adds much to our knowledge of willow lore. A 'willow waste' described a graceful, slender woman.
On New Year's Day "...the Emperor would exclaim: 'Under the yuzu [柚 or ゆず] (citron) tree? to which the Empress replied 'Medetashi' (happy)." Since the yuzu was a royal prerogative commoners substituted the yanagi for this ritual. "It is probably that from this ancient custom of using this happy expression on New Year's day, chopsticks made of willow wood are still used during New Year celebrations even today." These chopsticks are used exclusively and burned afterwards."
Source: Mock Joya's Things Japanese, p. 378-9.
Years ago I was told or I read that the weeping willow was a symbol of prostitution in ancient China. I have been unable to confirm this and have had experts I respect disagree with me. Supposedly brothels - both legal and illegal - prospered along waterways where this type of tree was commonly seen. In 1589 one of Hideyoshi's retainers opened the first licensed district in Kyōto. At the entrance to this district were two huge willow trees. It was called Yanagi-no-baba, but came to be called Yanagimachi (柳町 or やなぎまち) or "Willow Street". There was another Yanagimachi in Edo, J. E. de Becker this one "...did not derive its title from the one in the Western city."
Source and quote from: Yoshiwara: The Nightless City, by J. E. de Becker, Frederick Publications, 1960, p. 2.
The references below all come from an article entitled "Kung Hsien's Self-Portrait in Willows, with Notes on the Willow in Chinese Painting and Literature" by Jerome Silbergeld published in Artibus Asiae in 1980 (Vol. 42, No. 1, pp. 5-38).
As early as the Han dynasty (206 B.C. to 220 A.D.) in China the willow was used "...as a metaphor for feminine beauty, romantic and often erotic."
By the T'ang dynasty (618 to 970) the elegant willow was being compared to a woman's slender waist. Later Po Chü-i wrote about Ming-huang's yearning for Yang Kuei-fei. Here a woman's eyebrows are likened to the willow. (See our entry for yanagi no mayu below. Clearly the Japanese borrowed this Chinese model.)
Home again, the pools and gardens were all just as before- The hibiscus of the T'ai-i Pool, the Wei-yang Palace willows. But the hibiscus were like her face, the willows like her eyebrows, And facing them, what could he do but cry.
Even the drooping branches came to be compared with the delicate gossamer clothing of a beauty. In the anthology "Three Hundred T'ang Poems" the willow is mentioned more than any other plant. In the capital cities of Lo-yang and Ch'ang-an famous courtesans and great beauties adopted surnames meaning Willow or if not that nicknames using the same references. "The nation's finest gay quarters were in Ch'ang-an, and one of them must have been a willow-lined district known as the Chang-t'ai or Chang Terrace. The phrase "Chang-t'ai Willow," used in reference to these courtesans..." One famous poet wrote about his lover, 'the Willow of Ch'ang Terrace', who fled in turbulent times to a nunnery only to be abducted by an enemy general. The poet wrote of her:
Is the fresh green of former days still there? No, even if the long branches are drooping as before, Someone else's hand must have plucked them now!
"Willow Village, Flower Street" became synonymous with any brothel district anywhere. In Mathew's Chinese English Dictionary (p.589) a willow lane was a reference to brothels. And the expression "sleeping in the flowers, lying among willows" [is] simply translated as "passing the nights in the brothels..."
In footnote 66 Silbergeld notes other attributes ascribed to the willow by the Chinese, but not mentioned in the poetry of Kung Hsien: "...namely their common use as an herb of healing (containing a natural form of aspirin), as a ritual object in Buddhist purifi- cation rites, as a charm for warding off evil spirits, and as an aid in spirit-conjuring..."
One Confucian scholar likened a fondness for willows with dissipation and decline. |
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Yanagi no mayu |
柳の眉 やなぎのまゆ |
Willow eyebrows - a metaphor for a beautiful woman.
Source: Jewels of Japanese Printmaking: Surimono of the Bunka-Bunsei Era 1804-30 by Joan Mirviss and John Carpenter - cat. entry #16, p. 64. |
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Yang Gui-fei |
楊貴妃
ようきひ
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Great beauty (719-56) who was the love object, i.e., main squeeze, heart throb, honey pie, of the T'ang dynasty emperor Xuan Zong. Romantic tales of this tragic love affair blame the collapse his empire on the emperor's neglect of his duties. Similar to the misconception that Rome burned while Nero fiddled here it is Xuan Zong's obsessive infatuation with Yang Gui-fei which leads to disaster.
Prior to modern historiography the general focus of historical events was placed on individuals rather than the larger paradigms such as economics, etc.
"Emperor Xuanzong's concubine Yang Guifei almost brought him down with her, yet, she was redeemed in popular memory because of her tragic end, and was even deified in Japan as an avatar of the Bodhisattva Kannon. According to one tradition, Xuanzong even came to Japan looking for her, and eventually found her at Kumano, a place assimilated to the Daoist 'Island of the Immortals,' Penglai."
Quoted from: The Power of Denial: Buddhism, Purity, and Gender, by Bernard Faure, published by Princeton University Press, 2003, p. 204.
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Murasaki Shikibu, the author of "The Tale of Genji" was born in 978? at a time when it only made sense to look at personalities as the movers and shakers. We know that she was educated and must have been well versed in Chinese literature. At the very beginning of "The Tale of Genji", Kiritsubo (The Paulownia Pavilion), makes this eminently clear. The Japanese emperor falls in love with and dotes on a minor court beauty.
"From this sad spectacle the senior nobles and privy gentlemen [of the Japanese emperor's court] could avert their eyes. Such things had led to disorder and ruin even in China, they said, and as discontent spread through the realm, the example of Yōkihi [Yang Gui-fei's Japanese name] came more and more to mind, with many a painful consequence for the lady herself, yet she trusted in his gracious and unexampled affection and remained at court.... His majesty must have had a deep bond with her in past lives as well, for she gave him a wonderfully handsome son [Genji]."
Quote from: The Tale of Genji, by Murasaki Shikibu, translated by Royall Tyler, published by Viking, 2001, vol. 1., p. 3.
In all of the versions of the story of Yang Gui-fei the Chinese emperor's concubine has to die to save the state. Whereas the analogy is not one to one Genji's mother dies young and the emperor's grief is inconsolable. He neglects almost everything, but his loss. Murasaki Shikibu's erudition is made clear in her allusion to the Chinese poem, "A Song of Unending Sorrow", by Bai Juyi's (772-846). In it Xuan Zong sends a Taoist priest to find the soul of Yang Gui-fei. The priest returns with a message declaring that long after the earth and the heavens cease to exist the lovers' grief will be eternal. [Bai Juyi can also be spelled Po Chü-i and Bo Ju-yi.]
The story of Yang Gui-fei would have been a favorite theme in the arts of the love-loving Japanese based on Bai Juyi's poem alone, but the inclusion of this theme at the beginning of "The Tale of Genji" must have cinched its place as a Japanese motif.
The doctored and cropped images to the left are from a print by Toyokuni I [top] and Utamaro. Note that in the bottom one both the Chinese emperor and his lover are playing on the same flute.
One other note: T'ang dynasty and later Chinese renditions of Yang Gui-fei show a full-bodied, size 16-18, Rubensesque woman. The Japanese images are generally much more svelte.
During the Ming dynasty the artist and connoisseur Wên Chên-hêng created the earliest fully extant guide for the "Calendar for the displaying of scrolls". It starts at New Year's morning when he suggest the hanging of Sung dynasty paintings of the Gods of Happiness or images of the Sages of old. "On the eighth day of the fourth month, the birthday of Buddha, you shold display representations of Buddha by Sung and Yüan artists, or Buddhist pictures woven in silk dating from the Sung period." And so it goes from event to event until "the eleventh moon [when] there should be paintings of snow landscapes, winter plum trees, water lilies, Yang Kuei-fei indulging in wine, and suchlike pictures."
Source and quote from one of my favorite books: Chinese Pictorial Art, by R. H. van Gulik, Hacker Art Books, 1981, pp. 4 & 5. |
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Yari |
槍
やり |
Spear: According to the Kodansha Encyclopedia of Japan (vol. 1, p. 89, entry by Ogasawara Nobuo) "There are two types of Japanese spears, identical in function: the hoko and the yari." The distinction between the two was based on how the spearhead was attached to the wooden shaft (vol. 7, p. 224, entry by Tomiki Kenji).
The yari came into common use in the 14th century. The Mongols had used this type of spear during their attempted invasions of Japan in the 13th century. "The yari commonly has a double-edged blade or head ranging in size from ...12 to 29 [inches]..." generally. There are several variations on the design including forked spearheads with two or more prongs.
The image to the left is a detail from a book illustration by Yoshitoshi. |
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Yashima Gakutei |
八島岳亭 やしま.がくてい |
Artist (1786? - 1868) |
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Yasuo Kume |
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Author of Tesuki Washi Shuho: Fine Handmade Papers of Japan 1 |
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屋台
やたい |
A booth or stall. Now a food cart. Sometimes called a yatai-mise (屋台店 or やたいみせ).
"Foods cooked on teppan in everyday life are usually fast foods, e.g., konomiyaki, whole cuttlefish on a skewer, dried fried noodles (yakisoba), meant to be eaten while standing in front of the shop, or most likely, a mobile kiosk (yatai)." (Quoted from: The Essence of Japanese Cuisine: An Essay on Food and Culture by Michael Ashkenazi and Jeanne Jacob, p. 95)
"Tempura was a popular street food already in the Edo period, cooked and served on bamboo skewers, and sold from small mobile stalls (yatai)." (Ibid., p. 92)
The image to the left is from a Toyokuni I print of a kabuki play scene. Click on it to go to page devoted to it and read about the noodles sold at such stands. |
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Yōkai |
妖怪
ようかい |
A ghost, demon, monster, goblin or spectre.
The image to the left of the bloody ghost is a detail from a print by Kuniyoshi and was sent to us courtesy of E. - one of our favorite correspondents. Creepy isn't it. In a larger detail you could see the disgusting sores on the scalp of the ghost. Maybe later. By the way, in the full sized print the ghost appears to float through the air just like the poltergeist in their eponymous movie.
The figure represents Ichikawa Kodanji IV as a Ghost of Sakura Sogorō. |
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Yōkai Attack: The Japanese Monster Survival Guide |
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A wonderful new book - published by Kodansha in 2008 - by Matthew Alt and Hiroko Yoda. It is by far the best book I know of in English that identifies the largest variety of traditional Japanese monsters and gives a scholarly, but fun bit of information about each of them. I would recommend that believers and non-believers alike add this to their library. You can never be too careful, what? |
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Yōkō |
洋紅 ようこう |
Carmine red: "This was a cheap carmine from Europe used in later prints."
Quote from: Japanese Woodblock Printing, by Rebecca Salter, University of Hawai'i Press, 2001, p. 28.
Yō (洋) means 'Western', 'European' or 'foreign' and kō (紅) means 'crimson'.
When using the kyōgō or keyblock prints for the cutting of the separate blocks used in the final printing Hiroshi Yoshida wrote that he liked to use yōkō to mark particular areas by drawing lines across the area to be printed. |
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Yomogi-soba |
蓬蕎麦 よもぎそば |
Soba made with mugwort 1 |
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Yōshi |
養子 ようし |
Adoption |
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Until modern times, i.e., since the Meiji Restoration in 1868, adoption in Japan was unlike anything we know of in Western terms. Practiced for more than 1,300 years it may have begun as a way of leaving a 'family' relative to honor the spirits of the deceased ancestors. At one point it was a vehicle for increasing family wealth among members of the court. Once a young man reached 15, the age of majority, the father could apply for a stipend to be paid in rice or land. If the father had a natural born son who was still a minor he could speed the process up by adopting another, but older young man and make him his son. That young man, in turn, could adopt the younger brother and when he reached 15 apply for a another stipend.
In fact, there were many different types of adoption and many different reasons for them. For example, if a family was fond of a daughter and wanted to keep her in the household they would adopt a son who would then marry her. As a result the daughter might have more power within the family and more of the its wealth would stay in the home. Or, if a family had a lot of children they might allow one of the childless friends to adopt one of theirs. Not only did adoption mean a continuation of a family line, but it also could provide positive political and economic links. There was another consequence of adoption because of a common practice by Edo times: Wealth was only passed on to the eldest son and was not divided among the remaining relatives.
However, it is the issue of adoption when it comes to craftsmen and artists that really matters here. Anyone who has studied ukiyo printmakers and painters will have noticed how many of these were adopted by their teachers/masters or others. Toyokuni II was adopted by Toyokuni I. He was also married to his daughter. Hokusai, Yoshitoshi and Hiroshi Yoshida were all adopted. This custom was also true when it came to ceramicists, sword makers, kabuki actors, etc. Ichikawa Danjūrō II adopted Danjūrō III. Danjūrō IV was said to have been the bastard son of Danjūrō II and had been adopted by another kabuki star. Danjūrō VI was adopted as were Danjūrō VII and Danjūrō IX.
Sources: 1) Mock Joya's Things Japanese; 2) Things Japanese: Being Notes on Various Subjects Connected with Japan by Basil Hall Chamberlain; 3) Kodansha Encyclopedia of Japan; 4) New Kabuki Encyclopedia: A Revised Adaptation of Kabuki Jiten by Samuel L. Leiter
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Yoshisato |
芳里 よしさと |
Pupil --- unlisted in Roberts --- of Kuniyoshi who created the inset in one of the prints from the series "Sixty Odd Provinces of Japan - Dramatic Chapters" |
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Yoshitsune |
源義経 みなもとよしつね |
Minamoto Yoshitsune (1159-1189) was the son of Minamoto no Yoshitomo and Tokiwa Gozen and younger brother of Yoritomo by a different mother. Known as Ushiwakamaru (牛若丸 or うしわかまる) as a child. He "...had been spared by Taira no Kiyomori after the Heiji war (1159) on condition that he should become a priest and be educated in the temple of Kurama... But the young man escaped and marched against the Taira, whom he destroyed in the Battle of Dan-no-ura... According to a popular tradition he contributed his success to a Tengu, whom he met one day in the shape of a strange man or yamabushi in the Bishop's valley, and who taught him how to handle arms."
Quoted by: "The Tengu", by Dr. M. W. de Visser, published in the Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan, 1908, p. 48 |
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Yoshiwara |
吉原 よしわら |
Famous Edo red light district 1 |
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There is no better example of the Japanese homophonous penchant for ratcheting up the meaning of a word or term than that of the name of the Yoshiwara. In 1617 the Tokugawa shogunate granted a license to Shōji Jin'emon (1576-1644: 庄司甚右衛門 or しょうじ.じんえもん) for the establishment of specialized district in Edo. It had taken the government almost 6 years before it approved the original petition submitted by Jin'emon, but when they did they specified the location and the ground rules. "...the place was one vast swamp overrun with weeds and rushes, so Shōji Jin'emon set about clearing the Fukiya-machi, reclaiming and filling in the ground, and building an enclosure thereon. Owing to the number of rushes which had grown thereabout the place was re-named Yoshi-wara (葭原 = Rush-moor) but this was afterwards changed to Yoshi-wara ( 吉原 = Moor of Good luck) in order to give the locality an auspicious name." Filling in and leveling the ground, laying out the streets and building construction took ten years to complete. (Source and quote from: Yoshiwara: The Nightless City, by J. E. De Becker, Frederick Publications, pp. 3-7.) ¶ Along with the license came a set of rules set down by the governor of the district: 1) Brothel-keeping was restricted to this particular location and "...in future no request for the attendance of a courtesan at a place outside the limits of the enclosure shall be complied with."; 2) "No guest shall remain in a brothel for more than twenty-four hours."; 3) "Prostitutes are forbidden to wear clothes with gold and silver embroidery on them; they are to wear ordinary dyed stuffs."; 4) Brothels were told not to build ostentatiously and residents of the districts were to function like the citizens of other districts. For example, Yoshiwara firemen were subject to the same rules of firemen elsewhere in the city; 5) Each visitor to a brothel is to be questioned and scrutinized. "...in case any suspicious individual appears..." the governors office must be notified. There was to be no exceptions whether the visitor is a "gentleman or a commoner..."; "The above instructions are to be strictly observed." (Ibid., pp. 5-6)
The original or 'Old Yoshiwara' was ordered to move to a new location in 1657 after a major fire and hence was renamed the 'Shin' or 'New Yoshiwara'. This is the pleasure quarter we know so well from the prints of the ukiyo. [Note that large urban fires have not been rare in historical Japan. However, before the modern age this was a threat common to all large cities: London burned down in 1666.] ¶ The Yoshiwara should not be thought of strictly as a place where men went for sex. It had a remarkably subtle and profound effect on Japanese culture. "It would be a mistake to think of the Yoshiwara as a simple collection of brothels; rather, it was a highly stratified and complex world in itself that provided the means for a very sophisticated level of entertainment. New genres of music, art and literature developed around it... ¶ Many scholars have pointed out that... quarters like the Yoshiwara provided the one institutionalized escape from social repression and control. That is the social rank of warrior, farmer, artisan and merchant (shi-nō-kō-shō), which dictated how a person lived, married, worked, and dressed, were of secondary importance to the main key for enjoying oneself in Yoshiwara - namely money." (Quoted from: 'Yoshiwara', Kodansha Encyclopedia of Japan, vol. 8, pp. 349-50. This entry was written by Liza Crihfield.)
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Yoshiwara: The Glittering World of the Japanese Courtesan |
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Yotsude-ami |
四つ手網
よつであみ |
Four-cornered scoop fishing net 1 |
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Yotsume |
四つ目
よつめ |
A mon or crest which includes variations of four boxes grouped together. However, unlike most other mons I haven't a clue about it significance other than decorative and distinctive.
Even inexplicable crests are ready tools for scholars. Timothy Clark noted this in describing the background to a triptych by Utamaro: "The crest of four squares...inside a circle on the steaming boxes [seirō - 蒸籠 or せいろ] is that of the cake shop of Takamura Ise (Yorozuya Ihei) located in Edo-chō 2-chōme in Yoshiwara. The type of cakes known as monaka no tsuki [最中の月 or もなかのつき] from this store were famous."
Quote from: The Passionate Art of Kitagawa Utamaro, published by the British Museum Press, London, 1995, text volume, p. 153 |
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Yüan (dynasty) |
元(朝) |
Name of the 13th c. Mongol rulers of China 1 |
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Yuiwata |
結綿
ゆいわた
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A bundle of silk floss: This was the personal crest or mon used by several actors performing under the name Segawa Kikunojō.
The detail from a Bunchō print to the left (bottom) shows the crest prominently displayed on the robe of Segawa Kikunojō II from ca. 1770. This detail is shown courtesy of Kabuki21, the best site of its kind on the Internet. I urge that you visit it - long and often.
This motif can also be referred to as simply wata (綿 or わた).
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Yukata |
浴衣
ゆかた |
Literally translated as a bath garment.
A light summer garment made of cotton often used for casual attire or as a bathrobe. Most frequently decorated with designs dyed in indigo blues. "Yukata came from yukatabira (bathing katabira) to distinguish it from katabira or linen dress for ordinary summer wear. Originally yukatabira, as its name indicates, was worn after taking a bath, for drying up the body. Thus it took the role of bath towels at first. They used to put on one yukata upon coming out of the bath tub, and changed it for another until the body was thoroughly dried. Thus it was called minugui or body wiper."
Source: Mock Joya's Things Japanese, p. 53.
Yukatabira (浴衣びら or an alternative 湯帷子 ゆかたびら); katabira (帷子 or かたびら); minugui (?).
The image to the left is by Goyo. |
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Yuki |
雪 ゆき |
Yuki is the Japanese word for snow. |
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There is an interesting passage in Snow Country Tales: Life in the Other Japan by Suzuki Bokushi (translated by Jeffrey Hunter with Rose Lesser, published by Weatherhill, 1986). Bokushi (1770-1842: 鈴木牧之 or すずき.ぼくし) lived in Echigo, modern Niigata Prefecture, "snow country". He wrote a wonderful comparison of his native region which was buried in snow every winter with that of Edo, modern day Tokyo. In the section entitled "The First Snow" he wrote: "The people of friendlier climates take pleasure in the snow. In Edo, where some years it doesn't snow at all, the first snow is regarded as especially delightful. People set out in little boats, accompanied by geisha, to watch the snow; important guests are invited to tea ceremonies held in the snow; the brothels use the snow as an excuse to encourage their patrons to spend the night; and the restaurants and bars regard snow as an omen of many customers. It is difficult to count the many entertainments in the snow that have been devised. But the great degree to which the snow is celebrated in Edo is a mark of that city's great plenty. The people of the snow country can't help but be envious when they see and hear these things. The difference between the first snow in Edo and our first snow is the difference between pleasure and pain, clouds and mud." (p. 10)
We were very struck by the passage quoted above. But it wasn't just us who liked it. John W. Dower did too. He quoted it in his The Elements of Japanese Design, but he didn't cite his source. Not only that, but it was quite by accident and fortuitous that we found this out at the same time we were reading Snow Country Tales: Life in the Other Japan. |
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Yuki-Daruma |
雪達磨
ゆきだるま |
Typical and traditional Japanese snowman. In fact, Jim Breen's web site gives the kanji translation as simply 'snowman'. Lafcadio Hearn tells us that "The rules for making a Yuki-Daruma are ancient and simple." First a snowball 3 to 4' in diameter. Place a smaller one of about 2' on top of that. Pack in snow around the base of each ball, add coal for the eyes, nose, etc., and voila! Later, unlike the image by Kunisada to the left, hollow out an area for the navel "...and still a lighted candle inside. The warmth of the candle gradually enlarges the opening..."
Source and quotes: The Writings of Lafcadio Hearn, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1922, 381. (There is also a 1901 edition.)
Make sure you see our entry on Daruma too for more information.
The Old Taoist: The Life, Art and Poetry of Kodôjin (1865-1944) by Stephen Addiss, Jonathan Chaves and J. Thomas Rimer (Columbia University Press, 2001, 45) quotes a haiku on a painting of a snow daruma. It notes that the word jakemetsu (寂滅 or じゃくめつ) which is used here can refer to 'nirvana' or 'fading away'. This, of course, is the related to the innevitble nature of a melting snowman.
Lafcadio Hearn in his Buddhism - Gleanings in Buddha-Fields; Studies of Hand and Soul in the Far East: Studies of Hand and Soul in the Far East (reprinted by Read Books, 2006, p. 169 - originally published in 1927) quotes a Japanese folk song: "Shadow and shape alike melt and flow back to nothing / He who knows this truth is the Daruma of snow."
Note that there are also references to a snow Buddhas or yukibotoke (雪仏 or ゆきぼとけ). One poem refers to the melting of a snow Daruma into a mud Buddha. |
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As the ancien regime was coming to an end there was a great swell of anti-Buddhist feeling: "Emperor Kōmei (...r. 1847-1866) was the last Japanese emperor to be buried with Buddhist funerary rites... [This] proved to be the last public display of Buddhism for several years. By Kōmei's third memorial service (in 1868), which took place three months after the Meiji Emperor assumed the throne, Imperial rites and ceremonies were well on their way to becoming completely divested of any Buddhist character. The third memorial service itself was performed in accordance with a newly devised Shinto ceremony."
Quoted from: Of Heretics and Martyrs in Meiji Japan: Buddhism and Its Persecution, by James Edward Ketelaar, Princeton University Press, 1990, p. 44.
In the fifth month of 1872 (Meiji 5) Order number 133 was issued by the Ministry of State. The intention was to diminish the influence of Buddhism within the culture and the state and to segregate what remained. "The policy carried out in the early years of the Meiji era and commonly known as the 'separation of Shinto and Buddhism' (shimbutsu bunri [神仏分離 or しんぶつぶんり]) was expanded by order number 133 to include the separation of Buddhism from the state itself. There is, in other words - in addition to the particular factional, political motivations of Nativist and Confucian ideologues to eliminate Buddhism as a political force - the beginnings of the notion, which would gain greater currency in the mid-Meiji era, that persons or institutions predominantly concerned with 'religion' were generally ineffective operatives within the political arena. (Ibid., p. 6)
"The renewed importance of the Shintō priesthood and the insistence on insistence on separating Shintō from Buddhism were made more explcit four days later when Shintō priests who served concomitantly as Buddhist priests were ordered to yield their Buddhist ranks and positions, give up their Buddhist robes, and let their hair grow out. [¶] For more than a thousand years, most Japanese had believed simultaneously in both Shintō and Buddhism despite the inherent contradictions between the two religions."
Quoted from: Emperor of Japan: Meiji and His World, 1852-1912, by Donald Keene, Columbia University Press, 2002, p. 137.
That information above is what makes this image by Kiyochika (ca. 1895) that much more interesting. From a series entitled "100 Victories, 100 Laughs" in which the Chinese soldiers are constantly mocked for their superstitions and ineptitude. Here the Chinese are apoplectic before the militarized yuki-Daruma which instead of symbolizing a friendly and benign Buddhist deity has been transformed into a stern and fearsome Japanese infantryman complete with soldier's cap. Perhaps no Japanese image was out of line when it came to poking fun at the enemy. (For another example by Kiyochika see our entry on tombo or dragonflies.) |
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Yukimi dōrō |
雪見灯籠
ゆきみ.どうろう |
Literally a snow viewing lantern. It is said that the 'snow viewing' part has more to do with the beauty created by the newly fallen snow as it piles up on top than it does for the way the lantern illuminates its surroundings.
The yukimi dōrō is only one type of stone lantern or ishi dōrō (石灯籠 or いし.どうろう). Mock Joya states that there are 200 varieties of stone lanterns.
Despite what you might read at some sources that claim to be the definitive answer this type of stone lantern can have either three or four stone legs.
The image to the left is a detail from a print by Hasui from 1938. 1 |
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Yukiwa |
雪輪
ゆきわ
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The snow circle or ring motif: "Although the snowflake was not one of the dominant motifs among Japanese crests, the stylized 'snow ring' enclosure... became a popular and elegant convention. Apart from its obvious beauty, snow was also regarded as an auspicious sign of a bountiful year to come - possibly because winter snows meant spring rivers and fertilization of the soil. In early Japanese court society, the year's first snowfall became the occasion both for festive snow-viewing parties and for official meeting to decide appointments for the coming year."
Quote from: The Elements of Japanese Design, by John W. Dower, p. 42.
This motif also appears as a decorative pattern or occasionally as a title cartouche.
The image to the left below is a similarly shaped cartouche from an inset on a Kuniyoshi Tokaido road series. The image above is the title cartouche from a Kunisada II. |
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Yumiya |
弓矢
ゆみや
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Bow and arrow.
The image on the left in the center is a detail from a Kuniyoshi Suikoden print. Above is a close-up showing the descent of a flying goose which has just been struck through. On the bottom is an enlarged detail of the quiver with arrows.
This figure represents Shōrikō Kaei. "The manner in which Kaei holds his bow is unusual: the string of the bow is depicted on the left side of his left arm which would make it extremely difficult to shoot an arrow with the right hand."
Quote from: Of Brigands and Bravery: Kuniyoshi's Heroes of the Suikoden, by Inge Klompmakers, Hotei, Leiden, 1998, p. 86.
Shortly after I posted
the information shown immediately above I received an e-mail from a fellow I
know to be an adept at or expert in quite a few areas including ukiyo-e,
Kuniyoshi, etc. What I didn't know is that he is also extremely
knowledgeable about archery. He said that
Klompmakers statement is incorrect: "Anybody who has used a reasonably
powerful bow knows that after the release of the arrow the bow tends to whip
round into the position shown. Most archers will wear a leather wristguard
on their arm because the impact can sting
Then yesterday, June 15th, 2006, I received another e-mail from an expert in Portugal:
"In Japanese
archery, when releasing the string... the bow rotates almost 360 degrees, so
the string travels from the right side of the bow arm until almost or even
touching the arm on the left side. the bow performs an almost perfect circle
around itself. This is called 'Yugaeri' [弓返り or ゆがえり]. A perfect shot
has a perfect yugaeri, so in the image, the string being on the left
side of the bow arm, just means that it was a flawless shot.
Now this is dynamite information and I want to thank Carlos Freitas, President of the Portuguese National Archery Federation for it.
In defense of Klompmakers it seems to me that ignorance of the fine points of Japanese archery would make this kind of mistake reasonable.
The Kuniyoshi image to the left was sent to us by our great contributor E. Thanks E! |
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Yūrei |
幽霊 ゆうれい |
One possible translation of the characters could be 'faint' and 'spirit' or 'soul.'
Hiroko Yoda and Matt Alt in their Yokai Attack define yūrei as "A spirit that has, for whatever reason, Not entered the after-life. Essentially, a ghost."
Mary Picone wrote in 1991: "Ce n'est qu'avant la dernière guerre que les ethnographes japonais ont essayé de distinguer, parmi les manifestation surnaturelles autochtones, les revenants humains (yūrei, 'esprits obscurs' ou indistincts) et les apparitions (yōkai)." |
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Zakuro |
石榴
ざくろ |
Pomegranate: "...blessed with many seeds, represents the wish for numerous progeny and the attainment of sexual maturity by a woman." Along with the peach and the Buddha's hand, a type of inedible citron, they formed what the Chinese believed were the Three Abundances.
Quote from: Symbols of Japan by Merrily Baird, p. 65.
This illustration comes from the 1817 edition of the Kaishi garden which was first published in Japan in 1748 "...as the first rendering of the Chinese 'mustard seed garden' ".
This image was generously contributed to our site by E. Thanks E! |
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Zangiri-mono |
残切物 ざんぎりもの |
Stage works with a modernized Western flair. Literally means "cropped-hair piece." 1
散切り is an alternative form. It means close cropped hair, crewcut.
In 1873 the playwright Mokuami "...wrote a detective-murder story in which a modern journalist is the hero. This was the first long play in which Meiji-period life was squarely placed on stage, without apology or parody, and it is usually considered to be the first cropped-hair play (zangiri mono).... The term 'cropped-hair play' came into use to identify plays about contemporary life because, in 1871, a government regulation had advised citizens to cut their hair short in the Western manner, wear uniforms or informal clothing, and abandon wearing swords. The Meiji emperor cut off his topknot in 1873, thereby setting a seal of approval on the new hairstyle."
Quoted from: Kabuki Plays on Stage: Restoration and Reform, 1872-1905, by James R. Brandon and Samuel L. Leiter, University of Hawaii Press, 2003, p. 18.
Brian Powell in his book Japan's Modern Theatre: A Century of Change and Continuity (published by Routledge, 2002, p. 8) noted what a short lived genre this was. "Superficially the novelties of early Meiji Japan - brick building, the telegraph, etc. - were very evident in these plays, but, not surprisingly as you do not have to change your ideology to operate a telegraph machine, interpersonal relations between characters and the motivations for their actions remained firmly rooted in pre-Meiji Japan. It is conventional to describe zangiri-mono as a genre which quickly died out, but from time to time throughout the past century kabuki has been performing plays set in post-Meiji Japan."
Samuel L. Leiter says that zangiri-mono "...had run its course by 1882." (Historical Dictionary of Japanese Traditional Theatre, published by Rowman & Littlefield, 2006, p. 444) |
| Zarusoba |
笊蕎麦 ざるそば |
Cold served soba 1
This photo was taken by Jetalone in Tokyo and placed in the public domain at http://commons.wikimedia.org/.
Zaru (笊) is the Japanese words for sieve or strainer. Hepburn uses the term 'colander' which, of course, is what it is. It can also mean a person who can drink a lot without getting drunk. Or, I guess you could say, a person who drinks like a sieve.
In Japan (by Chris Taylor, Nicko Goncharoff, Mason Florence, published by Lonely Planet, 1997, p. 136) the authors state: "By far the most popular type of cold noodles is zaru soba, which is served with bits of seaweed (nori) on top. If you order these noodles you'll receive a small plate of wasabi and sliced scallions - put these into the cup of broth and eat the noodles by dipping them in this mixture. At the end of your meal, the waiter will give you some hot broth to mix with the leftover sauce which you drink like a kind of tea." |
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Zōhan |
蔵版 ぞうはん |
Translated as "copyright." One of the great joys of working on this site is finding new material to research. Such it is with the term zōhan which I hadn't recalled ever seeing before reading an entry in a recently published Roger Keyes book I just purchased: Ehon: The Artist and the Book in Japan published by the New York Public Library and the University of Washington Press, 2006, p. 80. But copyright might not be exactly right. In fact, it may mean more the ownership of the woodblock from which an image or text was published. 'Copyright' may be more a Western concept in this case although the similarities are clear. Remember, the use of this term might be important when printed in a book or on a sheet because blocks were often sold off by one publisher to another for later editions. Business is business. The publisher owned the blocks and not the artist.
In my stumblings I also ran across another zōhan made up of two different kanji characters: 像板. These translate as 'image block'. Perhaps these two zōhans were interchangeable. Perhaps not. Keyes would know. |
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Zōri |
草履 ぞうり |
Sandals |
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Zuishin |
随身
ずいしん |
"Zuijin [ずいじん]. 'Attendant deities'. Warrior-type guardians, often carrying bows and arrows. As protector of [Shinto] shrine gates they are known as kado-mori-no-kami. They are associated with dosojin, protector of crossroads and other boundary areas."
Quote from: A Popular Dictionary of Shinto, NTC Publishing Group, 1997, p. 229.
"At the entrances of many Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples there are statues of huge gate guards. These wood sculptures are housed in gate buildings which are often magnificent and towering structures.
The guard gate of a Shinto shrine is called Zuishin-mon. Zuishin were the ancient Court guards who were detailed to guard the Emperor, princes and high officials. So the guard figures at the shrine are made after those ancient officials and dressed in Court costume, carrying swords, bows and arrow-holders. They always come in pairs, one standing at each side of the entranceway, to protect the shrine from evil and wrong-doers."
Quote from: Mock Joya's Things Japanese, p. 521.
To the left is a detail from a print by Kuniyoshi. |
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"On either side of the great gateway is a shrine compartment, inclosed by heavy wooden gratings on two side; and in these compartments are two grim figures in complete armor, with bows in their hands and quivers of arrows upon their backs - the Zuijin, or ghostly retainers of the gods, and guardians of the gate. Before nearly all the Shintō temples of Izumo, except Kitzuki, these Zuijin keep grim watch. They are probably of Buddhist origin; but they have acquired Shintō history and Shintō names. Originally, I am told, there was but one Zujin-Kami, whose name was Toyo-kushi-iwa-ma-to-no-mikoto. But at a certain period both the god and his name were cut in two - perhaps for decorative purposes. And now he who sits upon the left is called Toyo-iwa-ma-to-no-mikoto; and his companion on the right Kushi-iwa-ma-to-no-mikoto.
Quoted from: The Writings of Lafcadio Hearn, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1922, 346. (There is also a 1901 edition.)
The Zuishin-mon at Okayama jinja taken by Reggaeman and placed in the public domain at http://commons.wikimedia.org/. You can't see it in this reproduction on Reggaeman's photo but the 'Zuijin-Kami' are there.
William Howard Coaldrake in his Architecture and Authority in Japan (published by Routledge, 1996, p. 189) gives us a clear description the evolution of the gateway entries which house the zuijin guardians. "...the basic style of the gateway is Shinto, not Buddhist. It is a two-storey gatehouse with a hip-gabled roof originally of cypress-bark shingles, and a balcony above the first floor... This style of gateway, known as a rōmon, was a Japanese adaptation of the Chinese double-roof gatehouse introduced to Japan with Buddhist temple architecture a millennium earlier. In the late Heian period, the Buddhist gatehouse was adapted for use in Shinto shrines but the roof above the first floor was abandoned in favour of a simple balcony that was more in keeping with Shinto needs, a style called rōmon [楼門 or ろうもん].
"Escorts (Zuijin) were armed guards assigned by the Court to accompany important members of the nobility when they traveled abroad. An ex-Emperor was entitled to fourteen, a Regent to ten, a Minister of State or a Major Captain to eight, a Counselor or Consultant to six, etc. Three types were distinguished: (1) Udoneri Zuijin; (2) Konoe Zuijin (also called Honpu Zuijin), chosen from the Bodyguards; and (3) Kozuijin, drawn from the ranks of their personal retainers by lesser kugyō who, although entitled to the privilege had received no Escorts from the Court."
Quoted from: A Tale of Flowering Fortunes: Annals of Japanese Aristocratic Life in the Heian Period, by By William H. McCullough and Helen Craig McCullough, Stanford University Press, 1980, p. 135, footnote 2.
I believe Udoneri is 内舎人 or うどねり. Toneri (舎人 or とねり) means 'valet' or 'footman'. Konoe (近衛 or このえ) translates as Imperial Guard.
The government had sought since the Nara period to assure the personal safety and dignity of higher officials by assigning attendants (toneri) to them for guard and escort duty in numbers varying according to their ranks, ranging from twenty at the lower end of the scale up to four hundred at the highest. Although the toneri attendants were merely provincial conscripts and had minimal military skills, their use by nobles for private purposes came to be disruptive of public order, and they were replaced in the case of the highest officials with somewhat better-born guard-officials called zujin ("escorts"), who were organizationally attached to the Imperial Bodyguards. Fewer in number than the toneri, the handsomely uniformed zuijin escorts were prized more for their appearance than for their military accomplishments, and great nobles were typically forced to augment their security with privately recruited forces of tsuwamono warriors." [Tsuwamono is 兵 or つわもの.]
Quoted from: "The Rise of the Warriors" by Takeuchi Rizō, The Cambridge History of Japan: Heian Japan, Cambridge University Press, 1999, p. 680.
According to the Japan Encyclopedia (by Louis-Frédéric, Harvard University Press, 2005, p. 1074) defines zushin as semi-divine guardians. At the entrances to Shinto shrines "They are portrayed as Heian-period ministers of the right (udaijin) and the left (sadaijin), armed with a bow and arrow to chase away evil spirits." |
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Zukushi |
尽くし ずくし |
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