Pillow Word
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Pillow Word
are figures of speech used in Japanese poetry in association with certain words. The set phrase can be thought of as a "pillow" for the noun or verb it describes, although the actual etymology is not fully known. It can also describe associations and allusions to older poems (see ). Many have lost their original meaning but are still used. They are not to be confused with ("poem pillow"), which are a category of poetic words used to add greater mystery and depth to poems. are present in the , one of Japan's earliest chronicles. History and usage are most familiar to modern readers in the , and when they are included in later poetry, it is to make allusions to poems in the . The exact origin of remains contested to this day, though both the and the , two of Japan's earliest chronicles, utilise it as a literary technique. In terms of usage, are often used at the beginning of a poem. The is a similar figure of speech used in poetry, used to introduce a poem. In fact, the ...
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Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north toward the East China Sea, Philippine Sea, and Taiwan in the south. Japan is a part of the Ring of Fire, and spans Japanese archipelago, an archipelago of List of islands of Japan, 6852 islands covering ; the five main islands are Hokkaido, Honshu (the "mainland"), Shikoku, Kyushu, and Okinawa Island, Okinawa. Tokyo is the Capital of Japan, nation's capital and largest city, followed by Yokohama, Osaka, Nagoya, Sapporo, Fukuoka, Kobe, and Kyoto. Japan is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eleventh most populous country in the world, as well as one of the List of countries and dependencies by population density, most densely populated and Urbanization by country, urbanized. About three-fourths of Geography of Japan, the c ...
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Catalpa Ovata
''Catalpa ovata'', the yellow catalpa or Chinese catalpa (), is a pod-bearing tree native to China. Compared to ''C. speciosa'', it is much smaller, typically reaching heights between . The inflorescences form bunches of creamy white flowers with distinctly yellow tinging; individual flowers are about wide. They bloom in July and August. The leaves are very similar in shape to those of ''Paulownia tomentosa'', having three lobes (two are abruptly truncated on either edge, with a third, central, slightly acute, pointed lobe forming the leaf apex), and are darkly green. Fruits are very narrow, foot-long pods. Although native to the more temperate provinces within China (Anhui, Gansu, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Henan, Hubei, Jiangsu, Jilin, Liaoning, Nei Monggol, Ningxia, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Shandong, Shanxi, Sichuan, Xinjiang), ''C. ovata'' is also cultivated in North America and Europe, and has become a parent of ''Catalpa × erubescens'' with the American species ''Catalpa bignonioide ...
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Japanese Poetry
Japanese poetry is poetry typical of Japan, or written, spoken, or chanted in the Japanese language, which includes Old Japanese, Early Middle Japanese, Late Middle Japanese, and Modern Japanese, as well as poetry in Japan which was written in the Chinese language or '' ryūka'' from the Okinawa Islands: it is possible to make a more accurate distinction between Japanese poetry written in Japan or by Japanese people in other languages versus that written in the Japanese language by speaking of Japanese-language poetry. Much of the literary record of Japanese poetry begins when Japanese poets encountered Chinese poetry during the Tang dynasty (although the Chinese classic anthology of poetry, ''Shijing'', was well known by the literati of Japan by the 6th century). Under the influence of the Chinese poets of this era Japanese began to compose poetry in Chinese '' kanshi''); and, as part of this tradition, poetry in Japan tended to be intimately associated with pictorial painting, p ...
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Kakekotoba
A or pivot word is a rhetorical device used in the Japanese poetic form waka. This trope uses the phonetic reading of a grouping of kanji (Chinese characters) to suggest several interpretations: first on the literal level (e.g. 松, ''matsu'', meaning "pine tree"), then on subsidiary homophonic levels (e.g. 待つ, ''matsu'', meaning "to wait"). Thus it is that many waka have pine trees waiting around for something. The presentation of multiple meanings inherent in a single word allows the poet a fuller range of artistic expression with an economical syllable-count. Such brevity is highly valued in Japanese aesthetics, where maximal meaning and reference are sought in a minimal number of syllables. Kakekotoba are generally written in the Japanese phonetic syllabary, hiragana, so that the ambiguous senses of the word are more immediately apparent. History Pivot words are first found in the earliest extant manuscripts where poetic verse is preserved in written form. The earliest ex ...
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Jokotoba
, literally meaning "preface word", is a figure of speech found in discourse related to Japanese waka poetry. ''Jokotoba'' expressions are set before certain words, and makes use of wordplay through similes, kakekotoba and homonyms. History and usage The ''makurakotoba'' is closely related to the ''jokotoba'' as a figure of speech in Japanese waka poetry. The main differences are that ''jokotoba'' are not restricted by the number of syllables, and so have greater freedom in terms of length, and they do not have fixed objects which they modify, and so are more bountiful in terms of creativity. For these reasons, in comparison to ''makurakotoba'', ''jokotoba'' can be seen to be more complex expressions in terms of content. There are two types of ''jokotoba'': ''ushin-no-jo'' (有心の序) and ''mushin-no-jo'' (無心の序). ''Ushin-no-jo'' connect or associate through semantic meaning, while ''mushin-no-jo'' connect or associate through phonetic pronunciation. Examples The ita ...
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Onomatopoeia
Onomatopoeia is the process of creating a word that phonetically imitates, resembles, or suggests the sound that it describes. Such a word itself is also called an onomatopoeia. Common onomatopoeias include animal noises such as ''oink'', ''meow'' (or ''miaow''), ''roar'', and ''chirp''. Onomatopoeia can differ between languages: it conforms to some extent to the broader linguistic system; hence the sound of a clock may be expressed as ''tick tock'' in English, in Spanish and Italian (shown in the picture), in Mandarin, in Japanese, or in Hindi. The English term comes from the Ancient Greek compound ''onomatopoeia'', 'name-making', composed of ''onomato''- 'name' and -''poeia'' 'making'. Thus, words that imitate sounds can be said to be onomatopoeic or onomatopoetic. Uses In the case of a frog croaking, the spelling may vary because different frog species around the world make different sounds: Ancient Greek (only in Aristophanes' comic play ''The Frogs'') probably ...
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Utamakura
is a rhetorical concept in Japanese poetry. Definition is a category of poetic words, often involving place names, that allow for greater allusions and intertextuality across Japanese poems. enables poets to express ideas and themes concisely—thus allowing them to stay in the confines of strict structures. Some scholars see the use of geographical allusion as the evidence for a restricted scope of poetry writing. Although the poets' "true" meaning was true because the essence was initially pre-established, the poems were written within fixed topics (). The poet could inhabit a subjective position or persona and write about the topic, but not necessarily about their personal feelings; therefore, could have restrained the scope of topics a poet could write about. include locations familiar to the court of ancient Japan, such as: * particularly sacred Shinto and Buddhist sites, * places where historic events occurred, and * places that trigger a separate mental associatio ...
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Honkadori
In Japanese poetry, is an allusion within a poem to an older poem which would be generally recognized by its potential readers. Honkadori possesses qualities of yūgen and in Japanese art. The concept emerged in the 12th century during the Kamakura period. Honkadori is one of several terms in Japanese poetry used to describe allusion, another being ."''anecdotal allusions to prose literature' "''borrowing words and phrases from earlier prose works'/ref> Context This style of quoting is a common trope in many ancient Japanese works of literature including stories such as '' the Tale of Genji'' and poems such as those found in the '' Kokinshū'' and the ''Shin Kokinshū''. In a narrative story, honkadori are often found in the form of a poem spoken by one of the characters. In a waka poem, this is usually the first line of the poem. Honkadori is not merely a reference to another poem even though lines are sometimes copied word for word. The use of honkadori attempts to affect ...
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Sanuki Province
was a province of Japan in the area of northeastern Shikoku. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Sanuki''" in . Sanuki bordered on Awa to the south, and Iyo to the west. Its abbreviated form name was . In terms of the Gokishichidō system, Sanuki was one of the provinces of the Nankaidō circuit. Under the ''Engishiki'' classification system, Sanuki was ranked as one of the "upper countries" (上国) in terms of importance, and one of the "middle countries" (中国) in terms of distance from the capital. The provincial capital was located in what is now the city of Sakaide, but its exact location was only identified in 2012. The ''ichinomiya'' of the province is the Tamura jinja located on the city of Takamatsu."Nationwide List of ''Ichinomiya''", p. 3.
retrieved 2011-08-09

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Yamato Province
was a province of Japan, located in Kinai, corresponding to present-day Nara Prefecture in Honshū. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric (2005). "Yamato" in . It was also called . Yamato consists of two characters, 大 "great", and 和 " Wa". At first, the name was written with one different character (), but due to its offensive connotation, for about ten years after 737, this was revised to use more desirable characters () (see Names of Japan). The final revision was made in the second year of the Tenpyō-hōji era (c. 758). It is classified as a great province in the ''Engishiki''. The Yamato Period in the history of Japan refers to the late Kofun Period (c. 250–538) and Asuka Period (538–710). Japanese archaeologists and historians emphasize the fact that during the early Kofun Period the Yamato Kingship was in close contention with other regional powers, such as Kibi Province near present-day Okayama Prefecture. Around the 6th century, the local chieftainship gained national cont ...
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Baekje
Baekje or Paekche (, ) was a Korean kingdom located in southwestern Korea from 18 BC to 660 AD. It was one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, together with Goguryeo and Silla. Baekje was founded by Onjo, the third son of Goguryeo's founder Jumong and So Seo-no, at Wiryeseong (present-day southern Seoul). Baekje, like Goguryeo, claimed to succeed Buyeo, a state established in present-day Manchuria around the time of Gojoseon's fall. Baekje alternately battled and allied with Goguryeo and Silla as the three kingdoms expanded control over the peninsula. At its peak in the 4th century, Baekje controlled most of the western Korean peninsula, as far north as Pyongyang, and may have even held territories in China, such as in Liaoxi, though this view is controversial. It became a significant regional sea power, with political and trade relations with China and Japan. Baekje was a great maritime power; its nautical skill, which made it the Phoenicia of East Asia, was instrumental i ...
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Isuzu River
The is a river that has both its source and its mouth in the city of Ise, Mie Prefecture, Japan. The river is notable because it flows through Ise Grand Shrine and, due to its strong association with the Shrine, many songs and poems Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings in ... have been written about it throughout history. The Uji Bridge serves as the entrance to Ise Grand Shrine, and crosses the Isuzu River. Isuzu Motors company is named after the river. References External links (confluence with Seta River) Isuzu River - Poems and Dedications Rivers of Mie Prefecture Rivers of Japan {{Japan-river-stub ...
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