, literally "pillow word", are figures of speech used in Japanese waka

Waka (poetry)

Waka or Yamato uta is a genre of classical Japanese verse and one of the major genres of Japanese literature...

 poetry, where epithets are used in association with certain words. Their usage is akin to “grey-eyed Athena” of in the Ancient Greek epics of Homer

Homer

In the Western classical tradition Homer , is the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, and is revered as the greatest ancient Greek epic poet. These epics lie at the beginning of the Western canon of literature, and have had an enormous influence on the history of literature.When he lived is...

. 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.

History and Usage

Makurakotoba are most familiar to modern readers in the Man'yōshū and when it is included in later poetry, it is used to make allusions to poems in the Man'yōshū. The exact origin of makurakotoba remains contested to this day. Japanese poets use makurakotoba to refer to earlier poems and show their knowledge of poetry and the imperial poetry collections.

In terms of usage, makurakotoba are often used at the beginning of a poem. The jokotoba

Jokotoba

, literally meaning "preface word", is a figure of speech found in Japanese waka . Jokotoba expressions are set before certain words, and makes use of wordplay through similes, kakekotoba and homonyms.- History and usage :...

 is a similar figure of speech used in Man'yōshū poetry, used to introduce a poem. In fact, the 17th century Buddhist priest and scholar Keichū

Keichu

Keichu may refer to:* Keichu Do, a modern branch of the martial arts.* Keichū, a Japanese scholar of the Edo period....

 wrote that "if one says jokotoba, one speaks of long makurakotoba" (序(詞)ト云モ枕詞ノ長キヲ云ヘリ) in his Man'yō-taishōki. Japanese scholar Shinobu Orikuchi

Shinobu Orikuchi

, also known as , was a Japanese ethnologist, linguist, folklorist, novelist, and poet. As a disciple of Kunio Yanagita, he established an original academic field named , which is a mixture of Japanese folklore, Japanese classics, and Shintō...

 also echoes this statement, claiming that makurakotoba are jokotoba that have been compressed.

While some makurakotoba still have meanings that add to the meaning of the following word, many others have lost their meanings. As the makurakotoba became standardized and used as a way to follow Japanese poetic traditions, many were used only as decorative phrases in poems and not for their meanings. Many translators of waka poems have a difficult time with the makurakotoba because although the makurakotoba makes up the first line, many makurakotoba have no substantial meaning, and it is impossible to discard the whole first line of a waka.

Examples

There are many instances of makurakotoba found in the Man'yōshū . One of the very first poems in the collection demonstrates how the makurakotoba was used:

komo yo mikomochi

fukushimo yo mibukushimochi

kono oka ni na tsumasu ko

ie norase na norasane

soramitsu* Yamato no kuni wa

oshinabete ware koso ore

shikinabete ware koso imase

ware kosoba norame

ie o mo na o mo


Your basket, with your lovely basket

Your trowel, with your lovely trowel

girl, you who pick herbs on this hill,

speak of your house. Speak of your name.

In the Land of Yamato, seen from the sky*,

It is I who conquer and reign

It is I who conquer and rule.

Let it be me who speaks

of my house and my name.

source:Traditional Japanese Literature Translation from the Asian Classics. Man’yōshū (Collection of Myriad Leaves, CA.785) Introduction Duthie, Torquil. Ed Shirane, Harou. Columbia University Press: New York 2007. 60-63

• Soramitsu is used to modify the place “Yamato,” and means that it is seen from the sky.

There are several more examples available online. Some are listed below.

Makurakotoba	Meaning	Modifies
Akane sasu	Shining madder red	Pi ‘sun,’ piru ‘daytime,’ kimi ‘lord’
Asa mo yosi	Good hemp	Place name ‘Ki’
Kakozimo no	A fawn	Hitori ko ‘single/only child’
Kamikaze no	Divine wind	Place names such as ‘Ise,’ ‘Isuzu River’
Komori ku no	Hidden Land	Place name ‘Hatsuse’
Koto sapeku	Twittered words	Foreign place names such as China ‘kara,’ Korea ‘Kudara’
Komo turugi	Korean sword	Place name ‘Wazami’
Kusa makura	Grass pillow	Tabi ‘journey,’ musubu ‘tie,’ tuyu ‘dew’
Mini no wata	Marsh (black) snail guts	Kagurosi ‘completely black’
Momosiki no	Many stoned	Opomiya ‘great palace'
Parugasumi	Spring mist/haze	Kasuga, tatu ‘rise’
Pi no moto no	Source of sun	Place name ‘Yamato’
Sora mitsu	Sky seen	Place name ‘Yamato’
Tamamo yosi	Good jeweled seaweed	Province ‘Sanuki’
Takunapa No	A rope of hemp	Naga ‘long,’ tipiro ‘extremely long’
Tamaginu no	Jeweled clothes	Sawisawi ‘rustling’
Tama kiparu	Soul ending	Inochi ‘life,’ yo ‘world’
Tama tasuki	Jeweled cord	Place name ‘Unebi,’ kakaru ‘attach’
Tihayaburu	Powerful/mighty	Place name ‘Uji,’ kami ‘gods’
Toki tu kaze	Seasonal/timely wind	Place name pukepi ‘Fukehi’
Tomosibi no	Lamplight	Place name ‘Akashi’
Tori ga naku	Bird calling	Aduma ‘the Eastland’
Tumagomoru	Spouse hiding	Ya ‘home/roof,’ ya ‘arrow’
Utiyosuru	Rush toward	Place name ‘Suruga’

source: http://temcauley.staff.shef.ac.uk/makurakotoba.shtml

Foreign equivalences

Makurakotoba can be found in other languages under the category of “epithet

Epithet

An epithet or byname is a descriptive term accompanying or occurring in place of a name and having entered common usage. It has various shades of meaning when applied to seemingly real or fictitious people, divinities, objects, and binomial nomenclature. It is also a descriptive title...

”. There are different types of epithets, some as a standard epithet, some as a common epithet or a stock epithet. Most are not bound by a syllable-count.

In Persian texts, there are several epithets commonly used. Sraosha

Sraosha

Sraosha is the Avestan language name of the Zoroastrian divinity of "Obedience" or "Observance", which is also the literal meaning of her name....

, the protector of ritual piece, possesses the common known epithet: “Sraoshaverez.” However, “darshi.dru-” meaning “of the strong (Ahuric) mace” is also used. The name Sraosha itself means fury, wrath, or rage. Aeshma

Aeshma

Aeshma is the Younger Avestan name of Zoroastrianism's demon of "wrath." As a hypostatic entity, Aeshma is variously interpreted as "wrath," "rage," and "fury." His standard epithet is "of the bloody mace."...

, the demon of wrath, possesses the standard epithet “xrvi.dru-”, meaning “of the bloody mace.” Aeshma has other standard epithets that include “ill-fated,” “malignant,” and “possessing falsehood”. A stock epithet, “ashya,” is used to mean “companion of recompense” or “companion of Ashi”.


In the Old Testament, the epithet Baal or Tammuz is often used to mean “the delightful one.” When referring to a king, Persians would write the epithet “adh,” which in the sense of eternity meant “father of eternity”.

People today also use epithets without knowing. The phrases: rosy-fingered dawn, undying fame, everlasting glory, wine-red sea, heartfelt thanks, Miss Know-It-All, blood red sky, stone-cold heart, and names such as Richard the Lionheart, Alexander the Great, Catherine the Great, and Ivan the Terrible are only several examples of the many epithets used. The first four of these are taken directly from Homeric epic.

In Greek, the Homeric epithets are most commonly recognized. The article “L’Épithète Traditionnelle dans Homère and les Formules et la Métrique d’Homère” by Milman Parry

Milman Parry

Milman Parry was a scholar of epic poetry and the founder of the discipline of oral tradition.-Biography:He was born in 1902 and studied at the University of California, Berkeley and at the Sorbonne . A student of the linguist Antoine Meillet at the Sorbonne, Parry revolutionized Homeric studies...

 argues for Homer's use of formulaic epithets in the Greek epics. These epithets are arguably used formulaically much like the makurakotoba. Examples of Homeric epithets: swift-footed Achilles, crafty Aegisthus, wily Odysseus (or Odysseus of many wiles).
Another common epithet in the Greco-Roman epic is "pius Aeneas", used by the Roman poet Vergil in the Aeneid

Aeneid

The Aeneid is a Latin epic poem, written by Virgil between 29 and 19 BC, that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Trojan who travelled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of the Romans. It is composed of roughly 10,000 lines in dactylic hexameter...

.

Unlike epithet in epic of the Western antiquity, makurakotoba rarely modify a personal name.

For more examples of Homeric epithets, follow the link.

See also

For more listings of makurakotoba:

http://www2.cs.uh.edu/~jackw/ojmakkot.htm http://www2.cs.uh.edu/~jackw/ojmakkot.html

http://temcauley.staff.shef.ac.uk/makurakotoba.shtml http://temcauley.staff.shef.ac.uk/makurakotoba.shtml

Dickens, Frederick Victor. Primitive and Mediaeval Japanese Texts. Clarendon Press: Oxford 1906. 257-278

Additional Sources

Traditional Japanese Literature Translation from the Asian Classics.Man’yōshū (Collection of Myriad Leaves, CA.785) Introduction Duthie, Torquil. Ed Shirane, Harou. Columbia University Press: New York 2007. 60-63

2001 Waka for Japan. Thomas McAuley. http://www.temcauley.staff.shef.ac.uk/makurakotoba.shtml

The Man'yoshu. Kris Larsson. http://mll.kenyon.edu/~japanese02/J28sp99/projects/larsson/1/index.html

Keene, Donald. “Problems of Translating Decorative Language.” The Journal-Newsletter of the Association of Teachers of Japanese. Vol. 2, No. 1/2 (May 1964), 4-12. http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0004-5810%28196405%292%3A1%2F2%3C4%3APOTDL%3E2.0.CO%3B2-6

Machacek, Gregory. “The Occasional Contextual Appropriateness of Formulaic Diction in the Homeric Poems.” The American Journal of Philology, Vol. 115, No. 3. (Autumn, 1994), pp. 321–335 http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0002-9475%28199423%29115%3A3%3C321%3ATOCAOF%3E2.0.CO%3B2-X

Lowenstam, Steven. “Irus’ “Queenly” Mother and the Problem of the Irrational Use of Homeric Epithets.” Pacific Coast Philology, Vol. 16, No. 1. (Jun., 1981), pp. 39–47 http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0078-7469%28198106%2916%3A1%3C39%3AI%22MATP%3E2.0.CO%3B2-P

Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament – Google Book Search

by G. Johannes Botterweck, Helmer Ringgren, Heinz-Josef Fabry
http://books.google.com/books?id=znB4gOMlb3AC&pg=PA256&lpg=PA256&dq=standard+epithet&source=web&ots=Tn1t5QmV4t&sig=r7nAnpLEdlpxfSfVAGoYSYAKzkE#PPP1,M1