懐剣
Japanese edit
Kanji in this term | |
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懐 | 剣 |
かい Grade: S |
けん Grade: S |
kan’on |
Alternative spelling |
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懷劍 (kyūjitai) |
Etymology edit
/kwaiken/ → /kaiken/
Appears to be a coinage in Japanese of Middle Chinese-derived roots, as a compound of 懐 (kai, “bosom; the chest area of a kimono above the 帯 (obi, “sash”) and inside the collar”) + 剣 (ken, “sword”). Appears in texts from the 1300s.[1]
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
懐剣 • (kaiken) ←くわいけん (kwaiken)?
- (historical) a kind of dagger used by the samurai class, carried in the 懐 (futokoro, “chest area of a kimono above the 帯 (obi, “sash”) and inside the collar”) for self-defense
- (modern) a replica dagger as part of certain ceremonial costume, such as the formal wear of boys for the 七五三 (shichi-go-san, “seven-five-three”) festival
- (poetry) working on possible response lines for a 連歌 (renga, “linked poem”), 俳諧 (haikai, “amusing style of waka Japanese poetry”), or similar call and response style of performed poetry, prior to a performance; any lines prepared before such a performance
Coordinate terms edit
- see Thesaurus:短刀