Threads of a Furoshiki
Saturday, May 31st, 2008
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Recently, when I logged onto JapanesePod101.com to listen to some podcasts, a photo with big, bold, striking kanji stopped me in my tracks.
The lesson was about 過労死 (karōshi), “death by overworking,” but none of those kanji appeared in the photo. I knew 残業 (to remain + work) as zangyō, “overtime.” And I knew 風 (FU-, kaze) in several ways, often having to do with wind. But how did 風 factor into overtime? And what was 呂敷?
Because the characters appeared in a photo, I couldn’t copy and paste them into Breen, and somehow all other methods of kanji investigation failed me. What would the radical of 呂 be? It couldn’t be 口, could it? (Yes, it could and it is.) I refused to think that was possible, so I didn’t even try looking it up that way, instead preferring (why???) to flail around with utterly ineffective alternative methods. I got nowhere.
Searching for 敷 in Breen finally did the trick, but only after a loooong time, because I had assumed that this character would be a Jōyō kanji, which is true, only Breen hadn’t classified it as such, which hampered my search.
Anyway, I eventually deciphered 風呂敷 as furoshiki, which means “wrapping cloth” or “cloth wrapper,” which is what the ever-so-practical people on the resource-limited Japanese islands have used to wrap presents, purchases, and whatever else might need carrying.
Shibori Omiyage
Credit: Glennis Dolce
Shibori artist Glennis Dolce makes incredible silk shibori cloths for
a variety of applications, including furoshiki.
The kanji for shibori is 絞り.
Once I had that answer in hand, a host of new questions popped up, and they proved so absorbing that I never found a chance to listen to the “death by overwork” podcast that day. Each question sent me off in a new direction. Let’s see if we can follow all the threads without becoming hopelessly tangled in them.
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～What Does a Wrapping Cloth Have to Do with Overworking? …
～If 風呂敷 Is a Cloth Wrapper,
What’s a Large 風呂敷? …
Here’s the most important thread—your Verbal Logic Quiz!
Furoshiki Bottle Wrap
Credit: Glennis Dolce
Posted by Eve Kushner in Kanji Curiosity |
May 31st, 2008 at 7:30 am
Hello again. I wanted to add three things:
1. The talented shibori artist Glennis Dolce turns out to be a JPod subscriber! Isn’t it amazing that we have such people in our midst?!
2. Don’t miss the fantastic cartoons by Adam Koford. You have to dig a little, but you’ll find them, and I believe it’ll be worth it!
3. Hope this doesn’t ruin any surprises, but I wanted to mention something I just came across about 敷居 (shikii: threshold), which appears in today’s blog. The expression 敷居が高い (shikii ga takai) literally means “the threshold or doorsill is high” and figuratively indicates feelings of reluctance or hesitation. This phrase appears in an essay by Nejime Shōichi. The essay includes the phrase 証券会社は敷居が高い (shōken-gaisha wa shikii ga takai), “a securities firm is out of my league.” I think it’s always good to know how to express our insecurities!
May 31st, 2008 at 3:50 pm
Interesting writing about 風呂敷, a word I’ve never heard before :). Anyway, next time you could try handwriting recognition to find characters in photo/physical books. That would make life a lot easier :).
June 1st, 2008 at 3:39 am
Wow, that’s an extremely cool feature–and you described it MUCH more clearly than any computer manual would have! I have a Mac, so I can’t avail myself of this feature. But I’m sure what you’ve written will help lots of people, so thanks!
June 1st, 2008 at 9:29 pm
The word for “backbone” is 背骨 (sebone: back + bone). Isn’t it interesting in this breakdown that “bone” means “bone” in English. A mere coincidence?
June 2nd, 2008 at 1:48 am
http://jisho.org/kanji/radicals/ is your friend.
June 2nd, 2008 at 10:13 am
What a fun blog! The cartoons were worth the search. Some of the cloths in the pictures could be considered a present by themselves. If you have cool looking wrapping cloths like the ones in the picture the hobos can feel pretty good about what is inside the package.
June 2nd, 2008 at 11:07 am
Hiroshi-san: Yes, I love that aspect of 背骨！Of course, since this is an instance of voicing (that is, 骨 normally has the kun-yomi of “hone”), compounds with 骨 don’t always produce the “bone” yomi. I’ve found that this fortuitous change DOES occur in 腰骨 (koshibone: hipbone, which somehow also means perseverance!!!) and 小骨 (kobone: small bones). Another odd one is 貝殻骨 (kaigarabone: shoulder blade), which breaks down as (sea)shell [1st 2 chars.] + bone. Hmm, lots of great words with 骨 … Might need to blog on this!
Anyway, I’ve compiled a list of words that happen to sound similar in English and Japanese, even though they aren’t loanwords. Here’s another great one: 起こる (okoru: to occur).
Kiril-san: What a great tool! I thought I’d seen most of them, but when I tried using it to identify 敷, your site produced the answer in a jiffy. AND … to my horror, I realize now that 敷 IS a Jōyō kanji, even though my search on Breen told me otherwise. I’m going to edit that part of the blog to reflect this reality; no need to spread misinformation.
Anyway, your method is MUCH more efficient, because one needn’t know the radical, only the components. Hallelujah! I’m most grateful!
And as for you, OAKtoMDW-hobo, what a fun handle! Hope you’re not a hobo for too much longer!
June 4th, 2008 at 2:07 am
I checked a few other online sources and they all agree that 敷 is a Joyo kanji. The link that Kiril gave us is so much fun. I am most grateful that it gives me a free lesson on Spanish and Portugese.