八咫鏡
Japanese
| Kanji in this term | ||
|---|---|---|
| 八 | 咫 | 鏡 |
| や Grade: 1 |
た Hyōgaiji |
かがみ Grade: 4 |
| kun’yomi | ||
| Alternative spelling |
|---|
| 八咫の鏡 |
八咫鏡: Artist's impressions of the (unseen) Imperial Regalia of Japan, with Yata no Kagami on the upper right
Etymology
Phrase consisting of 八 (ya, “eight”) + 咫 (ata, an ancient unit of circumference) + の (no, possessive particle) + 鏡 (kagami, “mirror”).[1]
The name is a description of the mirror's size. A circle with a diameter of one 尺 (shaku, ancient foot, unit of length) would have a circumference of four ata. A circumference of eight ata would thus mean a mirror with a diameter of two shaku. The shaku at that time was roughly 23 centimeters, so the mirror would have been roughly 46 centimeters across.
Proper noun
八咫鏡 • (Yata no Kagami)
- the "Eight-Hand Mirror", one of the three sacred treasures comprising the Imperial Regalia of Japan
Usage notes
- The ata of that time period was around 18 centimeters or 7.25 inches, so note that the hand in the English name is not the same as the four-inch unit of measurement.
See also
References
- Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典（新装版） [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN
- NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute, editor (1998), NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 [NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: NHK Publishing, →ISBN
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