A Historical Research on the Terms Used to Designate Lucky and Unlucky Days in Calendars of the First Half in the Middle Ages : a Fundamental Investigation of the Terms Hinami, Hituide, Higara

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  • 中世前期の日本語史料における暦日語彙 : 「ひついで」と「ひなみ」と「ひがら」についての基礎的検証
  • チュウセイ ゼンキ ノ ニホンゴ シリョウ ニ オケル レキジツ ゴイ ヒ ツイデ ト ヒ ナミ ト ヒガラ ニ ツイテ ノ キソテキ ケンショウ

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Throughout Japanese literary history, certain words have been used to designate certain days as lucky or unlucky. This article describes historical research on these words said to express good or bad fortune on calendar days in documents mainly from the first half of the Middle Ages (Kamakura Period) and examines examples appearing in works such as Takakurain-Itukusima-Gokouki, Kokontyomonju, Gukansyo, Harunomiyamazi, Kamakuraibun, and Enkyobonheikemonogatari. This research presents new findings related to the history of the Japanese language concentrating on the following four facts: First, in previous research, the author described the absence of the term hinami in the Insei Period. In this research, the author notes that reliable examples of the term hinami cannot be found in the documents of the Kamakura Period. Second, notwithstanding this absence of the term hinami, all conventional studies accept without ground the Chinese character notation "日次" in documents such as Kokontyomonju and Gukansyo as reading hinami. On this basis, a new understanding of documents from this period is absolutely necessary. Third, after the Kamakura Period there are many reliable examples of the term hituide meaning good or bad fortune calendar days appearing in various documents of the Heian Period such as the monogatari literary works, nikki literary works and setsuwa literatury works. However, my investigation demonstrates that all of these examples appear within the latter half of the Middle Ages. Fourth, by the middle of the Kamakura Period, the term higara is used to describe lucky and unlucky calendar days and this use continues although examples are few.

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