| |
 |
|
 |
| |
|
| |
 |
| |
In Issue 41
of Dear Sensei we explained that おむすび is
another word for おにぎり,
and in both cases, お has
become an inseparable part of the word. But without お、むすび
has a wealth of other
meanings!
結び目
means ‘a knot’, and
ちょう結び,
literally ‘butterfly knot’, refers to a bow knot. The verb means
‘to tie’, eg.くつひもを結ぶ
, to tie your shoelaces. It also means to join, connect or link,
eg. 絵と言葉を結んでください
Connect the pictures
to the words’, or その橋は本州と九州を結んでいる
‘That bridge connects
Honshu and Kyushu’. |
| |
|
| |
結ぶ is also used
figuratively in a number of expressions: |
| |
|
| |
| 契約を結ぶ |
to
tie up a contract |
| 手を結ぶ |
to
ally yourself with eg. another company |
| 実を結ぶ |
to
bear fruit |
| 話を結ぶ |
to
conclude (wind up) a talk |
| 縁を結ぶ |
tie
the knot (of destiny) ie. to get married |
|
 |
|
|
| |
|
| |
From the last expression
comes 縁結び,
'matchmaking' or 'marriage'. 縁結びの神様,
the god of love and marriage, is the god to whom you make your
願い事,
wish, for a wife or
husband! |
| |
|
| |
 |
| |
 As
you know, omusubi are made from Japan’s staple grain, rice.
Rice is extremely important to the Japanese, and this is reflected
in the number of equivalents in Japanese for the English word.稲
refers
to the rice plant, eg. 稲を刈る,
to harvest rice.
米 refers
to raw rice, and this could be 白米,
white rice, or 玄米,
unpolished brown rice. ご飯
refers to cooked rice,
and hence ‘a meal’. For the Japanese, rice is conceptually the
main part of 和食,
a Japanese meal, and is served in おわん,
a bowl. The accompanying dish of fish, vegetables, meat etc.
is referred to as おかず.
When rice is served on おさら,
a plate, as in 洋食
(Western food), it
is referred to as ライス. |
| |
|
| |
 |
| |
 おむすび
is written in hiragana, but the kanji 結 used
for 結び and
結ぶ has
the following origin. The left-hand side（糸） gives the meaning
of thread. The right-hand side （吉） gives
the pronunciation ケツ and
comes from a picture of a tightly closed earthen jar. This is
another example of 形声文字,
kanji with one component that hints at meaning, and one that
gives the pronunciation and sometimes adds meaning. As mentioned
in the last issue of Dear Sensei, these make up the majority
of kanji. After coming to Japan, this kanji took on the added
meanings of ‘last’ and ‘riceball’.
Here
are some compound words reflecting the various meanings of this
kanji:
結論 (conclusion)
結果 (result)
結婚 (marriage) |
| |
|
| |
 |
「おむすびの具では何が一番すきですか？」
What
is your favourite omusubi filling?’
This was a question put to 57,452 people as part of a
campaign to eat more rice - ごはんを食べよう！
The
results were as follows: |
 |
しゃけ
(tinned salmon) |
24.9% |
|
明太子
(chilli cod roe) |
16.8% |
|
梅干 (pickled
plum) |
15.7% |
|
ツナ (tuna) |
12.1% |
|
たらこ (cod
roe) |
10.4% |
|
昆布 (kelp) |
9.6% |
|
かつお (dried
bonito) |
4.4% |
|
その他 (other) |
6.1% |
|
| From
the figures it emerged that ツナ was
the first choice of children and teenagers, while people
aged 60 and over by far preferred 梅干.
Regional differences were evident, with 明太子
the
first choice in 九州,
and different varieties appearing in eastern and western
Japan. |
ご飯を食べよう国民運動推進協議会
From http://www.gohan.gr.jp/ |
|
| |
|
| |
This
section written by Cathy Jonak |
| |
|
| |
Privacy
& Copyright © The Japan Foundation, Sydney - Language
Section 2000 - 2004 |
| |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
