勾玉

Japanese

Kanji in this term
勾	玉
まが Grade: S	たま Grade: 1
kun'yomi

Alternative spelling
曲玉

Etymology

Compound of 曲が (maga, “bent, bending”, appears to be the 未然形 (mizenkei, “incomplete form”) of ancient verb 曲ぐ (magu, “to bend”), root of modern 曲がる (magaru, “to bend”, intransitive), 曲げる (mageru, “to bend something”, transitive)) +‎ 玉 (tama, “jewel”).^[1]^[2]

Pronunciation

(Tokyo) まがたま [màgátámá] (Heiban – [0])^[2]
IPA^(key): [ma̠ɡa̠ta̠ma̠]

Noun

勾(まが)玉(たま) • (magatama)

a particular kind of curved bead, resembling a bear claw or cashew in shape, usually with a hole piercing the thick end
These are found in Japanese culture since the prehistoric Jōmon period. See the Wikipedia article for more.

Derived terms

勾玉韮(マガタマニラ) (magatamanira)
勾玉藻(マガタマモ) (magatamamo)
子持勾玉(こもちまがたま) (komochi magatama)
八尺瓊勾玉(やさかにのまがたま) (Yasakani no magatama): one of the three imperial regalia of Japan

References

^ Shōgaku Tosho (1988), 国語大辞典（新装版） [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN
↑ ^2.0 ^2.1 Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN

“^△勾玉”, in 漢字ぺディア [Kanjipedia]‎^[1] (in Japanese), The Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation, 2015–2026

[KDJ-1] Shōgaku Tosho (1988), 国語大辞典（新装版） [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN

[DJR-2] 2.0 ^2.1 Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN

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