ころく koroku【追儺4】

8 months ago
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In Japan, there is a collection of waka poems the Manyoshu 
collected from the 7th century to around 795.
The title of this issue, "ころく Koroku" is a word from a part of a poem of unknown author in Volume 14 of the Manyoshu.
Karasu tou. oowosoto torino no masadenimo kimasanukimi wo korokutozonaku."

(A raven in a panic says,
"That man who has no plans to come
came, he came.")

In Japan around the 7th century, it is said that the cawing sounded like "koroku" (a crow's cry sounds like "koroku" and
is said to mean "Here it comes," "Here it comes," "Someone is coming," "Someone is coming soon," etc.

Overseas, caw caw and croak are used to describe the cawing of crows, but in Japan, korak came to be used to describe the cawing of crows in the Nara period (710-794).
In modern Japan, the crow's cry is recognized as "kākā".

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