八咫鏡

八咫鏡

Japanese

Kanji in this term
八	咫	鏡
や Grade: 1	た Hyōgaiji	かがみ Grade: 4
kun’yomi

八咫鏡: Artist's impressions of the (unseen) Imperial Regalia of Japan, with Yata no Kagami on the upper right

Alternative forms

• 八咫の鏡

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.

Pronunciation

• Kun’yomi
  • (Tokyo) やたのかがみ​ [yàtá nó kágámíꜜ] (Odaka – [o])[2]
  • IPA^(key): [ja̠ta̠ no̞ ka̠ɡa̠mʲi]

Proper noun

八咫鏡 (hiragana やたのかがみ, rōmaji Yata no Kagami)

1. 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

• 草 (くさ)薙 (なぎの)剣 (つるぎ) (Kusanagi no Tsurugi)
• 八 (や)尺 (さか)瓊 (にの)勾 (まが)玉 (たま) (Yasakani no Magatama)

References

1. 1988, 国語大辞典（新装版） (Kokugo Dai Jiten, Revised Edition) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan
2. 1998, NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 (NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: NHK, →ISBN