夜の衣を返す

夜の衣を返す

Japanese

Kanji in this term
夜	衣	返
よる Grade: 2	ころも Grade: 4	かえ Grade: 3
kun’yomi

Etymology

Literally “to flip over one’s nightrobe”.

Idiom

夜(よる)の衣(ころも)を返(かえ)す • (yoru no koromo o kaesu) 

1. (archaic, literary) to sleep with clothes overturned, as to meet their longed-for partner in a dream
   • 905–914, Kokin Wakashū (book 12, poem 554)

     いとせめてこひしき時(とき)はむばたまの夜(よる)の衣(ころも)をかへしてぞきる

     ito semete koishiki toki wa mubatama no yoru no koromo o kaeshite zo kiru

     Just as so much time longing [for him] is the wearing inside-out my jet-black nightrobe.

See also

• 衣(ころも)を返(かえ)す (koromo o kaesu)