The budget for food expenses changes between "nigiri" and "onigiri."

Michihiro Itoi

 

 

The researcher of Japanese and classical literary says that there are not a few cases in which the meaning of a Japanese word is changed significantly by adding "o". "Hiya" and "Ohiya", "Medetai" and "Omedetai", "Share" and "Oshare", "Hako" and "Ohako", "Fukuro" and "Ofukuro." A slight difference in sound divides the world precisely. And so too with a voiced sound and unvoiced sound. It is said that "there is hair on a brush and no hair on a bald head." in the Edo period. From "Imagination In The Valley."

 

"March 24  2019

from “Oriori no Kotoba” by Kiyokazu Washida, The Asahi Shimbun"