Japanese Color Space : OKU-YUKI

The primary meaning of 奥行 is depth on the measurement, such as depth of the refrigerator or depth of the space for a refrigerator in the kitchen. Width is 幅(はば[Haba]) of the object or 間口(まぐち[Ma-Guchi]) of the space.
Ex.

> The shop has a 30 feet frontage(間口) and 20 feet depth(奥行).
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> The lot is 20 meters in width(間口) and 50 meters in depth(奥行).
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#### **おく(奥)[Oku]:**

> (1) the deep inside of an object; the back place far from the front; the place going deep into the inside; the inner part; the inside; the heart; the depths (of the forest, mountain, way, road);
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"inside" is usually うち(内)[Uchi/Nai] or なか(中)[Naka/Chuu]:inside; interior; inner part, internal part.

This antonym is そと(外)[Soto/Gai]:outside, exterior, outer part, external part.

"back" is usually うら(裏)[Ura]:the back; the wrong [reverse] side (of the cloth, paper); the lining, the underside; the inside; the sole (of shoes), the rear.  bottom (or another side that is hidden from view); undersurface; opposite side; reverse side. behind (the house). out of sight; behind the scenes; in the shadows.

This antonym is おもて(表)[Omote]:the surface; the face; the outside, the right side (of the cloth, paper), the obverse [head] (of the coin), the front (door),  the street.

> (2) the inner part of a house.
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This antonym is **かど(門)**[Kado]:a gate, a door, an entrance.

かど[Kado] has other meanings and Kanji characters.

**かど(角)**: a corner, an edge, ridges on a blade, edged point of a sword.

These are something danger that should be covered to be within **おく(奥)**.

**かど(才)**: talent, gift, ability, smart, clever, wit, a brilliant mind, sapience, intelligence, learning ability、mentality, mental capacity, wit, brainpower, brilliance, genius

These are something harmful or troublesome that should be hidden in **おく(奥)**.

**かど(廉/廔):**border line, a charge, suspicion, reason, grounds, a point.

These are something shameful or sinful everyone want to hide in **おく(奥)** .

> (3) The end part of the letter or the book.
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Ex.

> 奥付[Oku-Zuke]:colophon, production notes, impressum
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> 奥書[Oku-Gaki]:postscript (to a book); verification; publication (in a book)
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In the formal letter, a back matter is required after the text, when, from who to whom, and honorific titles written after the addresse's name.

> (4) the other far side of the road. 陸奥[Michi(road) no Oku -> Michinoku / Mutsu] area. the north-east area in Japan.
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Ex. 奥羽[Ouu] area, 奥州[OuShuu] area.
The north-east was believed to be 鬼門(キモン[KiMon]: the demon's gate old people feared; the tabooed quarter; dangerous direction lying to the northeast of one's position; weak point). The opposite south-west was the wind gate.

> (5) the distant future. futurity.
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> (6) inner heart, the bottom of the heart, the back of one's mind, the innermost part of a person's mind, one's intimate feelings, one's inmost heart, the recess of the heart. motive.
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おく(奥) is the part of something hard to see that is furthest from the viewer. It is deep inner invisible imaginary place hard to go across or through and arrive in, and it is not easy to come back from.

> 奥山(おくやま)に　紅葉(もみぢ)踏(ふ)みわけ　鳴(な)く鹿(しか)の
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> Oku Yama ni / Momiji Fumi Wake / Naku Shika no
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> 声(こえ)きく時(とき)ぞ　秋(あき)は悲(かな)しき
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> Koe Kiku Toki zo / Aki ha Kanashi-ki
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> -古今集　秋上215　詠み人しらず:anonymous or 猿丸太夫[Sarumaru Dayuu]）
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> *In the deep mountain far from the city,*
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> *a deer is crying and driving on the autmun leaves.*
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> *When I hear his poor voice for his dearest lover,*
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> *I feel fall.*
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https://www.shigureden.or.jp/about/database\_03.html?id=5

##### **猿丸太夫[Sarumaru Dayuu]**

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarumaru\_Day%C5%AB

> a waka poet in the early Heian period. He is a member of the Thirty Six Poetic Sages (三十六歌仙 sanjūrokkasen), but there are no detailed histories or legends about him.
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#### **お(起)く[Ok-u]**

> wake, get up, get out of bed, stand up, stay up, sit up
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#### **お(置)く[Ok-u] as intransitive verb**

> be wrapped in a mist/fog, (dew, dewdrop) on
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#### **お(置)く[Ok-u] as transitive verb**

> put, set, lay, place, spare something for, leave something behind, let it be, leave something as it is, except, leave a space between, at a distance, at intervals of, part, separate, set apart, partition off, screen, beyond, across, feel hesitant, feel uneasy, with diffidence, be reserved, be modest, be restrained
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ゆき(行)[Yuk-i] is noun form of the verb of ゆ(行/往)く[Yuk-u].

#### **ゆ(行/往)く[Yuk-u]:**

> go, go out, leave, proceed, advance, go by, go across, go through, pass, pass over, pass through, elapse, change, shift, flow, run, drift, progress, move right ahead, go well, leave this world, pass away, demise, die, feel fine, be refreshed, be grad, be satisfied.
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It works as a subsidiary verb and it means, go on ...ing, keep on ...ing, become ... gradually.

### **うつは[Utsuha](器)**

奥行:depth and 間口:width are often used in a figurative sense.

Ex.

> His knowledge is of a wide range(間口), but lacks depth(奥行).
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In my estimation, his knowledge is not so reliable in the above example.

#### **うつは[Utsuha](器):**

間口:width and 奥行:depth also means estimation for うつは[Utsuha](器) of personality, as a metaphor.

**器**[qì]:(morphemes affix) a tool for something, like a container.

The primary meaning of **うつは**[Utsuha](器) is;

> a container, vessel, bowl, receptacle, and so on. This also means capacity of personality as a metaphor, such as caliber, calibre, talent, ability, and so on.
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On this metaphor, **奥行**:depth has 3D; horizontal distance, vertical distance, and time distance. On the time axis, 奥行 means both direction, in the past as his history and in the future as his potential.

This estimation term of 器 is usually for men. This is simply estimated as big/small. His 器 is big. He has a big 器.

#### **ふところ[Futokoro](懐)**

**うつは**[Utsuha](器) is sometimes expressed ふところ[Futokoro](懐). 懐 is a gender-free word, and usually estimated as deep/shallow, wide/narrow, thick/thin, warm/cold, wet/dry.

The primary meaning of ふところ[Futokoro](懐) is;

> bosom, breast, chest; a place enclosed, such as one's inside pocket, a mountain enclosed trees.
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In a figurative sense;

> one's purse, handbag, mind, reach (in Sumou wrestling, boxing), level of achievement (of training, learning, practice, study and so on)
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**懐**[huái]:chest, front of chest, feeling, long for, miss, hold in one's arms or in one's mind, nurse, entertain, get pregnant.

**懐** for other Japanese words:

**なつ(懐)く**:be tamed, be attached, be friendly, be close, be intimate, familiarize;

**なつ(懐)かし**:likable, pleasing, pleasant, nice, fine, desirable, dear, long for, miss;

**いだ(懐)く**:hold in one's arms or in one's mind.

#### **なさ(情)け[Nasake] / 情(ジャウ[Jau])**

The main contents of these container are なさ(情)け[Nasake] or 情(ジャウ[Jau]). They are like water or mother's milk, or a cause of pregnant.

**情**[qíng](morphemes affix):response to circumstances, feeling, sentiment, emotion

**なさ(情)け[Nasake]**：

> affection, a feeling of love for a person, compassion, the feeling of sympathy for the circumstances of others.
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**情(ジャウ[Jau]):**

> evidence, a proof showing that something is true.
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**懐** as a container and **情** as contents, both have a part of "**忄=心**(こころ[Kokoro]:heart, mind, mentality, intelligence, soul, spirit, psyche, feeling, thought, will, center, core, and so on)".  Neither has fixed **かたち**[Katachi](形/容/貌):form, shape, figure, appearance, face.

**おく**(奥) also means such unfixed **こころ**(心). おくゆき(奥行) is estimation of おく(奥). How far from here/me to おく(奥)? How deep? How thick? How warm? How wet?

**奥行** is what Mihawk the Hawk-eye cannot see clearly but should guess seriously with his imagination or 山勘[Yama-Kan]:his hunch, at a venture, by guesswork.

In other words, あひだ(間)[Ahida], あはひ(間)[Ahahi], ま(間)[Ma] or 間合[Ma-Ai].

### **間合(まあい[Ma-Ai])**

#### **あひだ(間)[Ahida]:**

> spacial distance, gap, temporal distance, a period of time, during, while, within, interim, the time between 2 events, an interval, a pause, a break, a relation of between A and B, relationship, since, because.
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#### **あはひ(間)[Ahahi]:**

> a distance, a space between two things, a gap, an interval, an opening, between A and B, a relation of between A and B, relationship, match, combination, balance, harmony of colors, situation.
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#### **ま(間)[Ma]:**

> a space between two things, a gap, a spase between the pillars, a room, sequence, during, while, within.
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#### **間合(まあい[Ma-Ai]):**

> separation, interval, the distance between things, space, an empty area, timing, suitable time, an appropriate opportunity, an opportunity, a chance, distance between opponents.
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#### **居合(いあい[I-Ai]:**

> instantaneous drawing of the sword) is the swords art specialized for **間合** to optimize an opportunity.
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Most of the Japanese arts regard **間合** and **奥行** as vital.

**奥行** is class. **間合** is each instance of **奥行** class.

### **Contrast of 奥行 area**

くろい[Kuro-i] <-> あおい[Ao-i] (Black <-> Blue).

#### **月(つき)に叢雲(むらくも)[Tsuki ni Murakumo]:The moon behind the gathering clouds**

> めぐりあひて　見(み)しやそれとも　分(わ)かぬまに
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> Meguri Ahi-te / Mi-shi ta Sore to mo / Waka-nu ma ni
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> 雲(くも)がくれにし　夜半(よは)の月(つき)かな
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> Kumo Gakure ni shi / Yoha no Tsuki ka na
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> - 新古今集　雑上1499　紫式部[Murasaki ShikiBu]
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> *We happened to see each other after a long time.*
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> *The moon goes around the world day and night.*
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> *You left me before I was sure who you were.*
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> *The moon runs behind the cloud late at night.*
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https://www.shigureden.or.jp/about/database\_03.html?id=57

##### **紫式部[Murasaki ShikiBu]**

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murasaki\_Shikibu

> a Japanese novelist, poet and lady-in-waiting at the Imperial court during the Heian period. She is best known as the author of The Tale of Genji, written in Japanese between about 1000 and 1012.
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##### **源氏物語[GenJi Mono-Gatari]:The Tale of Genji**

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The\_Tale\_of\_Genji

> a classic work of Japanese literature written by the noblewoman and lady-in-waiting Murasaki Shikibu in the early years of the 11th century in "concertina" or "orihon" style made of several sheets of paper pasted together and folded alternately in one direction then the other, around the peak of the Heian period.
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There are a lot of poems about the moon at night and at dawn. The moon rarely shines clearly in the Japanese poetry.
The later people composed 川柳(せんりゅう[SenRyuu]:the shortest comical satirical poem; 5-7-5 moras) to make fun of the moon in the old poetry.

> 百人へ　有明けたった　四つ入れ
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> Hyaku-nin he / Ari-ake Tatta / Yottsu Ire
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> - anonymous
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> *There are only four lights out of the best 100.*
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> *(even though they were an enlightening model for learning poetry...)*
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The moon often got fogged with a sigh.

#### **しののめ(東雲)[Shino-no-Me]:dawn**

This is romance dawn, しののめ(東雲)[Shino-no-Me].

しののめ[Shino-no-Me] was originally written with **篠(しの)の目(め)**.

**篠**(しの)[Shino] means a kind of very small bamboo, a kind of reed, a screen woven out of soft bamboos like a lace curtain.

**目**(め)[Me] means lace stitches, in this usage.

**しののめ** meant lace stitches, thin slits, thin gaps of the screen woven out of soft bamboos, half close half open.

It denoted the soft light stealing through the bamboo screens at the break of dawn, like a Jazz Standard "Softly, as in a morning sunrise". This usage had another Kanji characters of 東雲:literally, the east clouds.

In old Japanese translation of Bible, the dawn is **しののめ**(晨光::literally, the light in the early morning).

> *Who is this that grows like the **dawn**, As beautiful as the full moon, As pure as the sun, As awesome as an army with banners?*
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> - Song of Solomon 6:10 New American Standard Bible
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##### **Bible Hub**

http://biblehub.com/songs/6-10.htm

> この 晨光(**しののめ**)のごとくに 見(み)えわたり  月(つき)のごとくに 美(うる)はしく  日(ひ)のごとくに 輝(かが)やき  畏(おそ)るべきこと 旗(はた)をあげたる 軍旅(つはもの)のごとき 者(もの)は 誰(たれ)ぞや
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> - "The Song of Solomon Songs" Meiji Version, 1953 (original 1887)
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##### **雅歌[GaKa]:The Song of Solomon Songs**

http://bible.salterrae.net/meiji/xml/songofsongs.xml

One of the most famous translators of Meiji Version was James Curtis Hepburn, who is known for the Hepburn romanization system of the Japanese language into the Latin alphabet. I usually use the Hepburn romanization system. Today, it is frequently used for Japanese IME(input method editor) on PC.

##### **James Curtis Hepburn**

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James\_Curtis\_Hepburn

> an American physician, translator, educator, and lay Christian missionary. He is known for the Hepburn romanization system for transliteration of the Japanese language into the Latin alphabet, which he popularized in his Japanese–English dictionary.
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The old Japanese translation of hymns and Bible are composed with old poetic elegant words and refined rhythm, the people who hear them will worship, adore, admire, and long for the west, as if somewhere someone is calling them.

One of the most beautiful poems expressed in Japanese is the old translation of Bible, I suppose.

In old Japanese poetry, the dawn was sometimes blue sorrow.

> しののめの  ほがらほがらと  明けゆけば
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> Shino no Me no / Hogara Hogara to / Ake yuke ba
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> おのがきぬぎぬ  なるぞかなしき
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> Ono ga Kinu ginu / Naru zo Kanashi-ki
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> - 古今集 637 詠み人しらず(anonymous)
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> *The dawn is breaking softly and serenely.*
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> *So, it's time to wear our clothes, my dear?*
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> *Too bad... TOO BAD...!*
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The old Japanese had a loose marriage custom called matrilocal marriage, duolocal marriage or commuter marriage. A husband visited to his wife who was living with her family in another home. He stayed her house at night and left her his short poem at dawn, or send it after leaving. Many of poems were composed as love letters between the couple living apart.

These poems were called きぬぎぬ(衣々:literally, clothes / 後朝:literally, the next morning). Even they were married, their tweets were sorrow at parting, "I miss you".

The professional skillful poets often competed in the poetry contest on some motif such as love songs. They were recorded and copied as a model or a quotation source. The old Japanese poetry world was like Hypertext Markup Language today. The people learned the older poetry and twittered new poems one after another.

During the 奈良[Nara] period, documentation rapidly advanced. They noted the first national histories, 古事記[Kojiki] and 日本書紀[Nihon Shoki] including myth and legend, and collected the local gazetteers and reports of provincial culture, 風土記[Fudoi].

> 夜久毛多都　伊豆毛夜幣賀岐　都麻碁微爾　夜幣賀岐都久流 　曾能夜幣賀岐袁
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> **八**雲(やくも)立(た)つ　出雲(いづも)**八重垣**(やへがき)　妻(つま)ごみに
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> **Ya**kumo Tatsu / Izumo **Yahe-gaki** / Tsuma gomi ni
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> **八重垣**(やへがき)つくる　その**八重垣**(やへがき)を
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> **Yahe-gaki** Tsuku-ru / Sono **Yahe-gaki** wo
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> - 古事記　須佐之男命（すさのをのみこと）[Susa no Wo no Mikoto]
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> *I am trying to build a palace in Izumo to take a new wife, and the multifold fences look like overlapping clouds. - translated by Kyoto Corpus*
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This is the first short Waka poem of 5-7-5-7-7 mora style.
This poem has impressive refrains of [**Ya**] written with 夜 in the original (the magic number **八**:eight, many, much, multi) and [Yahe-gaki] written with 夜幣賀岐 in the original (**八重垣**:eight-fold fence), as if they are lovers' talk between two, or echo. This intensive refrains in the short 31 Waka poem leaves an vivid impression like this;

> *Look there, my dear! There are eight-tiered clouds swelling up high!*
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> *- Are there eight tiered clouds swelling up high, my darling?*
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> *Yeah! Look! Eight tiered clouds high on the land, named "Welling of Cloud!"*
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> *- Oh, I see. It looks high-spirited, like you?*
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> *Yeah! It looks like high tight eight-tiered fence!*
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> *- It looks full of energy and vitality, like you?*
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> *Yeah! I decide to work hard! I'm going to make a fence! High tight eight-tiered fence! So, how about there? For our home? If you like?*
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> *- Are you going to make a high tight eight-tiered fence?*
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> *Yeah! The high tight eight-tiered fence will guard you! From eight-armed monsters! Octopuses in the sea! Spiders on the ground!*
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> *- It sounds great, very like you, my darling? I like it. I like it very much. It sounds like your hair. I'll stay in the high tight eight-tiered fence forever and ever.*
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須佐之男命[Susa no Wo no Mikoto] was a mischievous hero, or a trickster in Japanese mythology.

He had just beaten down the eight-headed and eight-tailed big serpent for saving a sacrificed woman, 櫛名田比売[Kushi-na-da Hime] and asked her to marry him. He turned her into a comb and had hidden her in his tied hair at the fight, and maybe before he found out their home ground.

##### **須佐之男命:Susanoo-no-Mikoto**

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susanoo-no-Mikoto

> also known as Takehaya Susanoo-no-Mikoto (建速須佐之男命) and Kumano Ketsumiko no kami at Kumano shrine, is the Shinto god of the sea and storms. He is also considered to be ruler of Neno-Katasu-Kuni (now Yasugi, Shimane-ken). He is married to Kushinadahime.
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From his first short poem, 八雲[Ya-Kumo] became to mean Japanese poetry, and Patrick Lafcadio Hearn named his Japanese first name with it.

The first collection of Japanese poetry, 万葉集[ManYouSyuu]:literally  "Collection of Ten Thousand Leaves" was also compiled in 奈良[Nara] period.

##### **万葉集:Man'yōshū**

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man%27y%C5%8Dsh%C5%AB

> the oldest existing collection of Japanese poetry, compiled sometime after 759 AD during the Nara period. The anthology is one of the most revered of Japan's poetic compilations.
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