Hotoke

The Japanese noun hotoke ()[note 1] is a word of Buddhist origin and uncertain etymology.[1] It has several meanings, all but a few directly linked to Buddhism. It can refer to:

Notes

  1. Note that the very same kanji 仏 in modern Japanese can be also read futsu, but is often used as an abbreviation for the word "furansu", or France. It is the first of three characters used to write the name of that country (仏蘭西 (fu-ran-su)), in a somewhat uncommon practice called ateji, in which kanji are matched to the phonetic sound of a word with little regard for the indicative meaning of the kanji.
  2. The term is also sometimes used to represent Buddhism as a whole. For example, the expression "kami and hotoke" (神と仏) draws a distinction between Japanese kami and the enlightened beings of foreign Buddhism.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Iwanami Kōjien (広辞苑) Japanese dictionary, 6th Edition (2008), DVD version
  2. New Oxford American Dictionary 2nd edition, 2005, Oxford University Press, Inc.
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