若菜

Japanese

Kanji in this term
若	菜
わか Grade: 6	な Grade: 4
kun’yomi

Etymology

From Old Japanese.

Compound of 若(わか) (waka, “young, new”) + 菜(な) (na, “greens”).

Noun

若(わか)菜(な) • (wakana) 

1. young greens or shoots
   • 905, Kokin Wakashū, (book 1, poem 21; also Hyakunin Isshu, poem 15)

     君(きみ)がため春(はる)の野(の)に出(い)でて若(わか)菜(な)つむわが衣(ころも)手(で)に雪(ゆく)はふりつつ

     kimi ga tame haru no no ni idete wakana tsumu waga koromode ni yuku wa furitsutsu

     For your sake alone, I went forth to springtime fields and plucked these young greens while snow fell unceasingly onto the sleeve of my robe.

2. the shoots of the spring 七草 (nanakusa, literally “seven kinds of herbs”):
   1. used to make 七草粥 (nanakusa-gayu, “rice gruel mixed with seven wakana herbs”), or
   2. in the days of the medieval Japanese court, mixed with 羹 (atsumono, “fish and vegetable broth”); when eaten, thought to cure all diseases
3. 餅粥 (mochigayu, “rice gruel with mochi”) mixed with the shoots of the spring nanakusa, traditionally eaten on the seventh day of the Japanese New Year

   Synonyms: 七種粥, 七草粥 (nanakusa-gayu); 若菜粥 (wakana-gayu)

4. a courteous, young woman

Derived terms

Derived terms

• 若(わか)菜(な)粥(がゆ) (wakana-gayu)
• 若(わか)菜(な)集(しゅう) (Wakana-shū)
• 若(わか)菜(な)摘(つみ), 若(わか)菜(な)摘(つ)み (wakana tsumi, “shoot picking”)
• 若(わか)菜(な)の節(せち) (Wakana no Sechi)
• 若(わか)菜(な)病(びょう) (wakana-byō)
• 若(わか)菜(な)迎(むか)え (Wakana Mukae): name for the sixth day of the Japanese New Year, where young shoots are traditionally picked
• 朝(あさ)若(わか)菜(な) (asa wakana)
• 恵供(えぐ)の若(わか)菜(な) (egu no wakana)
• 七(なな)種(くさ)の若(わか)菜(な) (nanakusa no wakana)
• 子(ね)の日(ひ)の若(わか)菜(な) (nenohi no wakana)
• 初(はつ)若(わか)菜(な) (hatsuwakana)

See also

• 七種(ななくさ), 七草(ななくさ) (nanakusa, “seven herbs”)

Proper noun

若(わか)菜(な) • (Wakana) 

1. name for the thirty-fourth and thirty-fifth chapters of The Tale of Genji
   1. 若菜上 (Wakana Jō), the thirty-fourth chapter
   2. 若菜下 (Wakana Ge), the thirty-fifth chapter
2. a kyogen play
3. a placename
5. a female given name

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Old Japanese

Etymology

From 若 (waka, “young”) +‎ 菜 (na, “greens”).

Noun

若菜 (wakana) (kana わかな)

1. young greens or shoots that can be mixed to 羹 (atsumono, “fish and vegetable broth”) or 餅粥 (mochigayu, “rice gruel with mochi”)
   • c. 759, Man’yōshū, book 11, poem 2838:

     河上爾洗若菜之流來而妹之當乃瀨社因目

     kapakami₁ ni arapu wakana no₂ nagareki₁te imo ga atari no₂ se ni ko₂so₂ yo₂rame₂

     (please add an English translation of this usage example)

Descendants

• Japanese: 若菜 (wakana)