香箱座り

Japanese

香箱座り: a cat sitting in a catloaf pose.
香箱座り: a catloaf viewed from below.
Kanji in this term
香 箱 座
こう
Grade: S		 はこ > ばこ
Grade: 3		 すわ > ずわ
Grade: 6

Etymology

Compound of 香箱 (kōbako, “incense box”) +‎ 座り (suwari, “sitting”, the 連用形 (ren'yōkei, “continuative or stem form”) of verb 座る suwaru, “to sit”). The suwari changes to zuwari as an instance of rendaku (連濁).

Refers to the similarity in shape between an incense box, and a cat when sitting with its front and back paws tucked underneath and its tail wrapped closely along the side of its body.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [ko̞ːba̠ko̞ zɯᵝɰᵝa̠ɾi]

Noun

香箱座り (hiragana こうばこずわり, rōmaji kōbako-zuwari)

  1. sitting in a catloaf pose
  • 香箱を作る (こうばこをつくる, ​kōbako o tsukuru): “to make an incense box” → to sit down in a catloaf pose[1][2]
  • 香箱を組む (こうばこをくむ, ​kōbako o kumu): “to come together / fold one's limbs into an incense box shape” → to sit down in a catloaf pose[3]

References

  1. ↑ 1988, 国語大辞典（新装版） (Kokugo Dai Jiten, Revised Edition) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan
  2. ↑ 2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN
  3. ↑ 『もっと知りたい!ねこの気持ち』 (Motto Shiritai! Neko no Kimochi, in Japanese), PHP Institute, pp. 34-35
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