Hello!
I’m not sure if this is an error or not, but in the example sentence for the word “女”:
“女のニンジャのことを「九ノ一」という。”
There is the word 九ノ一 (kunoichi). However, I haven’t been able to find this written in this way anywhere on the internet! Instead, I usually see it written like this: くノ一, or like this: クノイチ, or even as くのいち.
I’m wondering why the kanji for “nine” (九) is used here. Is this a mistake, or is there a specific reason for it?
Thank you for your help!
Well, according to this article in Japanese Wikipedia,
その他の俗説
[編集]
作家の戸部新十郎は、実際の語源は陰陽道における房術を指す「九一ノ道」が本義であり、「九」の字がたまたま、平仮名の「く」の字と同じ発音のうえ、「一」と合すれば、ともに「女」となることから「くノ一」というふうになったとする「九一ノ道説」を主張している[9]。
That’s an explanation for the origin of the word, but as far as I can tell it’s not a standard spelling in modern Japanese. At least I don’t see it referenced in dictionaries.
It’s also a bit weird since it obfuscates the fact that くノ一 represents the strokes of 女 which is the whole point.
I suspect that the author of the sentence got a bit zealous with kanji usage, given that this is a kanji learning platform and all that.
So if I understand correctly, くノ一 comes from 九一ノ道, and the kanji 九 was used because it is pronounced く, and by combining く and 一 and ノ, we get the kanji for 女? Is that why in this example くノ一 is written with 九? I wasn’t expecting such an explanation! :')
Thanks for your reply!
く and 一 and ノ.
That said, the 九一ノ道 idea mentioned on Wikipedia is just some guy’s theory, and might just be completely out of left field.
I’m with @simias on this one - whoever typed the sentence didn’t notice their IME sneaking in an extra kanji. Something for one of the @Mods to fix.
Does your IME 変換 it to have 九？I can’t get it to do so even if I try. It would be a pretty spectacular mistake if not intentional
No, though reportedly 桂九ノ一 is the name of an active rakugo performer from Toyonaka, Osaka Prefecture, so it’s not completely out of the realms of possibility.
I’ll bring this up to the team, thanks!
Hey again! The team took a look and agreed this must have been a typo. We’ve now changed the phrase so it shows く instead of 九!
