Kawaakari is a mystical Japanese word that means the glow of a river or stream in darkness or dusk, or the gleaming surface of a shadowed river (Japanese 川明かり). Kawaakari can also mean the reflection of the moonlight off flowing water.
Auckland on a full moon. Copyright Content Catnip 2014
Obumbro (Latin)
A similar word in Latin in Obumbro. To shadow over and over: to make dark with shadow, save or keep from danger.
Obumbratus amnis – a river shadowed with trees.
Cooper’s Thesaurus Linguae Romanae & Britannicae, 1578.
Inside of the walls of Wawel Castle, in Krakow, a gigantic strawberry moon rise on Midsummer’s Eve. Copyright Content Catnip 2015
Content Catnip is a quirky internet wunderkammer written by an Intergalactic Space Māori named Content Catnip. Join me as I meander through the quirky and curious aspects of history, indigenous spirituality, the natural world, animals, art, storytelling, books, philosophy, travel, Māori culture and loads more.
View more posts
6 thoughts on “Ancient Word of the Day: Kawaakari”
I’ll wait and see if this one comes up in any of the death poems…seems like a possibility
Aww I really hope that you get the chance to go once this covid crap is over…it can’t end soon enough I reckon. My bf and I go as much as we can, so far twice but we definitely want to go back. It’s amazing and our favourite place in the world Japan, food, culture, and the music is pretty amazing there too…not the J-Pop stuff but the Jazz, experimental and electronic music is really interesting there too. I hope you get to go mate, I will give you a lot of recommendations of places to check out!
I’m so excited for you to go there for the first time….do it do it hehe
Here’s a video I made of a cultural festival that was on in a suburb of Tokyo while we were there, we didn’t plan it, just happened to be there and we saw a massive crowd and markets, there are a lot of these low-key suburban festivals going on all the time. I love the drone chanting of the monks and the taiko drumming in the video…maybe not the best audio hereyou but the video is pretty immersive. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVAuU9plEG4
Content Catnip 
I’ll wait and see if this one comes up in any of the death poems…seems like a possibility
LikeLike
I hope it turns up in your book, would be a nice surprise 😁
LikeLike
The beauty of their language just makes me want to go visit every crevice and corner of Asia – it’s on the huge bucket list of mine haha!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Aww I really hope that you get the chance to go once this covid crap is over…it can’t end soon enough I reckon. My bf and I go as much as we can, so far twice but we definitely want to go back. It’s amazing and our favourite place in the world Japan, food, culture, and the music is pretty amazing there too…not the J-Pop stuff but the Jazz, experimental and electronic music is really interesting there too. I hope you get to go mate, I will give you a lot of recommendations of places to check out!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh that’d be great, thank you. Lush place, Japan. I’m envious you’ve been more than once!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m so excited for you to go there for the first time….do it do it hehe
Here’s a video I made of a cultural festival that was on in a suburb of Tokyo while we were there, we didn’t plan it, just happened to be there and we saw a massive crowd and markets, there are a lot of these low-key suburban festivals going on all the time. I love the drone chanting of the monks and the taiko drumming in the video…maybe not the best audio hereyou but the video is pretty immersive. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVAuU9plEG4
LikeLike