Futon zabuton

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Futon bedding

***** Location: Japan
***** Season: Various, see below
***** Category: Humanity

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Explanation

Futon is a typical Japanese way of bedding for the night.

Nowadays, the stuffed mattress (shikibuton) and the blanket (kakebuton) are together called a "futon".



The futon set can easily be stored away in a special oshiire alcove and the room used as a living room.


The people during the Edo period, especially the poor, did not use bed covers as we have them nowadays. They only had a stuffed matress shikubuton 敷き布団 or some kind of woven mats to lie down on. Sometimes the bare planks of wooden floor would have to do, maybe covered with some straw.

And they wore warm night clothes (yogi) to keep the cold out.
Poor people, especially in the colder northern regions, slept near the fire and used anything to keep them warm, even dried seaweed was put into quilts (documented from Akita in 1789, for example). Hemp and straw and hulls were also used for quilts.
Poor people even slept in straw bags, one couple in one bag.
A poor family used to sleep close toghether to use the body heat for warmth.


. . mugura 葎 (むぐら) cleavers 　 　　
Since kana mugura カナムグラ（鉄葎） Humulus japonicus is of the hemp family, it might well have been used for stuffing a quilt of the poor.

. Bedtime quilt (yogi) as KIGO 　



The shikibuton in the towns ranged from lavish ones to poor ones, called like a thin rice cracker
senbei futon 煎餅布団 "rice cracker matress"
and had only little cotton stuffing.
In Edo, futon usually ment the matress, whereas in Osaka (Kamigata)they began to use kakebuton quilted blanket covers a lot earlier.

There is a famous haiku of a disciple of Basho
Hattori Ransestu 服部嵐雪, who as a man from Edo was surprised to find the people in Higashiyama, Kyoto using a blanket.


ふとん着てねたる姿や東山
futon kite netaru sugata ya Higashiyama

wearing a futon
while he sleeps ...
Higashiyama

. Higashiyama, District in Kyoto 　　



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kigo for all summer

natsubuton 夏蒲団 (なつぶとん) summer futon
natsubusuma 夏衾（なつぶすま）
asabuton 麻布団（あさぶとん）hemp futon


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natsugake 夏掛（なつがけ）summer cover (blanket)
samaaketto サマーケット summer towel ket blanket
taorukake タオル掛（たおるがけ） towel cover blanket
Thin blankets like a towel, that easily soak off the sweat from the sleeper.

The summer is quite hot and humid in Japan and difficult to sleep, even now with air conditioning.


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kigo for all winter

warm bedding, futon 布団、蒲団 quilted bedding

kakebuton 掛布団（かけぶとん）futon blanket, coverlet, top quilt
shikibuton 敷蒲団（しきぶとん）futon matress, underquilt
hanebuton 羽蒲団（はねぶとん）futon with down feathers

futon hosu 蒲団干す（ふとんほす）
hanging the futon to dry, quilt airing
hoshibuton 干蒲団 (ほしぶとん) matress-drying,, matress airing, quilt-airing

shoulder cover, katabuton 肩蒲団
back cover, senabuton　背蒲団
hip cover, koshibuton 腰蒲団
bed cover with cotton layers, quilt, wataire　綿入

. futon 布団、蒲団 quilted bedding 　



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Worldwide use



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Things found on the way




Daruma zabuton　だるま座布団


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Reference : History of Futon


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HAIKU

被き伏す蒲団や寒き夜やすごき
kazuki fusu futon ya samuki yo ya sugoki

to lie down
with the futon pulled up - the cold
of this night - dreadful
Tr. Gabi Greve

Written in winter of 1688, 元禄元年冬
The wife of his disciple Rika 李下, who was also one of his haiku students, had died in the autumn of this year. This hokku is in her memory.
How lonely poor Rika must feel now on this cold night without his beloved wife.

This hokku has the cut marker YA in the middle of line 2,
and another YA in the middle of line 3.
Here the cut markers carry the feeling of "stress and continue".
It helps to emphasize the last word he uses:
sugoki, sugoi 凄い,　which is a rather strong emotion.


Rika 李下 is famous for helping Basho plant the bananas (bashoo) at the Fukagawa hermitage.



Lying down,
the futon pulled up:
cold, desolate night
Tr. Barnhill




covered I lie
the qulit: so cold
the night: so drear

Perhaps here YA can be read as the abrupt form of the plain copula rather than the end-stopping exclamatory.
Tr. John Carley



Mourning Rika's wife
even lying covered
with futon, the cold
of night -- extreme
Tr. etext virginia university



MORE - emotions expressed directly by
. Matsuo Basho 松尾芭蕉 - Archives of the WKD .


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Related words


sitting cushions (zabuton　座布団)
are used to sit on in the Japanese style, kneeling in seiza 正座.


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kigo for all summer

natsu zabuton 夏座蒲団 (なつざぶとん)
summer seating cushion
square Japanese floor cushion used for sitting

asa zabuton 麻座布団（あさざぶとん）zabuton with hemp cover
izabuton 藺座布団（いざぶとん） zabuton with igusa woven straw cover





kawabuton 革蒲団 (かわぶとん)
seating cushion from leather
A rather luxury item for rich homes and expensive restaurants. It feels cool to sit on a leather cushion in summer. Even if the edges are rubbed off from long use, they are still cherished.




enza 円座 (えんざ ) round sitting cushion

Often uses outside on the veranda or for the tea ceremony.
It is used to sit on, not to kneel in Japanses seiza style.



shikigami 敷紙 ( しきがみ ) paper cushion
They are made from strong Japanese washi paper and soaked in kakishibu extract to make them stronger and resistant to lice. They can be used on tatami to keep the mats clean and hygienic.
Nowadays often vinyl is used instead.



yuton 油団 (ゆとん) "oil cushion"
They are made from strong Japanese washi paper and soaked in oil or covered with laquer. They feel very cool to the touch in summer.



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. makura 枕（まくら）
pillow for sleeping 　　
Kopfkissen



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