Tsundoku

In the name of the writing contest, Tsundoku: A Treasure of Tales, we find a Japanese word that appeared in the Meiji era (1868–1912) as slang: tsundoku. This term refers to the habit of buying new books and letting them pile up at home. It can also refer to books ready for reading later when they are on a bookshelf.

The word tsundoku combines the phrase tsunde-oku (積んでおく, "to pile things up ready for later and leave"), and the term dokusho (読書, "reading books"). Source: HuffPost.

You may not be aware of it, but the word tsundoku has already entered the English language and it can be found in many dictionaries, such as The Cambridge English Dictionary.

Tsundoku belongs to the same semantic field as bibliophile. A bibliophile is a person who loves book and usually has a huge collection of books and loves nothing more than browsing in a book shop or a library.

If you find it impossible to leave a book store without buying at least one book, you might be a bibliophile. The earliest use of the word bibliophile was in 1820s France, and it came from the Greek prefix biblio-, or "book," and the word philos, or "love, friend." Source: Vocabulary.com

Want to know more about this?

Tsundoku: Japan's Word for 'Books You Buy But Don't Read'Tsundoku, aka 積ん読 (つんどく). Its definition is: Buying books and not reading them. Look at your bedside table. Can you relate? I bet a lot of you can.

What does "Tsundoku" mean? - Wordling for Kids | MocomiDo you have the habit of buying lots of books but never finding the right time to read them? Tsundoku, a Japanese word describes this type of situation.

Tsundoku: The art of buying books and never reading themDo you have a habit of picking up books which you never quite get around to reading? That's tsundoku.

Not Reading Your Books? You May Be Unknowingly Practicing TsundokuTsundoku is a Japanese term for amassing books and never reading them. Is it possible to find comfort in books that you might never actually read?

Use 'Book Week' to finally get to those titles piling up on your shelvesStarted by publishers and librarians decades ago, Book Week is a way to get people reading. Though, the fact that it's autumn may also provide some encouragement.

Umberto Eco’s Antilibrary: Why Unread Books Are More Valuable to Our Lives than Read OnesHow to become an “antischolar” in a culture that treats knowledge as “an ornament that allows us to rise in the pecking order.”

Karakusa

Japanese patterns, or wagara (和柄), come in many forms and all have a specific meaning. These patterns were originally created for decorating traditional clothes and date back to the 8th century Heian period of Japan. They are largely inspired by nature were worn with purpose for different seasons and occasions. Nowadays, they can be found on kimonos, tenugui hand towels, merchandising designs and all manner of other small Japanese items. Learning their names and origins reveals their auspicious meanings and the wishes for happiness that they embody. Sources: Nippon.com; Kiriko Made; and Japan Avenue.

Image by Bob Cazzell on ArtStation

Since the moment you entered this website you have been seeing karakusa all around. That's right! Karakusa is the name of the traditional Japanese pattern that has been used for both the aesthetic and the name of this year's edition of our writing contest.

Karakusa 唐草・Winding Plants

The arabesques of this Japanese pattern represent a plant endlessly growing and spreading in many different directions. Karakusa is normally associated with different Japanese flowers such as plum blossoms, lotus flowers, peonies, cherry trees and bamboo among others. It was introduced to Japan by China during the Nara period (710-794). It symbolises prosperity, longevity, eternity, continuity of the family, like a tree of life. Sources: Nippon.com; Kiriko Made; and Japan Avenue.