Torch - Torch

Japanese: たいまつ(松明) - たいまつ

A type of lighting device. It is made by collecting and bundling the resinous parts of dead pine trees. In mythology, when Izanagi-no-Mikoto visited the underworld, he chipped the male pillar of a comb to make a candle. The Japanese word taimatsu is probably a phonetic variant of takimatsu (burning pine). The etymology of tahimatsu (hand-fired pine) does not hold up in the literature. To use pine for lighting, the hide (the oily part of the root) was split into small pieces and burned on a stand, a practice that continued until recent times in mountain villages in Japan and parts of China. Rosin candles, made by kneading pine resin into sticks, were also used.

Source: Heibonsha World Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition Information

Japanese:

灯火具の一種。枯れた松の脂（やに）の多い部分を集め，たばねてつくる。神話では伊弉諾（いざなき）尊が黄泉国（よみのくに）を訪れるとき，櫛の男柱を欠いて燭（しよく）としたとつたえる。国語の〈たいまつ〉は〈たきまつ(焼松)〉の音便であろう。手火松（たひまつ）とする語源説は文献からは成立しない。松を灯火に用いるには，〈ひで〉(根の脂の多い部分)をこまかく割って台の上で燃やすことが，近年まで日本の山村や中国の一部で行われており，松脂をこねて棒にした〈松脂ろうそく〉も用いられていた。

出典　株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典第２版について　情報

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