Japanese

Empress Michiko on the right, wearing jūni-hitoe on her wedding day in 1959

ジュウニヒトエ, the plant in genus Ajuga

Alternative forms

• 十二一重, 十二単衣

Noun

十二単 ‎(hiragana じゅうにひとえ, romaji jūni-hitoe)

1. (clothing) a ceremonial twelve-layered robe worn by women of the imperial court, consisting of twelve single-layer unlined robes worn one over the other

   This style became fashionable some time in the tenth century during the Heian period. Starting from the Muromachi period, the term jūni-hitoe was also used in the popular culture to refer to the five-layer 五重唐衣裳 ‎(goe-karaginumo) style.

2. (botany) Ajuga nipponensis, a perennial plant in the mint family and native to Japan

Usage notes

• (Ajuga nipponensis): Members of genus Ajuga are also known as bugleweed, ground pine, carpet bugle, or just bugle. As with many terms that name organisms, this term is often spelled in katakana in biological contexts, as ジュウニヒトエ.

Related terms

References

1. ↑ 1988, 国語大辞典（新装版） (Kokugo Dai Jiten, Revised Edition) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan
2. 1 2 2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, ISBN 4-385-13905-9