Difficulty in Finding A Definition
Because the term has been applied to several different concepts in Japanese folklore, there remains some confusion as to what the term actually means.
For example, literally, Tsukumogami is translated as “old woman hair,” though other scholars have defined it as “pasqueflower” as well. This comes from a tenth-century poem:
Momotose ni/ Hitotose taranu/ Tsukumogami/ Ware wo kourashi/ Omokage ni miyu.
Read more about this topic: Tsukumogami
Famous quotes containing the words difficulty in, difficulty, finding and/or definition:
“I am continually fascinated at the difficulty intelligent people have in distinguishing what is controversial from what is merely offensive.”
—Nora Ephron (b. 1941)
“In spite of all their kind some elements of worth
With difficulty persist here and there on earth.”
—Hugh MacDiarmid (1892–1978)
“For anyone addicted to reading commonplace books ... finding a good new one is much like enduring a familiar recurrence of malaria, with fever, fits of shaking, strange dreams. Unlike a truly paludismic ordeal, however, the symptoms felt while savoring a collection of one man’s pet quotations are voluptuously enjoyable ...”
—M.F.K. Fisher (1908–1992)
“I’m beginning to think that the proper definition of “Man” is “an animal that writes letters.””
—Lewis Carroll [Charles Lutwidge Dodgson] (1832–1898)