An old meaning in a familiar soundSourced
Japan · Japanese meaning
Classical tsutomete can mean early morning
Modern Japanese tsutomete can mean deliberately or as much as possible. In classical Japanese, the same sound is also a noun for early morning or the following morning. The Pillow Book’s opening discussion of winter uses this morning sense.
The familiar sound points to a time of day in an older text.
Summary / translation: Unbubly · CC BY-SA 4.0
Source and reuse details
つとめて · Wikimedia contributors
Adapted, summarized and translated from the source. Adapted text is also available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Reviewed: 2026-10-10