夫婦円満 fūfu enman Marital Bliss
This is a philological study of the Japanese word 夫婦円満 (fūfu enman), marital bliss. It spans the record from its earliest print appearances in the novels of 1905 to its life today in fortune slips, shrine advertisements and character references, and examines why a plain modern compound absent from the national dictionaries carries the wedding-shelf wish that the classical idioms 比翼連理 and 琴瑟相和 carry more grandly.
Abstract
夫婦円満, fūfu enman, is a plain modern Japanese compound for a marriage that is round and full, with no corner to catch on. It has no entry of its own in the national dictionaries, which list only its two halves, and its earliest print witnesses are the novels of 1905; since then it has lived in fortune almanacs, shrine advertisements and character references, never as a saying with an author. It is the modern, everyday sibling of grander classical wishes such as 琴瑟相和 and 比翼連理.
Overview
The sense. Standard modern Japanese, the language of the wedding toast, the fortune slip and the character reference; not in the national dictionaries, which list its two halves. The 精選版 日本国語大辞典's first citation for 円満 in its sense of a household without corners is 小栗風葉 in 1905: 家庭の幸福とか、夫婦間の円満とか云ふものは, what is called the happiness of a home, or harmony between husband and wife [1]. The compound 夫婦円満 has no entry of its own on the dictionary site that serves the major dictionaries; JMdict gives matrimonial happiness; happy marriage [2]. The English bliss is warmer than the Japanese, which is a word for a marriage that works, not one that transports; harmony is the nearer word.
The words. 夫婦 fūfu is husband and wife, a Chinese compound in Japanese since the ninth century [3]. 円満 enman is round and full: a Buddhist word first, for merit that lacks nothing, then for a face that is full, then for a state of things without defect, and last, in the novels of the 1900s, for a person or a household that is without corners, 穏やか, easy and unruffled [1]. The prewar books write it 夫婦圓滿 with the old forms; the design uses the modern ones, and they are one word.
The text in English. JMdict: matrimonial happiness; happy marriage [2]. The house's Marital Bliss is its own, made for Takase Studios, and it is a little warmer than the Japanese, which is closer to a happy, harmonious marriage. A rendering must keep the two persons and the roundness; harmony carries the roundness better than bliss does. The house's gloss of 円満, perfection; harmony, is right on the second half.
The historical record
1905. Tokuda Shūsei. The Diet Library's earliest is 徳田秋声 in 1905: 御夫婦圓滿で、且つ御一家御案業とあつてこそ, only if the couple is harmonious and the whole house at peace in its work, said of what a family marriage is for [4].
1916. A book on gemstones. Then the places the word has lived since. A 1916 book on gemstones: carnelian 夫婦圓滿を保證す, guarantees marital harmony [5].
1932. A fortune almanac. A 1932 fortune almanac, for those born in the eleventh month: 共息災なり夫婦円満なり, you will be free of illness and harmonious in marriage [6].
1937. A guide to Shimane. A 1937 guide to Shimane, advertising shrine weddings at Izumo: 神前結婚擧式を行へば夫婦圓滿で離婚がないとて益々增加の趨勢にあり, since a wedding before the god there means a harmonious marriage and no divorce, they are more and more in demand [7].
1933, and 1936. Character references. A 1933 biography of a prime minister [8] and a 1936 novel [9] use it as a character reference, known for filial piety and a harmonious marriage.
The 1930s, and a 1938 novel. The count of books using it jumps in the 1930s [10], and 横光利一 gives a character the line in 1938: 夫婦圓滿といふことより、豪いことはないと思ふんだ, I have come to think there is nothing greater than a harmonious marriage [11]. It is a wish and a report, never a saying with an author.
Today. Its sister is 家庭円満, a harmonious home, born in an advertisement of 1902 and given a headword in a dictionary of new words in 1919 [12]; the older words for the same wish are grander and classical, 琴瑟相和 the lute and zither in tune from the Book of Songs, 偕老同穴 grow old together, share one grave, and 比翼連理 wing to wing, branch to branch from 白居易.
A reading
A word of about 1905, without a source text and without a dictionary entry of its own, and none the worse for either: it is the phrase a Japanese fortune slip, a shrine and a wedding guest all use for the state a marriage should be in, round and full and with no corner to catch on. It is not a four-character idiom but a four-character compound, plain modern Japanese; the classical idiom for the same wish is 比翼連理, which belongs beside it on any wedding shelf. If a buyer wants the wish every Japanese guest would write on a wedding card, this is the word.
References
- 「円満」, 精選版日本国語大辞典 (four senses; ④ 初出 青春, 小栗風葉, 1905–06), at kotobank. https://kotobank.jp/word/円満
- JMdict, 「夫婦円満」. https://jisho.org/word/夫婦円満
- 「夫婦」, 精選版日本国語大辞典 (初出 性霊集三, 835頃), at kotobank. https://kotobank.jp/word/夫婦
- 徳田秋声, 少華族 下編, 1905, scan 77. https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/886721/1/77
- 鈴木敏 (ed.), 寳石誌, 1916, scan 68. https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/954689/1/68
- 高島易斷所, 御重寶 昭和8年, 1932, scan 37. https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/2535558/1/37
- 島根県案内誌, 1937, scan 46. https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/1120780/1/46
- 斎藤実伝, 1933. https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/1224211
- 島木健作, 第一義, 1936. https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/1114059
- National Diet Library Digital Collections, next-generation full-text search on 夫婦圓滿, 76 books, counted by decade. https://lab.ndl.go.jp/dl/
- 横光利一, 春園, 1938. https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/1229236
- 家庭円満: the 1902 advertisement for 『家庭の快楽』 and the new-words dictionary of 1919, read for the history of that word. https://takase.com/library/philology/words/kanai-anzen-katei-enman