How to understand 抄 in Japanese?


In the names of cartoon movies 桜花抄, 百鬼夜行抄, what's the special meaning of 抄? Is
it a kind of synonym of 物語?




The literal meaning of 抄 is “excerpt,” and it also means an annotation of
literary work. However, it is often used in a title of a literary work when it
is neither an excerpt nor an annotated version of another writing, and I guess
that your two examples fall into this category. I do not know the exact
meaning of 抄 in such cases.

Sometimes the use of 抄 in a title can be explained from the meaning “excerpt”
even when it is not an excerpt of another work. There is a well-known
collection of poems by [Kōtarō
Takamura](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C5%8Dtar%C5%8D_Takamura) titled
Chieko-shō
([智恵子抄](http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%99%BA%E6%81%B5%E5%AD%90%E6%8A%84))
published in 1941. Chieko is the name of his (deceased) wife. This work is not
an abridgement of anything. The title may mean that this work describes some
essential part of his wife, but not her entirety.




The literal meaning of 抄 is “excerpt,” and it also means an annotation of
literary work. However, it is often used in a title of a literary work when it
is neither an excerpt nor an annotated version of another writing, and I guess
that your two examples fall into this category. I do not know the exact
meaning of 抄 in such cases.

Sometimes the use of 抄 in a title can be explained from the meaning “excerpt”
even when it is not an excerpt of another work. There is a well-known
collection of poems by [Kōtarō
Takamura](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C5%8Dtar%C5%8D_Takamura) titled
Chieko-shō
([智恵子抄](http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%99%BA%E6%81%B5%E5%AD%90%E6%8A%84))
published in 1941. Chieko is the name of his (deceased) wife. This work is not
an abridgement of anything. The title may mean that this work describes some
essential part of his wife, but not her entirety.

