Is a palindrome a thing?


A palindrome is a word or phrase that is the same backwards and forwards, such
as "Bob", "aibohphobia" or "A man, a plan, a canal: Panama."

In English, as well as many other languages, this is a coherent, named concept
and literary technique.

Does a meaningfully similar concept exist in Japanese, and is it used?




「ないな」わいは[い]{言}わないな。  
[よる]{夜}は[しんさく]{新作}たくさんしはるよ。  
[わたし]{私}[かいぶん]{回文}[ぜんぶ]{全部}[い]{活}かしたわ。

(Ah don' say "there ain't".  
They create many new works at night.  
I made good use of all (my) palindromes!")

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おそまつさまでした。

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_UPDATE:_

> 回文であるはいくはどうですか？

[ひと]{人}は[と]{問}ひ 「[とくい]{得意}？[はいく]{俳句}」と [ひと]{人}は[と]{問}ひ

(They ask me / "Good at haiku?"--so / they ask me)




We have a word, 回文{かいぶん}, for instance:

  * 竹藪焼{たけやぶや}けた - "The bamboo bush was burnt" 
  * 英語{えいご}言{い}え - "Speak (in) English" 
  * イタリアで暮{く}らし楽{らく}でありたい - "I want to live comfortably in Italy"

as a counterpart to the English "palindrome".

There are hundreds and hundreds of 回文, but I cannot recall them off the top of
my head. I think you can collect them by googling 回文.

