Is it true that the meaning of あ可よろし is unknown?


One of the cards in a Hanafuda deck looks like this:

![enter image description here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/UzyIM.jpg)

The character that looks like の is actually ![hentaigana
ka](https://i.stack.imgur.com/f2IyA.png), a
[hentaigana](http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%A4%89%E4%BD%93%E4%BB%AE%E5%90%8D)
for _ka_ derived from the kanji 可. The card says あかよろし, not あのよろし.

According to
[Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanafuda#Card_significance), the
meaning of the inscription (which is also on one other card in the deck) is
unknown, despite the fact that the writing on another "poetry ribbon" card in
the deck are known to be the name of a town.

Is this accurate? Can anyone with more knowledge of Japanese culture and
language venture a guess as to what it might have meant? Can anyone provide a
more reliable, possibly Japanese-language source to back up the Wiki page?




> Is it true that the meaning of あ可よろし is unknown?

## Short Answer

No, it's not true.

## Longer Explanation

According to [the JA Wikipedia
article](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%8A%B1%E6%9C%AD), particularly [the
絵柄【えがら】に関【かん】する注釈【ちゅうしゃく】
section](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%8A%B1%E6%9C%AD#.E7.B5.B5.E6.9F.84.E3.81.AB.E9.96.A2.E3.81.99.E3.82.8B.E6.B3.A8.E9.87.88),
the etymology might not be fully pinned down:

  * 「あかよろし」と書かれている。「の」のように見える2文字目は「可」の草書体に由来する変体仮名の「か」（![hentaigana ka](https://i.stack.imgur.com/f2IyA.png)） である。「あかよろし」とは「明らかに良い」という意味かという説もあるが定かではない。  
Written as _akayoroshi_. The second character that looks like の ( _no_ ) is
actually the _hentaigana_ ![hentaigana
ka](https://i.stack.imgur.com/f2IyA.png) for か ( _ka_ ), derived from the
cursive form of the character 可. One theory is that " _akayoroshi_ " has the
meaning of " _akiraka ni yoi_ (clearly good)", but this is not certain.

So let's break this down.

### Part 1: あか

Etymologically, we know that 明らか【あきらか】 comes from a root form _ak-_ that
underwent various inflectionary changes, of which _aka_ is one. The Shogakukan
Kokugo Dai Jiten Dictionary entry for あか【赤・紅・朱・緋】 notes:

  * 「あか（明）」と同語源という。 ...  
Apparently cognate with " _aka_ (明)"...  


### Part 2: よろし

This is the root of modern adjective 宜しい【よろしい】. Shogakukan's etymology for
this states:

  * 「よらし」の変化、または、それと同じ経過で「よる（寄）」から派生した語。古代では「よし」が積極的な判定を下すのに対して、「よろし」は消極的で、「よし」よりも低い評価を表し、積極的な「あし」に対する消極的な「わろし（わるし）」の反対  
A change from _yorashi_ , or a derivative by similar means from _yoru_ (寄る).
In ancient times, _yoshi_ indicated an affirmative judgment, whereas _yoroshi_
was more reserved, implying a lesser valuation than _yoshi_ , contrasting with
the affirmative _ashi_ and more reserved _waroshi_ ( _warushi_ )

Drilling down, _yorashi_ was an adjective with an original meaning indicating
"something inviting approach, something you want to get closer to" (c.f.
寄る【よる】, "come near, draw near"), extending then to "good". The bit about
affirmative versus reserved can be further explained as _yoshi_ == "good",
_yoroshi_ == "not bad", _waroshi_ == "not good", _ashi_ == "bad".

(Note that this four-way breakdown is for ancient Japanese -- in modern
Japanese, _yoi_ == "good", _yoroshii_ == "good [in polite speech]", _warui_ ==
"bad", and _ashi_ has almost disappeared, persisting only in certain set
phrases like 善し【よし】悪し【あし】 "the good and the bad".)

### Conclusion

Without further research to document this as a phrase used in older forms of
Japanese, this remains only a theory, as noted in the JA Wikipedia article
notes. I did search the online _Man'yōshū_ at [the University of Virginia's
site](http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/japanese/manyoshu/), but I found [zero
hits](https://www.google.com/search?q=site%3Aetext.lib.virginia.edu%2Fjapanese%2Fmanyoshu%2F+%22%E3%81%82%E3%81%8B%22+%22%E3%82%88%E3%82%8D%E3%81%97%22&oq=site%3Aetext.lib.virginia.edu%2Fjapanese%2Fmanyoshu%2F+%22%E3%81%82%E3%81%8B%22+%22%E3%82%88%E3%82%8D%E3%81%97%22&aqs=chrome..69i57j69i58.11551j0j7&sourceid=chrome&es_sm=93&ie=UTF-8)
where _aka_ was immediately followed by _yoroshi_. But then the _Man'yōshū_ is
only one ancient text, leaving open the possibilities that any _aka yoroshi_
phrase appeared later in the development of the language, or might have been
dialectal, or might simply not have been used by the authors of the
_Man'yōshū_.

All that said, given the etymologies of the parts, there appears to be ample
room for this phrase to have been in existence originally as 明か宜し ( _aka
yoroshi_ ), without it necessarily being a corrupted or broken-down version of
_akiraka ni yoroshii_.




> Is it true that the meaning of あ可よろし is unknown?

## Short Answer

No, it's not true.

## Longer Explanation

According to [the JA Wikipedia
article](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%8A%B1%E6%9C%AD), particularly [the
絵柄【えがら】に関【かん】する注釈【ちゅうしゃく】
section](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%8A%B1%E6%9C%AD#.E7.B5.B5.E6.9F.84.E3.81.AB.E9.96.A2.E3.81.99.E3.82.8B.E6.B3.A8.E9.87.88),
the etymology might not be fully pinned down:

  * 「あかよろし」と書かれている。「の」のように見える2文字目は「可」の草書体に由来する変体仮名の「か」（![hentaigana ka](https://i.stack.imgur.com/f2IyA.png)） である。「あかよろし」とは「明らかに良い」という意味かという説もあるが定かではない。  
Written as _akayoroshi_. The second character that looks like の ( _no_ ) is
actually the _hentaigana_ ![hentaigana
ka](https://i.stack.imgur.com/f2IyA.png) for か ( _ka_ ), derived from the
cursive form of the character 可. One theory is that " _akayoroshi_ " has the
meaning of " _akiraka ni yoi_ (clearly good)", but this is not certain.

So let's break this down.

### Part 1: あか

Etymologically, we know that 明らか【あきらか】 comes from a root form _ak-_ that
underwent various inflectionary changes, of which _aka_ is one. The Shogakukan
Kokugo Dai Jiten Dictionary entry for あか【赤・紅・朱・緋】 notes:

  * 「あか（明）」と同語源という。 ...  
Apparently cognate with " _aka_ (明)"...  


### Part 2: よろし

This is the root of modern adjective 宜しい【よろしい】. Shogakukan's etymology for
this states:

  * 「よらし」の変化、または、それと同じ経過で「よる（寄）」から派生した語。古代では「よし」が積極的な判定を下すのに対して、「よろし」は消極的で、「よし」よりも低い評価を表し、積極的な「あし」に対する消極的な「わろし（わるし）」の反対  
A change from _yorashi_ , or a derivative by similar means from _yoru_ (寄る).
In ancient times, _yoshi_ indicated an affirmative judgment, whereas _yoroshi_
was more reserved, implying a lesser valuation than _yoshi_ , contrasting with
the affirmative _ashi_ and more reserved _waroshi_ ( _warushi_ )

Drilling down, _yorashi_ was an adjective with an original meaning indicating
"something inviting approach, something you want to get closer to" (c.f.
寄る【よる】, "come near, draw near"), extending then to "good". The bit about
affirmative versus reserved can be further explained as _yoshi_ == "good",
_yoroshi_ == "not bad", _waroshi_ == "not good", _ashi_ == "bad".

(Note that this four-way breakdown is for ancient Japanese -- in modern
Japanese, _yoi_ == "good", _yoroshii_ == "good [in polite speech]", _warui_ ==
"bad", and _ashi_ has almost disappeared, persisting only in certain set
phrases like 善し【よし】悪し【あし】 "the good and the bad".)

### Conclusion

Without further research to document this as a phrase used in older forms of
Japanese, this remains only a theory, as noted in the JA Wikipedia article
notes. I did search the online _Man'yōshū_ at [the University of Virginia's
site](http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/japanese/manyoshu/), but I found [zero
hits](https://www.google.com/search?q=site%3Aetext.lib.virginia.edu%2Fjapanese%2Fmanyoshu%2F+%22%E3%81%82%E3%81%8B%22+%22%E3%82%88%E3%82%8D%E3%81%97%22&oq=site%3Aetext.lib.virginia.edu%2Fjapanese%2Fmanyoshu%2F+%22%E3%81%82%E3%81%8B%22+%22%E3%82%88%E3%82%8D%E3%81%97%22&aqs=chrome..69i57j69i58.11551j0j7&sourceid=chrome&es_sm=93&ie=UTF-8)
where _aka_ was immediately followed by _yoroshi_. But then the _Man'yōshū_ is
only one ancient text, leaving open the possibilities that any _aka yoroshi_
phrase appeared later in the development of the language, or might have been
dialectal, or might simply not have been used by the authors of the
_Man'yōshū_.

All that said, given the etymologies of the parts, there appears to be ample
room for this phrase to have been in existence originally as 明か宜し ( _aka
yoroshi_ ), without it necessarily being a corrupted or broken-down version of
_akiraka ni yoroshii_.

