Bent Bamboo Character

箞 names bamboo that is bent or worked into a curve.

The earliest named dictionary entry is in the Chinese dictionary 玉篇, compiled around 543; it glosses 箞 as 曲竹 (“curved bamboo”). A later dictionary, 集韻, glosses it as 揉竹 (“bending bamboo”).

Together, these glosses cover both bamboo’s curved condition and the act of shaping it.

Where does 箞 appear in Chinese and Japanese records?

Chinese records use it for bamboo; Japanese place-name records preserve it.

In the Yuan period of Chinese history, Li Kan’s bamboo treatise 竹譜 sorts bamboo by condition. It calls naturally curved bamboo 箞 and gives neighboring labels 笑 and 䈒 to bamboo bent or weakened by wind.

A 2022 record from Karatsu City, Japan, gives 箞木 the local place-name reading うつぼぎ (roughly “u-tsu-bo-gi”). This Japanese name reading is separate from the Chinese dictionary glosses.

Why can 箞 look different in different fonts?

Its design can vary with the font or text system.

Japanese character-reference data lists multiple forms for 箞. Different strokes alone do not mean that the underlying character has changed.