ki-monn.
/ˈkiːmɒn/, U.S. /ˈkiˌmɑn/ In Japanese tradition, the name given to the north-east, supposed to be the source of evil.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > goodness and badness > badness or evil > [noun] > source of
demon1635
ki-mon1871
society > morality > moral evil > [noun] > source of evil
ki-mon1871
the world > the earth > direction > cardinal points > North > North-east > [noun]
north-eastlOE
north-easta1387
north-eastc1570
north-eastwards1578
nor'-east1592
ki-mon1871
north-east1888
north-eastward1892
1871 A. B. Mitford Tales Old Japan II. 57 The Temple Tô-yei-zan..faces the Ki-mon, or Devil's Gate, of the castle.
1901 F. Brinkley Oriental Series: Japan III. iii. 111 Prominent among the ancient superstitions of Japan was a belief that all evil influences had their abode in the northeast, the Demons' Gate (Kimon).
1904 L. Hearn Japan: Attempt at Interpr. vii. 144 In almost every garden, on the north side, there is a little Shintō shrine, facing what is called the Ki-Mon, or ‘Demon-Gate’,—that is to say, the direction from which, according to Chinese teaching, all evils come... The belief in the Ki-Mon is obviously a Chinese importation.
1972 National Geographic May 689/2 The avoidance of kimon, the devil's gate..not a single doorway faced in a north-easterly direction.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1976; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
<
n.1871