Abstract
This article investigates three calendar day words in Ancient Japanese: 吉日 (a lucky day when the wishes are realized), 最吉日 (the luckiest day when the wishes are realized), and 最上吉日 (the very luckiest day when the wishes are realized). First, I examine the examples of the word 吉日 used in ancient manuscript texts and assert that 吉日 used in the text of Konzyaku-monogatarisyu written during the late Heian period (the Insei period) should be read as yokifi. I also argue that the manuscripts written in the last years of the Edo period can be used to infer the forms of the word including kitiniti. Second, I investigate two words, saikitiniti (最吉日) and saijaukitiniti (最上吉日), and report two facts which correct previous views. (i) Saikitiniti (最吉日) has been regarded to appear only in the Tomatubon of Okagami written in the same period when the Konzyaku-monogatarisyu was written. In fact, we can find other examples of the word in ancient Japanese documents around the year 1100. (ii) The oldest example of the word saizyaukitiniti (最上吉日), which often appeared in the documents of the Muromachi period (1336-1573), was found in documents of the Eicho era (1096-1097).
