Kusawake
Today I will talk about the Japanese term “kusawake.”
草分け
“Kusawake” means to do something for the first time, or a person who start something as a pioneer.
今日は「草分け」という言葉を紹介します。
“Kusa” of “kusawake” means “grass,” “wake” means “to split,” and this term originally means to develop villages or towns by clearing a grassy land.
「草分け」は、何かを初めてすることや、何かを初めてした人（創始者）のことを指す言葉です。
Deriving from the meaning to develop a raw land, it came to mean to break into an unexplored field, or a founder/pioneer.
この言葉の本来の意味は、草深い土地を切り開いて村や町を興すことです。
Also, there is a similar term, “so so,” the literal meaning of which is “grass and create,” and it means to start a new thing, or a beginning of things.
未開の土地を切り開くことから意味が派生し、未開の分野を切り開くことや、創始者の意味でも使われるようになりました。
This term is often used as “so so ki,” by attaching the word “ki,” meaning “period.”
また、何かを新しく始めることや、物事の始まりを意味する言葉に、「草創」があります。
