A Rabbit Crossed with a Horse

Jan 10, 2012

What do you think you get if you combine a rabbit with a horse?! The answer is in this photo.

Photo Credit: Eve Kushner

Part of a sculpture installation in Bologna, Italy, in July 2011. It may look like the donkey is being stabbed, but he's actually okay!

You get a donkey:

兎馬 (うさぎうま: donkey) rabbit + horse

That is, a donkey looks like a horse with the ears of a rabbit!

The first kanji is non-Joyo. As for the yomi うさぎうま, the kun-kun combination makes this word much easier to remember and all the more charming, as it throws a spotlight on the rabbit-horse combination!

Comments

This is an interesting combination of kanji. I've only heard of donkeys called as 驢馬 (ろば).

Jan 14, 2012 18:11 — Corey

Thanks so much for supplying the kanji for ろば. First of all, 驢馬 is a really great horse sandwich (horse + something + horse). Second of all, the non-Joyo 驢 contains both a horse (馬) and a tiger (虎), plus a field (田) and a dish (皿). There must be one hell of a story behind all that! The horse was running through a field when he came upon a tiger with a dish ... and it all came to mean "donkey" (驢)!

Jan 14, 2012 20:06 — eve

A Rabbit Crossed with a Horse

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