千早人

From Old Japanese, first attested in the Kojiki (712 CE).

The shift to rendaku (連濁) form -bito is likely due to align with companion pillow word 千早振る (chihayaburu).

千早人 (hiragana ちはやひと, rōmaji chihaya-hito, alternative reading ちはやびと, rōmaji chihaya-bito)

1. allusion to 宇治 (Uji, “a placename, especially of river crossing”)

   from the the sense of “a ferocious man” used in reference to a specific 氏 (uji, “family, clan”), then punning off the “clan” reading of uji

For quotations of use of this term, see Citations:千早人.

• 千 (ち)早 (はや)振 (ぶ)る (chihayaburu)
• 阻 (うじはや)し (ujihayashi)