What is "Nun-gaku"? [Fictional Project Submission] (Tanka, Folklore, Nuntropy, etc.)

What is "Nun-gaku"—

A gentle game of knowledge that finds emotion in chaos and relaxation

—

Hello. I am Zenichiro Mashiko, a researcher of Nun-gaku.

First of all,
let me explain a little for those who are beginners and wondering, "What on earth is Nun-gaku?"

"Nun-gaku" is a new field of study that gently scoops up those "things that just cannot be defined"—the emotions that drift faintly in words or gestures like "nun," such as relaxation, cuteness, and ambiguous lingering echoes...

It is a study that feels like it is softly gathering up those things that simply refuse to be pinned down.

🌱 Etymology and Background

"Nun" is a type of youth slang or internet slang, used especially among middle and high school girls,
"It doesn't mean anything, but the sound is nice," "It's somehow cute," "So emo," "I don't know, though—"

—it has been used with that kind of "nun-like" feeling.

For example—

"Sleepy-nun"
"Today's outfit is kind of nun"
"It's a nun-nun day, nun"

and so on.

"Nun" values "sound" over meaning, and "fluctuation" over logic.
It is a place where a certain kind of linguistic ambiguity sits like a nun-like cat.
It is as if a "fluffy sensation" that runs away when you try to name it exists there, or perhaps it doesn't.

—By the way.
The "Nun" that appears in ancient Egyptian mythology is considered a god who personified "primordial chaos" or "infinite water," and its abstraction as a source of creation—somehow embodies a feeling like "the fluctuation before meaning is fully determined."

I cannot help but feel a coincidental correspondence with "nun" there.

In short, "nun" is a chaotic vibration from before language, and it can be said to be a kind of kotodama (word spirit) that reflects the gentle swaying of the world.

✒️ The Three Principles of "Nun-gaku"

1. Find emotion in things that seem like nothing at all
2. Gently re-recognize & softly redefine the world
3. Wander aimlessly around the periphery of relaxation and chaos

🎨 Research and Creative Examples of "Nun-gaku"

• "Nun Poetry": Poems and songs that are sprinkled with or themed around "nun."

If I may be so bold, I also compose "Nun Tanka" daily. Please allow me to introduce a few here.

Philosophy sprouts from loneliness,
On the banks of the nun where the invisible moon blooms

The contours questioning correctness have wavered,
Nun-nun-nun, deep in silence

Letting go, yet the voice of nun remains in my hand,
May the formless thing sway in the void

The nunchaku that made a nun-nun sound,
Its etymology must surely be nun-slang too

• "Nun Biology": Observing, describing, and classifying the "nun-ness" inherent in "nun-like animals" such as cats, otters, capybaras, and alpacas—a loose, zoological art-science.
The famous saying "Cats are liquid" actually belongs to this field.

• "Nun Thermodynamics": Nuntropy

Nuntropy is the kinetic process by which "nun," which is less than meaning and detached from existential structure, gently seeps into the world.
Born when ambiguity and relaxation propagate in a nun-nun way—that is the "energy of nun."

N = Strength of Nuntropy
G = Looseness of linguistic feel
Y = Fluctuation range
C = Cuteness
M = Intensity of meaning

are defined as follows.
The smaller M is, the higher N becomes.

• "Nun Folklore": A history of internet slang transmission

Example 1: The genealogy of "nun -> nuko"
• In the early 2000s, a culture of intentionally writing "neko" (cat) as "nuko" became popular on 2channel and other sites.
• The reason was a "Nun-linguistic feel-ism," based on the idea that it was "just kind of cute" or "somehow interesting."
• This "nuko" culture contains a "nun-like" sense of listlessness combined with a phonetic cuteness.

Example 2: The "suffix" culture

• A usage where adding "nun" to the end of a sentence softens the linguistic feel.
Example: "Nemui-nun" (I'm sleepy-nun), "Onaka suita-nun" (I'm hungry-nun)

• Vocabulary patterns based on "core meaning + linguistic feel decoration," such as "Yabatanien," "Maji Manji," and "Gekioko punpun maru."

• In Nun Folklore, this is sometimes called a "ritual of meaning amplification through Nun linguistic feel."

Example 3: The creation of "Kaomoji (emoticon) x Nun" culture
• The spread of expressions using "emoticon + sound," such as ( ˘ω˘ )nun or (・ω・)nun.
• Here, characters take on an onomatopoeic power, played with through the intersection of sight and sound.

• "Nun Art": Art depicting a "nun-ish" presence

📖 Conclusion

Nun-ology is "somehow cute," "somehow loose," "somehow I want to say it"—it is a play of knowledge, dressing these lumps of "somehow" in the robes of learning. Shall we call it a field for playing with meaning?
The word "nun," which is not pushy, harbors everything—poetics, biology, and even folklore.

That is Nun-ology. A loose, multi-layered, and very free exploration.
How about it?
Why not take this opportunity to become a "Nun-ologist" yourself?

While playing with the fluctuations of the world, nun-nun-ly.
(This was a submission to this project ↓)

#FirstKingTenkunProject
#Nunology
#FictionalAcademicDiscipline