also: えだち
Literary or historical term for a military campaign or battle. Not used for modern warfare in everyday speech; 戦争 or 戦い are the usual words.
unpaid labor; forced labor
Only with reading えだち
Archaic term for compulsory labor under the ritsuryō system. Read as えだち in this sense.
He was a veteran who took part in many campaigns.
This land has been the stage for battles since ancient times.
Under the ritsuryō system, forced labor was imposed on the people.
戦い is the common, everyday word for 'battle' or 'fight', whereas 役 (えき) is a formal term used only in historical names like 文禄の役.
合戦 refers specifically to a pitched battle between armies and is common in historical narration, while 役 (えき) names an entire campaign or war.
役 read as やく commonly means 'role' or 'duty' in everyday Japanese, while the same kanji read えき is a separate, literary sense meaning 'war/campaign' or archaic 'forced labor'.
active duty; active service; currently working · current student taking entrance exams; first-time exam passer
penal servitude; imprisonment with hard labor
retirement from military service; discharge
military service; conscription
serving time in prison; penal servitude · military service · forced labor; compulsory service
labor; service
setting to work; employment; using · causative
military campaign; battle; war
being placed on duty; assignment to a post · going into commission; being placed in commission
Standard kanji spelling for the reading えき.
Archaic reading used for the historical forced-labor sense.
The kanji 役 originally meant 'service' or 'duty'. The reading えき is the Sino-Japanese on'yomi, while えだち is a native Japanese reading used in the archaic forced-labor sense. The exact historical derivation is uncertain.
physical labor; hard manual work; toil
military service
compulsory labor; forced labor; corvée
toil; drudgery; hard labor · penal servitude; imprisonment with hard labor
exemption from service; release from duty
public service; official duties
physical labor; manual work · forced labor (historical); corvée
prison labor
being in prison; incarceration · being in the military; active duty
laborer; worker
work cattle; draft cattle
beasts of burden; draft animals
statute-labor service; socage