烏う羽ば玉たま

Meanings

noun, noun which may take the genitive case particle 'no'

Literary or poetic word for deep blackness or total darkness. Often used in classical poetry and set phrases.

烏う羽ば玉たまの闇やみに包つつまれた夜よるだった。
It was a night wrapped in pitch darkness.
彼かの女じょの髪かみは烏う羽ば玉たまのように黒くろかった。
Her hair was as black as jet.

peyote; mescaline

usually written using kana alone

Refers to the peyote cactus (Lophophora williamsii) or the psychoactive substance mescaline derived from it. Usually written in kana.

Kanji

烏crow, raven
羽feathers, counter for birds, rabbits
玉jewel, ball

Related words

ペヨーテ
ペヨーテ is the more common loanword for peyote, while ウバタマ is a native Japanese term that can also refer to the drug mescaline.
真まっ黒くろ
真っ黒 is the everyday word for pitch black, while 烏羽玉 is a literary or poetic expression.

Written forms

烏う羽ば玉たま
Kanji spelling; rare and mostly literary or poetic. The word is usually written in kana.
ウバタマ
kana-only spelling
Katakana spelling, sometimes used for the plant or drug sense.

Etymology

The kanji 烏羽玉 literally means 'crow-feather jewel', referring to the jet-black color of a crow's feathers. The reading うばたま is of uncertain origin, possibly a compound of 烏羽 (crow feather) and 玉 (jewel). The plant sense is an extended use from the black color of the peyote cactus.