Dakimakura

Dakimakura

A dakimakura (抱き枕; from daki 抱き “to embrace or cling” and makura 枕 “pillow”) is a type of large pillow from Japan. The word is often translated to English as body pillow. In Japan, dakimakura are similar to Western orthopedic body pillows, and are commonly used by Japanese youth as “security objects”.

During the late ’90s and early 2000s, dakimakura began to intertwine with otaku culture, leading to the production of pillow covers featuring printed images of bishōjo and bishōnen in lying poses from various anime or bishōjo games. Many of these early otaku dakimakura covers were released through Cospa, a character goods and apparel store which as of 2018 continues to release official dakimakura covers.

Although dakimakura are sometimes called “Dutch wife”, the original definition of this phrase is closer to the chikufujin, or “bamboo wife”.