Where does “清明節” come from?

清明節 (Japanese) comes from Japanese 節 — a knuckle, a joint; melody; point.

清明節 (Japanese): Tomb Sweeping Day, an annual Chinese holiday observed 15 days after the vernal equinox (April 4 or 5)

Definitions

  1. Tomb Sweeping Day, an annual Chinese holiday observed 15 days after the vernal equinox (April 4 or 5)

Ancestry of “清明節”, step by step

清明節 traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.

via Japanese

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Japanesea knuckle, a joint; melody; point

via Japanese 清明

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Japanese清明Qingming ("Pure Brightness"), the fifth of the 24 solar terms in the Chinese lunisolar calendar, occurring from the 4th or 5th of April until the 18th or 19th
Every word from Japanese