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A 'bolster' (etymology: Middle English, derived from Old English, and before that the Germanic word ''bulgstraz'') is a long narrow pillow or cushion filled with cotton, down, or fibre. In western countries, it is usually placed at the head of bed and functions as head or back support. In southeast Asian countries, in particular Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand, the bolster is designed to be hugged when sleeping. It is called a ''dakimakura'' in Japanese.
Tradition suggests that a wife would fashion the bolster out of bamboo and give it to her husband when he travelled away from home so that he would not be lonely. It was called a "bamboo wife," "Dutch wife," or ''chikufujin'' in Japanese.
In many Chinese and Malay families, children are provided with a bolster and the habit of sleeping with a bolster carries over into adulthood. It is said that hugging a bolster will calm one's mind when sleeping, and, in the hot tropical climate of Singapore and Malaysia, it is often too hot to cover oneself with a blanket when sleeping, especially in a non-air-conditioned room.
In the past, it was common for people to make their own bolsters, but they can now be bought cheaply in department stores and shopping complexes. Often sheet sets come with pillow and bolster cases.
In more traditional Chinese families, a newly-wed couple's wedding chamber will have a bed that comes with two pillows and one bolster. The bolster is to provide the husband with something to hug when the wife is not in the mood.
The use of the bolster is so common among Indonesian people that most local hotels provide bolsters for their guests. However, this is less common in westernized hotels in Indonesia.
The equivalent of bolster in the western countries is the body pillow which are also part of the Halloween tradition of collecting candy in pillow sacks.