Japanese proverbs



Japanese proverbs (諺 kotowaza) take the form of short sayings, idiomatic phrases and four-character idioms.

Sayings

 * 猿も木から落ちる
 * Saru mo ki kara ochiru.
 * Even monkeys fall from trees.
 * English equivalent: It is a good horse that never stumbles.


 * 井の中の蛙大海を知らず
 * I no naka no kawazu taikai-o shirazu.
 * A frog in a well does not know the great ocean.
 * Chinese equivalent: 井底之蛙.
 * "Do not associate with a fool because he will beautify his actions before you and long that you too be like him."
 * Ali, Nahj al-Balagha, Hadith n. 293, at the . (7th-8th century)


 * 二兎を追う者は一兎も得ず
 * Nito-o ou mono wa itto mo ezu.
 * Who chases two rabbits catches neither.
 * Italian equivalent: Chi troppo vuole, nulla stringe.
 * English equivalents: You must not run after two hares at the same time. donkey can starve choosing between two bales of hay.


 * 良薬口に苦し
 * Ryooyaku Kuchi ni Nigashi.
 * Translation: Good medicine is bitter to the mouth.
 * English equivalent: The truth hurts.
 * Chinese equivalent: 良藥苦口.


 * 角を矯めて牛を殺す
 * Tsuno-o tamete ushi-o korosu.
 * Translation: To kill a bull by straightening its horns.


 * 継続は力なり
 * Keizoku wa chikara nari.
 * Translation: To continue is power.


 * 鳥なき里の蝙蝠
 * Tori naki sato no koumori.
 * Translation: A bat in a village without birds.


 * 苦あれば楽あり
 * Ku areba raku ari.
 * Translation: There are hardships and there are delights.
 * English equivalent: After rain comes fair weather; No pain, no gain; March winds and April showers bring forth May flowers.
 * Chinese equivalent: 苦盡甘来.


 * 毒食わば皿まで
 * Doku kuwaba sara made.
 * Translation: When poisoned, one might as well swallow the plate.
 * English equivalent: "In for a penny, in for a pound."
 * Yiddish equivalent: "If you're going to eat pork, eat it till your mouth drips."


 * 早起きは三文の徳
 * Haya oki wa sanmon no toku.
 * Translation: Early rising benefits you three pence.
 * English equivalent: The early bird gets the worm.


 * 愚公山を移す
 * Gukou yama-o utsusu.
 * Translation: Yugong moves a mountain.
 * English equivalent: Faith can move mountains; where there's a will, there's a way.
 * Chinese equivalent: 愚公移山.
 * "愚公移山" is a Chinese fable from the book  (《列子》).
 * "Nothing is impossible to those who have sufficient faith; applied not only to religious faith, but to any strong belief in a cause or objective."


 * 井戸の中の独言も三年たてば知れる
 * Ido no naka no hitori-goto mo san'nen tateba shireru.
 * Translation: Even the mutterings of a man in a well are widely known after three years.


 * 亀の甲より年の功
 * Kame no kou yori toshi no kou.
 * Translation: Wisdom gotten from age is better than the shell of a tortoise.
 * English equivalent 1: Years know more than books.
 * English equivalent 2: "Experience is the mother of wisdom."
 * "Prudence is the footprint of Wisdom."
 * Amos Bronson Alcott, Orphic Sayings (1840)


 * 一盲衆を引く
 * Ichi mou shuu-o hiku.
 * Translation: One blind man leads the crowd.
 * English equivalent: If the BLIND lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.
 * "Un sot trouve toujours un plus sot qui l'admire.
 * Translation: A fool always finds one still more foolish to admire him.
 * Variant A fool always finds a greater fool to admire him."
 * Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux, L'Art Poétique (The Art of Poetry), Canto I, l. 232 (1674).


 * 一寸先は闇
 * Issun saki wa yami.
 * Translation: It is dark one inch ahead of you.
 * English equivalent 1: Who can see in the future?
 * English equivalent 2: Expect the unexpected.


 * 出る釘は打たれる
 * Deru kugi wa utareru.
 * Translation: The nail that sticks out gets hammered down.
 * Chinese equivalent: 棒打出頭鳥.
 * Note: While kui (杭, stake) is sometimes used in place of kugi (釘, nail) some purists point to the incongruity of using "kui" since, in traditional Japanese post and beam house construction, it is physically impossible to hammer a stake flush with the wood, and a stake in the ground would have no structural function.
 * "It has often been said that power corrupts. But it is perhaps equally important to realize that weakness, too, corrupts. Power corrupts the few, while weakness corrupts the many. Hatred, malice, rudeness, intolerance, and suspicion are the faults of weakness. The resentment of the weak does not spring from any injustice done to them but from the sense of inadequacy and impotence. They hate not wickedness but weakness. When it is their power to do so, the weak destroy weakness wherever they see it."
 * Eric Hoffer, The Passionate State Of Mind, and Other Aphorisms (1955)
 * Roku Okada, Japanese Proverbs and Proverbial Phrases, Japan Travel Bureau, Tokyo 1955, page 28


 * 艱難にあって初めて真友を知る
 * Kannan ni atte hajimete shinyū-o shiru.
 * Translation: Friends are known first in hardships.
 * English equivalent: A friend in need is a friend indeed.
 * Chinese equivalent: 患難見真情.


 * 虎穴に入らずんば虎子を得ず
 * Koketsu ni irazunba koji-o ezu.
 * Translation: If you do not enter the tiger's cave, you will not catch its cub.
 * English equivalent: Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
 * Chinese equivalent: 不入虎穴，焉得虎子.
 * "If you do follow your bliss you put yourself on a kind of track that has been there all the while, waiting for you, and the life that you ought to be living is the one you are living. When you can see that, you begin to meet people who are in your field of bliss, and they open doors to you. I say, follow your bliss and don't be afraid, and doors will open where you didn't know they were going to be."
 * Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth (1988)
 * Meaning: "Nothing can be achieved without effort, suffering or hardship."
 * Source for meaning of English equivalent:


 * 木の実は元へ落つる
 * Kinomi wa moto e otsuru.
 * Translation: A berry falls to (its tree's) roots.
 * English equivalent: The apple does not fall far from the tree.
 * "Children observe daily and — in their behaviour — often follow the example of their parents."


 * 七転び八起き
 * Nana korobi ya oki.
 * Translation: Fall down seven times, get up eight.
 * English equivalent: If at first you don't succeed try, try again.


 * 能ある鷹は爪を隠す
 * Nou aru taka wa tsume-o kakusu.
 * Translation: The smart hawk hides its talons.
 * Meaning: One should hide his best abilities until the time comes to show them.
 * Closest English equivalent: "Still water runs deep."


 * 小打も積もれば大木を倒す
 * Shouda mo tsumoreba taiboku-o taosu.
 * Translation: With many little strokes a large tree is felled.
 * English equivalent: Little strokes fell great oaks.
 * Meaning: "A difficult task, e. g. removing a person/group from a strong position, or changing established ideas cannot be done quickly. It can be achieved gradually, by small steps, a little at a time."


 * 立つ鳥跡を濁さず
 * Tatsu tori ato-o nigosazu.
 * Translation: A leaving bird does not leave a mess.
 * English equivalent: It is an ill bird that fouls its own nest; Don't wash your dirty linen in public.
 * Meaning: "Why wantonly proclaim one's own disgrace, or expose the faults or weaknesses of one's kindred or people?"
 * Meaning 2: "It is considered contemptible to defy the rule of solidarity by revealing facts harmful to the group one belongs to."


 * この父にしてこの子あり
 * Kono chichi ni shite kono ko ari.
 * Translation: With such father there is such a child.
 * English equivalent: Like father, like son.
 * Chinese equivalent: 有其父，必有其子.
 * Meaning: "Sons may look and behave like their fathers. This is due to inheritance and the example observed closely and daily."


 * 酒は本心を表す
 * Sake-wa honshin-o arawasu.
 * Translation: Sake [in other words alcohol], reveals the true heart.
 * English equivalent: In wine there is truth; In vino veritas.
 * Chinese equivalent: 酒後吐真言.
 * Meaning: "Alcohol consumed removes the inhibition against telling the truth that occasionally one would like to keep secret."


 * 目は口ほどに物を言う
 * Me-wa kuchi hodo mono-o iu.
 * English equivalent: The eyes are sometimes a true index of the heart.


 * 義は険しい山よりも重く、死は大鳥の羽よりも軽い
 * Duty is weightier than a mountain, while death is lighter than a feather.
 *  (1882), as quoted in

Idiomatic phrases

 * 水に流す
 * Mizu ni nagasu.
 * Translation: let the water flow.
 * English equivalent: Forgive and forget; water under the bridge.
 * "I never take vengeance unless I am forced to do so by an oath or in self-protection. I believe that evil is its own punishment."
 * Claudius (later Caesar/Emperor of the Roman Empire), in Robert Graves' historical novel I, Claudius (1934).


 * 石の上にも三年
 * Ishi no ue nimo san nen.
 * Translation: [To stay] three years on a rock.
 * Meaning: "This proverb teaches the principle of perseverance by encouraging one to see an enterprise through to its conclusion."


 * 乗りかかった船
 * Nori-kakatta fune.
 * Translation: A ship that you are already partially in.
 * English equivalent: In for a penny, in for a pound.


 * 竜頭蛇尾
 * Ryuto-dabi
 * Translation: A dragon's head, a serpent's tail.
 * English equivalentː A good Start often means a bad finish.