Idiomatic Expressions

ジョギングで健康けんこうにも体重たいじゅう管理かんりにもなるとは、一石二鳥いっせきにちょうだね。

Jogging is good for health and weight control both — two birds with one stone.

Usage English has the identical idiom: kill two birds with one stone. Both trace back to the same image, so this is one of the easiest four-character idioms to remember.

Remember it 一石 (one stone) + 二鳥 (two birds). Literally what English says.

見ず知らずみずしらずの人ひとから急きゅうに話しかけはなしかけられて驚いたおどろいた。

I was surprised when a complete stranger suddenly spoke to me.

Usage 見ず知らずの人 = a total stranger. The ず ending is a classical negative, still alive in set phrases. 話しかけられる is the passive of 話しかける.

Remember it 見ず (not seen) + 知らず (not known). Never seen, never known.

この出会いであいを一期一会いちごいちえと考えかんがえ、大切たいせつにしたい。

I want to treat this meeting as a once-in-a-lifetime encounter and treasure it.

Usage From the tea ceremony: every gathering happens only once and will never recur, so give it your full attention. There is no neat English equivalent.

Remember it 一期 (one lifetime) + 一会 (one meeting). One meeting in one lifetime.

浪費ろうひして借金しゃっきんを作ったつくったのは身から出た錆みからでたさびだ。

Running up debt through overspending is a mess of my own making.

Usage Closest English: you reap what you sow, or you made your bed. Note the standard reading is みからでたさび — 出た is でた. 浪費 (ろうひ) = wasteful spending.

Remember it Rust (錆) coming out of the blade's own body. The harm grew from within you.

あいつは社長しゃちょうの名前なまえを使ってつかって虎の威を借る狐とらのいをかるきつねのようだ。

He throws the president's name around like a fox borrowing a tiger's authority.

Usage Describes someone with no power of their own who bullies others using a superior's name. English has no single phrase for it — 'riding someone's coat-tails' is close.

Remember it A fox (狐) borrowing the tiger's (虎) authority (威). From an ancient Chinese fable.

スピーチの最後さいごにユーモアゆーもあを加えたくわえたのが画竜点睛がりょうてんせいとなった。

Adding humour at the end of the speech was the finishing touch.

Usage From a legend: a painter drew dragons, and when he finally dotted their eyes they flew away. Often used in the negative — 画竜点睛を欠く = to lack the final touch.

Remember it 画竜 (a painted dragon) + 点睛 (dotting the eye). The last stroke that brings it to life.

嫌いやでも続けてつづけてみよう。石の上にも三年いしのうえにもさんねんというから。

Let's stick with it even if we dislike it — perseverance pays off.

Usage Sit on a cold stone for three years and even it warms up. Closest English: patience pays, or perseverance prevails. Often quoted to someone thinking of quitting.

Remember it 石の上 (on a stone) + 三年 (three years). Three years is what it takes to warm the stone.

彼かれは頭の回転あたまのかいてんが速いはやいから、議論ぎろんが得意とくいだ。

He's quick-witted, so he's good at debating.

Usage Note 速い (fast in speed), not 早い — the 早い/速い pair from the time lesson. The literal image is your head rotating quickly.

Remember it 頭の回転 (the head's rotation) + 速い (fast). A fast-spinning mind.

長年ながねんの悪いわるい付き合いつきあいから足を洗うあしをあらうことにした。

I decided to break off a long-standing bad association.

Usage Almost exactly the English 'wash your hands of something' — but Japanese washes the feet, not the hands. Used specifically for leaving a criminal or disreputable world.

Remember it 足 (feet) + 洗う (to wash). Washing off the dirt of the road you walked.

その説明せつめいを聞いてきいて目から鱗めからうろこが落ちたおちた。

Hearing that explanation, the scales fell from my eyes.

Usage English has the identical phrase, and for the same reason: both come from the Book of Acts in the Bible. A rare case of a shared biblical idiom.

Remember it 目 (eyes) + 鱗 (scales) + 落ちる (to fall). Suddenly you can see.

謝るあやまるべきところで言い訳いいわけをして、火に油を注ぐひにあぶらをそそぐことになった。

I made excuses when I should have apologised, and it added fuel to the fire.

Usage Identical to the English idiom. Note the standard reading of 注ぐ here is そそぐ. 言い訳 (いいわけ) = an excuse, 〜べき = ought to.

Remember it 火 (fire) + 油 (oil) + 注ぐ (to pour). Exactly the English image.

締め切りしめきりが迫ってせまっていて、猫の手も借りたいねこのてもかりたいほど忙しいそがしい。

The deadline is looming and I'm so busy I'd take help from anyone.

Usage So busy you would even borrow a cat's paws — and cats are famously useless helpers, which is the joke. 締め切り (しめきり) = deadline, 迫る = to loom.

Remember it 猫の手 (a cat's paw) + 借りたい (want to borrow). Desperate enough for even that.

今いまは好調こうちょうでも、一寸先は闇いっすんさきはやみだから油断ゆだんはできない。

Things are going well now, but the future is unknowable, so we can't let our guard down.

Usage 一寸 (いっすん) is an old unit of about 3cm. 油断 (ゆだん) = carelessness, letting your guard down — a very common word in its own right.

Remember it 一寸先 (one inch ahead) + 闇 (darkness). You cannot see even that far.

まず食事しょくじをしてから始めようはじめよう。腹が減っては戦はできぬはらがへってはいくさはできぬからね。

Let's eat first and then start — you can't fight on an empty stomach.

Usage English says exactly the same thing: an army marches on its stomach. In the standard form 戦 is read いくさ. ぬ is a classical negative, equal to ない.

Remember it 腹が減る (the belly empties) + 戦 (battle) + できぬ (cannot do).

身を切るようなみをきるような寒ささむさの中なか、外そとで作業さぎょうを続けたつづけた。

I kept working outside in the biting cold.

Usage Usually describes cold so sharp it cuts, or grief that cuts as deeply. English 'biting cold' matches the first sense well. 寒さ is the noun form of 寒い.

Remember it 身を切る (to cut the body) + ような (like). Cold that cuts into you.

旅先たびさきで偶然ぐうぜん出会ったであったのも、袖振り合うも多生の縁そでふりあうもたしょうのえんかもしれない。

Meeting by chance while travelling may itself be a bond from a past life.

Usage A Buddhist idea: even brushing sleeves with a stranger comes from karmic connection across past lives. 縁 (えん) — fate binding people together — has no English equivalent.

Remember it 袖振り合う (sleeves brushing) + 多生の縁 (a bond across many lives).

急いでいそいで作業さぎょうしたら失敗しっぱいした。急がば回れいそがばまわれというのに。

I rushed the work and made a mistake — and yet they say more haste, less speed.

Usage English equivalents: more haste less speed, or the longest way round is the shortest way home. 急がば is a classical conditional, equal to 急ぐなら.

Remember it 急がば (if you hurry) + 回れ (go around). When rushed, take the longer safe road.

失業しつぎょうしたうえに怪我けがまで。泣きっ面に蜂なきっつらにはちとはこのことだ。

Losing my job and then getting injured — when it rains, it pours.

Usage A bee stinging a face that is already crying: bad luck piling onto bad luck. English: when it rains, it pours. 泣きっ面 is a colloquial form of 泣き顔. うえに = on top of that.

Remember it 泣きっ面 (a crying face) + 蜂 (a bee). As if crying were not enough.

試験しけんが終わっておわってから勉強べんきょうしても後の祭りあとのまつりだ。

Studying after the exam is over is too little, too late.

Usage Arriving after the festival has ended: whatever you do now is too late to matter. It often follows 〜ても — 今さら後悔しても後の祭りだ, regretting it now changes nothing.

Remember it 後 (after) + 祭り (the festival). You showed up once the party was over.

彼女かのじょは真実しんじつを知らないしらないから幸せしあわせでいられる。知らぬが仏しらぬがほとけだ。

She can stay happy because she doesn't know the truth — ignorance is bliss.

Usage English says ignorance is bliss; Japanese says the one who does not know is a Buddha — serene because untroubled. ぬ is again the classical ない.

Remember it 知らぬ (not knowing) + 仏 (a Buddha). Untroubled as a Buddha.

好みこのみは人ひとそれぞれ。十人十色じゅうにんといろですね。

Everyone has their own tastes — different strokes for different folks.

Usage Note the reading: じゅうにんといろ, with 色 as いろ rather than しょく. 好み (このみ) = taste or preference, それぞれ = each in their own way.

Remember it 十人 (ten people) + 十色 (ten colours). Ten people, ten different colours.

長年ながねん一緒いっしょにいると、言葉ことばがなくても以心伝心いしんでんしんで分かるわかるようになる。

After years together, you come to understand each other without words.

Usage Originally a Zen term for transmitting understanding directly from master to disciple. It underpins the Japanese ideal of communicating without spelling things out.

Remember it 以心 (by the heart) + 伝心 (transmitting to the heart). Heart to heart, no words.

むかし賑やかにぎやかだった商店街しょうてんがいも、今ではいまでは門前雀羅もんぜんじゃくらの有様ありさまだ。

The shopping street that once bustled is now completely deserted.

Usage A rare and literary idiom — so few visitors come that you could net sparrows at the gate. You are unlikely to meet it at N3; 閑散としている is the everyday phrase.

Remember it 門前 (before the gate) + 雀羅 (a sparrow net). Birds gather where people no longer do.

悪いわるいことをしたからこうなったんだ。因果応報いんがおうほうだよ。

This happened because he did wrong — what goes around comes around.

Usage A Buddhist term for karmic cause and effect. English equivalents: what goes around comes around, or you reap what you sow. 因果 (いんが) = cause and effect.

Remember it 因果 (cause and effect) + 応報 (recompense). Every act returns to you.

少しすこしの支援しえんでは焼け石に水やけいしにみずで、状況じょうきょうは変わらないかわらない。

A little support is a drop in the ocean — the situation won't change.

Usage Water on a red-hot stone evaporates instantly and achieves nothing. English: a drop in the ocean, or a drop in the bucket. 支援 (しえん) = support or aid.

Remember it 焼け石 (a burning-hot stone) + 水 (water). Gone in an instant, changing nothing.

あの人ひとの態度たいどは鼻持ちならないはなもちならないから付き合いつきあいづらい。

That person's attitude is insufferable, so they're hard to get along with.

Usage Literally 'the nose cannot bear it' — the stench is unendurable, used of arrogance. Verb stem + づらい = hard to do, as in 付き合いづらい.

Remember it 鼻 (nose) + 持ちならない (cannot hold out). Too foul for the nose to stand.

困ってこまっている友達ともだちの話はなしに耳を貸すみみをかすことが大切たいせつだ。

It's important to lend an ear to a friend in trouble.

Usage Identical to English 'lend an ear'. Note 貸す (to lend) from the very first lesson — its partner is 借りる. The topic takes に: 話に耳を貸す.

Remember it 耳 (ear) + 貸す (to lend). Exactly the English image.

日本にほんのビジネス交渉こうしょうでは腹芸はらげいが求められるもとめられることがある。

Japanese business negotiations sometimes call for unspoken manoeuvring.

Usage 腹芸 is getting your way through implication, presence and unspoken understanding rather than argument. It connects to 本音 and 建前 — real feelings versus public stance.

Remember it 腹 (belly) + 芸 (art). The belly is where Japanese locates true intent — hence the art of the unspoken.

日本にほんでは出る杭は打たれるでるくいはうたれるという文化ぶんかがあり、目立つめだつことを嫌きらう人ひとも多いおおい。

Japan has a culture of hammering down the nail that sticks up, and many people dislike standing out.

Usage Probably the most culturally revealing proverb in this lesson: conformity is rewarded and standing out invites criticism. 目立つ (めだつ) = to stand out.

Remember it 出る杭 (the stake that sticks up) + 打たれる (gets hammered). English uses a nail; Japanese uses a stake.

袖の下そでのしたで許可きょかをもらったというのは本当ほんとうですか？

Is it true that they got permission through a bribe?

Usage 袖の下 = a bribe, from money slipped under a kimono sleeve. The formal word is 賄賂 (わいろ). English 'under the table' uses much the same image.

Remember it 袖 (sleeve) + 下 (under). Money passed unseen beneath the sleeve.

ここは負けるが勝ちまけるがかちで、一歩いっぽ引いたひいたほうが賢明けんめいだ。

Here, losing is winning — it's wiser to take a step back.

Usage Sometimes conceding gains you more than fighting on. 一歩引く = to take a step back, 賢明 (けんめい) = wise, prudent. Closest English: discretion is the better part of valour.

Remember it 負ける (to lose) + が + 勝ち (winning). The loss that is the real victory.

いくら説明せつめいしても聞いてきいてくれない。馬の耳に念仏うまのみみにねんぶつだ。

No matter how much I explain, they won't listen — it's like talking to a wall.

Usage Reciting a sutra into a horse's ear achieves nothing. English: casting pearls before swine, or talking to a brick wall. いくら〜ても = no matter how much.

Remember it 馬の耳 (a horse's ear) + 念仏 (a Buddhist chant). Sacred words wasted on an animal.