50 Japanese Idioms and Proverbs

50 Japanese idioms and proverbs you should know

1. 出る杭は打たれる (でるくいはうたれる)
Reading: deru kui wa utareru
Literally: the stake that sticks out gets hammered down
Figuratively: capable people are often envied; anyone who stands out too much gets talked about
Nearest English saying: the tall poppy gets cut down

2. 案ずるより産むが易し (あんずるよりうむがやすし)
Reading: anzuru yori umu ga yasashi
Literally: giving birth to the child is easier than worrying about it
Figuratively: fear is sometimes worse than the danger of the act itself

3. 知らぬが仏(しらぬがほとけ)
Reading: shiranu ga hotoke
Literally: not knowing is Buddha
Figuratively: better not to know; those who know less are happier
Nearest English saying: ignorance is bliss

4. 虎穴に入らずんば虎子を得ず (こけつにいらずんばこじをえず)
Reading: koketsu ni irazunba koji o eru
Literally: if you don't enter the tiger's den you won't catch its cubs
Figuratively: you have to take risks to do difficult things; without risk you achieve nothing
Nearest English saying: nothing ventured, nothing gained

5. 井の中の蛙大海を知らず (いのなかのかわずたいかいをしらず)
Reading: i no naka no kawazu taikai wo shirazu
Literally: the frog in the well knows nothing of the wide sea
Figuratively: people who judge everything by their own narrow understanding, stubbornly ignoring the wider world
Nearest English saying: a frog in a well

6. 腹八分に医者いらず (はらはちぶにいしゃいらず)
Reading: harahachibunme ni ishairazu
Literally: eat eight parts in ten and you need no doctor
Figuratively: don't overeat; keep to the habit of eating a moderate amount and then stopping, and you can avoid illness and live healthily
Nearest English saying: eat to live, don't live to eat

7. 明日のことを言うと天井のネズミが笑う (あしたのことをいうとてんじょうのねずみがわらう)
Reading: ashita no koto o iu to tenjou no nezumi ga warau
Literally: if you talk about the future even the mouse in the ceiling laughs. Figuratively: it states a plain truth — the future cannot be predicted

8. 明日は明日の風が吹く (あしたはあしたのかぜがふく)
Reading: ashita wa ashita no kaze ga fuku
Literally: tomorrow the wind of tomorrow will blow
Figuratively: advice not to be downhearted, because tomorrow will be brighter

9. 雨降って地固まる (あめふってじかたまる)
Reading: ame futte ji katamaru
Literally: after the rain the ground hardens
Figuratively: after trouble and difficulty come good things
Nearest English saying: after rain comes fair weather

10. 花より団子(はなよりだんご)
Reading: hana yori dango
Literally: dango dumplings rather than flowers
Figuratively: don't put too much weight on appearances
Nearest English saying: substance before style

11. 猿も木から落ちる (さるもきからおちる)
Reading: saru mo ki kara ochiru
Literally: even monkeys fall from trees
Figuratively: however good someone is at something, there are times when they make mistakes
Sino-Vietnamese: nobody is perfect

12. 朝飯前(あさめしまえ)
Reading: asa me shimae
Literally: I'll do it before breakfast
Figuratively: simple things that can be done in the blink of an eye without much effort
Nearest English saying: easy as pie

13. 見ぬが花(みぬがはな)
Reading: minu ga hana
Literally: what is not seen is a flower
Figuratively: reality is never quite what you imagined
Nearest English saying: man proposes, God disposes

14. 猫に小判(ねこにこばん)
Reading: neko ni koban
Literally: throwing gold coins to a cat
Figuratively: giving kindness to people who don't appreciate it
Nearest English saying: casting pearls before swine

15. 七転び八起き(ななころびやおき)
Reading: nanakorobi yaoki
Literally: fall down seven times, get up eight
Figuratively: however many times you fail, don't lose heart; keep trying to the end
Nearest English saying: if at first you don't succeed, try, try again

16. 口が滑る(くちがすべる)
Reading: kuchigasuberu
Literally: the mouth slips
Figuratively: to let slip something you shouldn't have said, which cannot be taken back
Nearest English saying: a word spoken is past recalling

17. 因果応報(いんがおおほう)
Reading: inga ou hou
Literally: bad cause, bad effect
Figuratively: a saying that stresses the Buddhist philosophy of cause and effect
Nearest English saying: as you sow, so shall you reap; sow the wind and reap the whirlwind

18. 自業自得(じごうじとく)
Reading: jigou jitoku
Literally: your own deed, your own gain
Figuratively, and the nearest English saying: you reap what you sow; you made your bed, now lie in it

19. 一期一会(いちごいちえ)
Reading: ichigo ichie
Literally: one meeting in a lifetime
Figuratively: every meeting with someone happens only once in a lifetime and should be treasured
Sino-Vietnamese: ichi-go ichi-e

20. 十人十色(じゅうにんといろ)
Reading: junin toiro
Literally: ten people, ten colours
Figuratively: everyone has their own character and their own tastes
Nearest English saying: each to their own; so many people, so many minds

21. 起死回生(きしかいせい)
Reading: kishi kaisei
Literally: coming back to life from the dead
Figuratively: turning a bad, hopeless situation into a better one; usually
used of a bad situation that luckily improves and is overcome
Nearest English saying: to come back from the dead

22. 花鳥風月(かちょうふうげつ)
Reading: kachou fuugetsu
Literally: flower, bird, wind, moon
Figuratively: experiencing the beauty of nature and, in that time, reflecting on yourself

23. 一石二鳥(いっせきにちょう)
Reading: isseki nichou
Literally: one stone, two birds
Figuratively: achieving 2 things with a single action
Nearest English saying: to kill two birds with one stone

24. 温故知新(おんこちしん)
Reading: onkochishin
Literally: look at the past and understand the present
Figuratively: you must look at the past, learn from it and improve the present

25. 異体同心(いたいどうしん)
Reading: itai doshin
Literally: two bodies, one mind
Figuratively: two people who are perfectly in tune with one another

26. 羊頭狗肉
Reading: yotoo kuniku
Literally: a sheep's head, dog meat
Figuratively: false advertising, a swindle
Nearest English saying: to sell under false colours

27. 会者定離
Reading: esha joori
Literally: those who meet will part
Figuratively: every meeting must eventually end in parting
Nearest English saying: all good things must come to an end

28. 毒食らわば皿まで
Reading: doku kurawaba sara made
Literally: if you've eaten poison, finish the plate
Figuratively: once you have taken a risk and dared to do something, you have to see it through
Nearest English saying: in for a penny, in for a pound

29. 我田引水
Reading: gaden insui
Literally: drawing water into your own field
Figuratively: people who act only in their own interest

30. 雲散霧消
Reading: unsan mushou
Literally: the clouds scatter
Figuratively: to vanish without a trace
Nearest English saying: to vanish into thin air

31. 海千山千
Reading: umisen yamasen
Literally: a thousand seas, a thousand mountains
Figuratively: a sly old fox, a cunning operator

32. 門前の小僧習わぬ経を読む
Reading: mon zen no kozou narawanu kyou wo yomu
Literally: the young monk at the temple gate can read the sutras without being taught. Figuratively: your surroundings shape your character
Nearest English saying: you are the company you keep

33. 縁の下の力持ち
Reading: en no shita no chikaramochi
Literally: the strong man beneath the floorboards
Figuratively: people who always work hard at whatever they do but are never recognised
Nearest English saying: an unsung hero

34. 海老で鯛を釣る
Reading: ebi de tai wo tsuru
Literally: to catch a sea bream with a shrimp
Figuratively: gaining a great return from a small outlay
Nearest English saying: to throw a sprat to catch a mackerel

35. 地獄の沙汰も金次第
Reading: jigoku no sata mo kaneshidai
Literally: even the judgement of hell depends on money
Figuratively: money rules everything; with money you can have whatever you want
Nearest English saying: money talks

36. 三日坊主
Reading: mikka bozu
Literally: a monk for three days
Figuratively: being changeable and unsettled, one way one moment and another the next
Nearest English saying: a nine days' wonder

37. 油断大敵
Reading: yudan taiteki
Literally: carelessness is a person's greatest enemy
Figuratively: care in everything is never wasted
Nearest English saying: better safe than sorry

38. 臭いものに蓋をする
Reading: kusaimono ni futa wo suru
Literally: to put a lid on something that smells
Figuratively: you shouldn't put bad, negative things on display
Nearest English saying: to sweep it under the carpet

39. 鬼に金棒
Reading: oni ni kanabo
Literally: giving an iron club to a demon
Figuratively: giving power and strength to someone already strong makes them many times stronger and many times more frightening
Nearest English saying: to give wings to a tiger

40. 鰯の頭も信心から
Reading: iwashi no atama mo shinjin kara
Literally: even a sardine's head holds something sacred
Figuratively: with faith, anything can become a force against evil, even the most ordinary of things
Nearest English saying: faith can move mountains

41. 泣き面を蜂がさす
Reading: naki tsura o hachi ga sasu
Literally: a bee stings the weeping face
Figuratively: several pieces of bad luck coming at once
Nearest English saying: it never rains but it pours

42. 念には念を入れよ
Reading: ryuutou dabi
Literally: a dragon's head, a snake's tail
Figuratively: things that start off interesting and grand but end dully
Nearest English saying: to start with a bang and end with a whimper

43. 秋茄子は嫁に食わすな
Reading: akinasu wa yome ni kuwasuna
Literally: don't feed autumn aubergines to your daughter-in-law
Figuratively: don't let yourself be taken advantage of; it is also said about mothers-in-law and daughters-in-law. It can be read two ways: if their relationship is good, the mother-in-law keeps the aubergines from her daughter-in-law because they would affect her fertility; if their relationship is bad, it means aubergines are a delicacy and the daughter-in-law may not have them because they are being saved for the husband

44. 隠すより現わる
Reading: kakusu yori arawaru
Literally: everything comes out in the end
Figuratively: nothing can be hidden, because however hard you try to cover it up it will come out one day
Nearest English saying: murder will out

45. ちりも積もれば山となる
Reading: chiri mo tsumotte yama to naru
Literally: even dust piled up becomes a mountain
Figuratively: saving up small things over time makes something big
Nearest English saying: many a mickle makes a muckle

46. 蛙の子は蛙
Reading: kaeru no ko wa kaeru
Literally: the child of a frog is a frog
Nearest English saying: like father, like son

47. 晴天の霹靂
Reading: seiten no heki reki
Literally: a thunderclap out of a clear sky
Figuratively: something unexpected and unimaginable
Nearest English saying: a bolt from the blue

48. 勝って兜の緒を締めよ
Reading: kattekabutonoowoshimeyo
Literally: when you win, tighten your helmet strap
Figuratively: however great your success, don't be arrogant or look down on others
Nearest English saying: don't rest on your laurels

49. 毛のない猿
Reading: ke no nai saru
Literally: a monkey with no fur
Figuratively: people who show no gratitude
Nearest English saying: to bite the hand that feeds you

50. 夫夫たり婦婦たり
Reading: fufu tari fufu tari
Literally: the husband true to the husband's way, the wife true to the wife's way
Figuratively: when husband and wife are in harmony and of one mind, everything goes smoothly and turns out well
Nearest English saying: a house divided against itself cannot stand

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