{"id":674,"date":"2015-09-07T22:27:28","date_gmt":"2015-09-08T05:27:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/sumi\/?p=674"},"modified":"2015-10-11T16:09:58","modified_gmt":"2015-10-11T23:09:58","slug":"japanese-idioms-adapted-from-sword-fighting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/sumi\/2015\/09\/07\/japanese-idioms-adapted-from-sword-fighting\/","title":{"rendered":"Japanese idioms adapted from sword fighting"},"content":{"rendered":"

Shinken<\/em>, tachiuchi<\/em>, shinogi<\/em>…do these words sound familiar? You might be thinking of Japanese sword fighting — or if you know Japanese well maybe\u00a0you’ve filled in the blanks to\u00a0these idioms:\u00a0shinken shobu<\/em>, tachiuchi dekinai<\/em>, shinogi wo kezuru. <\/em><\/p>\n

These idioms in the Japanese language are used today in contexts that have nothing to do with sword fighting; however,\u00a0they trace their\u00a0origins\u00a0to samurai sword combat. Just as life adapts to new environments and evolve over time, language diversifies and changes with the times. A break from the traditional fields of science, today’s post looks at a selection of examples of such evolved language:<\/p>\n

“Tachiuchi dekinai (\u592a\u5200\u6253\u3061\u3067\u304d\u306a\u3044)” <\/strong>– Crossing swords in a fight, or sword forms performed as a pair may be referred to as\u00a0tachiuchi<\/em>. The phrase\u00a0tachiuchi dekinai<\/em>\u00a0literally means “can’t cross swords”, but in the present day, it’s a general term that means your competitor is too strong and you are no match for that person.<\/p>\n

\"Link<\/a>
Photo from KendoBR.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

“Shinogi wo kezuru (\u3057\u306e\u304e\u3092\u524a\u308b)”<\/strong> – Literally, this translates to “shave off the shinogi.<\/em>” The shinogi<\/em> is where the\u00a0cutting edge and dull edge of the blade meet in a line along the side of the katana<\/em>. In a form of martial art called\u00a0iaido, there is a move that scrapes each other’s blade as one cuts down and one blocks upwards, which literally is “shaving off the shinogi<\/em>.” Today, not many people would be thinking of the exact sword part when they use this phrase, since\u00a0it\u00a0is an idiom that means to engage in a fierce competition, for example between competing political parties or colleagues striving towards a quota. As the competitors struggle against each other, they\u00a0draw out each others’\u00a0maximum potential. The roots of this phrase refers to how the more fierce and involved you are in a close range battle, the more likely you will wear out the shinogi<\/em> on a blade.<\/p>\n

“Shinken Sh\u014dbu (\u771f\u5263\u52dd\u8ca0)”<\/strong> – Shinken<\/em> in Japanese directly translates into “serious”, but it also refers to a real sword, that is, one with a sharp, live steel blade. Until practitioners\u00a0are ready to use a shinken<\/em>, they\u00a0often train with a wooden blade or an imitation sword made of zinc\/aluminum alloys. Holding a shinken<\/em> brings a new sense of concentration and tension where you know there is close to no\u00a0margin of error. It reflects how in old times, a fight using a shinken, <\/em>or\u00a0“shinken shobu<\/em>,” meant you had your life on the line.\u00a0When someone says to approach a win-or-lose game as a “shinken shobu”, it means you have to take it seriously and give it your all, with no room for play.<\/p>\n

In these examples, though the context may no longer be in sword fighting, the phrases preserve the essence of the original meaning. Revisiting this often forgotten history brought me to a new appreciation of the depth and meaning of each phrase.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Shinken, tachiuchi, shinogi…do these words sound familiar? You might be thinking of Japanese sword fighting — or if you know Japanese well maybe\u00a0you’ve filled in the blanks to\u00a0these idioms:\u00a0shinken shobu, tachiuchi dekinai, shinogi wo kezuru. These idioms in the Japanese language are used today in contexts that have nothing to do with sword fighting; however,\u00a0they […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21657,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[869981],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-674","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-martial-arts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/sumi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/674","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/sumi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/sumi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/sumi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21657"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/sumi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=674"}],"version-history":[{"count":30,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/sumi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/674\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":748,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/sumi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/674\/revisions\/748"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/sumi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=674"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/sumi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=674"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/sumi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=674"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}