舟に刻みて剣を求む
Japanese
| Kanji in this term | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 舟 | 刻 | 剣 | 求 |
| ふね Grade: S |
きざ Grade: 6 |
けん Grade: S |
もと Grade: 4 |
Alternative forms
- 船に刻みて剣を求む
Etymology
Literally, "it is pointless to carve a mark on ship where a sword was dropped into the sea, in the hope of finding the sword later near that carving." Calque of Middle Chinese 刻舟求劍.
Idiom
舟に刻みて剣を求む (hiragana ふねにきざみてけんをもとむ, rōmaji fune ni kizamite ken o motomu)
- Foolish it is to ignore that times are changing.
References
- The Kōjien (広辞苑) Dictionary of the Japanese Language, 5th edition, Iwanami Shoten Publishing, Tokyo.
This article is issued from
Wiktionary.
The text is licensed under Creative
Commons - Attribution - Sharealike.
Additional terms may apply for the media files.