4 kanji at a time: 晴耕雨読 (せいこううどく）

Monday, September 11, 2017

晴耕雨読 (せいこううどく）

clear skies : cultivate : rain : read

We'll kick off the blog with a cheery yoji-jukugo about ideal life in the countryside: 晴耕雨読. You can probably grasp the general meaning of this idiom based on the direct translation of each individual kanji: cultivate the fields in fair weather and read indoors when it rains. At first glance, this yoji-jukugo may even seem similar to the old English adage of “making hay while the sun shines,” but while the physical act of tilling the field may be the same between the two expressions, the overarching meaning is quite different.

"Making hay while the sun shines" is simply a handy metaphor for taking advantage of a finite opportunity. 晴耕雨読, on the other hand, is much more ideological in its interpretation. The Heimei Yoji-jukugo online dictionary describes 晴耕雨読 as distancing yourself from the troubles of society to live a quiet and fulfilled life in the countryside. Cultivating (what I presume are) rice fields during the sunny months is a valuable way to maintain physical fitness and provide for society; reading on rainy days, meanwhile, sharpens the mind and promotes intellectual creativity when you would otherwise be stuck inside with nothing to do. Yet despite the literal meaning that comes from pairing the four kanji up, the point of 晴耕雨読 isn't necessarily to take a specific action during a specific kind of weather, but rather to find quiet physical and intellectual enrichment in life, whatever the occasion.

The kanji themselves are not that advanced or obscure; this yoji-jukugo belongs to Rank 5 of the Kanji Kentei, meaning the typical Japanese child will know it by the end of their elementary school education (though I'm sure the true value of the proverb is lost on them until a few decades later). However, I would consider 晴耕雨読 to be somewhat rare in that it refers specifically to a unique stage of life. The more we delve into yoji-jukugo, the more we'll begin to see general trends in how they're composed. As far as I know, yoji-jukugo are sorted either phonetically, by kanji, or by difficulty according to national testing standards, so it'll be interesting to see if we can start to categorize them by the nature of their composition.

My attempt at a four-word translation of 晴耕雨読

Living Like Well-Read Farmers

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What are yoji-jukugo?

Yoji-jukugo (四字熟語, lit. "four character profound words") are proverbial expressions that use the respective meanings of precisely four Japanese kanji to create idioms of sorts. Japan is certainly not the first country to do so; China has long been making use of its vast alphabet to come up with four-character expressions, such as 好久不見 (which, funnily enough, translates perfectly into four English words as "long time, no see"). There are even instances of English-speaking countries abbreviating their own idioms to fit the four-unit model, such as "two birds, one stone," or "monkey see, monkey do."

Unfortunately, however, a majority of Japan's yoji-jukugo have fallen into disuse, due in large part to the obscurity of their origins and their somewhat hackneyed meanings. Yoji-jukugo have stayed alive thanks to their high point value in the Japan Kanji Aptitude Test (known colloquially as Kanji Kentei) which, though not required, is almost unanimously considered an essential resume item for employment. They're also often selected as themes for elementary school children's calligraphy classes, and are commonly brought up in junior high and high school classical literature courses.

There is still hope for a mass revival of yoji-jukugo, as both manga and young-adult fiction writers have taken to using them in their recent works. Some television programs have also begun quizzing celebrities and idols on their knowledge of the idioms, prompting fans to join in on the academic shenanigans.

Regrettably, yoji-jukugo are very underrepresented in Japanese education for foreigners. This is understandable, as these idioms aren’t exactly essential for learning the language; but all the same I believe yoji-jukugo are veritable treasure troves of linguistic, historical, and cultural knowledge.

So to bring these treasure troves to light, I've taken it upon myself to write about new yoji-jukugo that I find interesting and/or useful. And, in the spirit of Japan's four-kanji fixation, I'll attempt to (liberally) translate each one into a four-word English expression of its own—provided one doesn't already exist.

Two quick notes before you dive in:

1) I use both primary Japanese sources and translated English sources to draft my blogs (you can find the links to them below). Whenever a discrepancy arises between the two, I'll favor the original Japanese. This does mean, however, that there may be times when my translation isn't correct either. Please be of the understanding that I've made this blog for informal educational purposes; if you're drafting scholarly material related to the content I post, I recommend you use a verified published source.

2) I try to tailor my blog to be both interesting and educational even for people with no Japanese proficiency, but there may be times when a little background knowledge of the language will be necessary. I'll do my best to bridge any language proficiency gaps as I go.