4 kanji at a time: 勇猛果敢（ゆうもうかかん）

Thursday, September 14, 2017

勇猛果敢（ゆうもうかかん）

courage : fierce : outcome : bravery

Charging into my next blog post is 勇猛果敢. Defined by Weblio as being "daring and resolute," or "having dauntless courage," this yoji-jukugo seems to match up pretty consistently with the meanings of the four kanji that make it up. There isn't a terribly great amount of exposition I can give about the meaning of this expression that isn't already clear from its dictionary definition, so instead I'd like to focus on two points: its composition and etymology.

勇猛果敢 is of a family that, in my experience, accounts for a significant percentage of yoji-jukugo compositions—namely, a feeling or quality given particular emphasis by combining two independent yet quasi-synonymous two-kanji expressions. 勇猛 translates to "courageous" while 果敢 shows up as "resolute," although both provide the word "bold" in their list of other potential translations. They may not be perfectly interchangeable terms in either language, but once you put them together, the lines begin to blur and you've got yourself the makings of a Herculean protagonist. We'll soon see a lot of yoji-jukugo that fit this two-by-two model, including other quasi-synonymous expressions and occasionally antonymous ones as well.

Unlike the last idiom I introduced, 勇猛果敢 is of Chinese origin. Yoji-jukugo from China are not uncommon in the slightest, as Japan's adoption of Chinese literary culture has spanned several centuries. This particular yoji-jukugo comes from the biography of Zhai Fangjin in Volume 84 of the Book of Han (also known as the History of the Former Han). Extolled as both a well-versed Confucian scholar and competent politician, Zhai Fangjin was at one point the highest adviser to the emperor. The classic text describes him using 勇猛果敢, and is officially considered to be Japan's first encounter with the expression.

My attempt at a four-word translation of 勇猛果敢

Dauntless Courage And Resolution

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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.