4 kanji at a time: 文武両道（ぶんぶりょうどう）

Friday, September 22, 2017

文武両道（ぶんぶりょうどう）

literature : martial arts : both : path

This week's yoji-jukugo is famous enough to have its own Wikipedia page, and is also one of my personal favorites: 文武両道. Defined by Weblio as being "accomplished in both the literary and military arts," 文武両道 is still very well known and widely employed in Japan. I've used plenty of yoji-jukugo with my Japanese colleagues that have resulted in blank stares or frantic dictionary consultations, but 文武両道 never fails to get an appreciative nod of mutual understanding.

Traditionally, the 文 in 文武両道 referred to one's talent for waka (Japanese poetry) and calligraphy, though by some accounts during the late Warring States period, the scope of the kanji's meaning was liberally extended to skills in tea ceremony and painting as well. 武, however, referred almost ubiquitously to one's military prowess. While all of these disciplines still exist today, the yoji-jukugo's meaning has since been adapted to reflect modern values. 文 is now given to mean academic fortitude and scholarship, and 武 refers to one's aptitude for sports. The new liberal meaning of 武 is of particular importance in the wake of WWII and Japan's demilitarization; even now there is a push to tweak the meanings of kanji that bring to mind militarism or martial activities. But now with its updated modern meaning, 文武両道 is surely on the minds of today's job-hunting university students, as companies have been known to favor resumes that include both high academic marks and appearances at national club sports competitions.

The origin of this yoji-jukugo is slightly obscure; there are reports of both Japanese and Chinese sources using phrases similar in meaning to 文武両道, though the earlier appearance belongs to the Chinese Records of the Grand Historian. Loosely translated, the phrase 「文事ある者は必ず武備あり」 appearing in the Japanese edition of this monumental BC era classic means "he who is versed in letters is always skilled in the use of arms." Meanwhile, the first Japanese appearance of a phrase similar to 文武両道 is in the 13th century epic The Tale of the Heike: 「あっぱれ、文武ニ道の達者かな」, translating roughly to "admirable is he, skilled in both words and swords." In either case, it's quite clear that the age-old contest of brains vs. brawn was solved long ago by coming to the realization that a healthy mix of both is actually the best way to go.

This time I'll give two attempts at a four-word translation: one for the original Warring States era meaning, and one for the modern scholastic version.

My attempt at two four-word translations of 文武両道

Sharp Mind, Sharper Blade
- -
Great Athlete, Greater Student

No comments:

Post a Comment

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.