tiger : tail : spring : ice
This week's blog post takes us back to China to look into some of the oldest and most politically influential prose there is. The Book of Documents (a.k.a. the Classic of History, or the Shangshu) is one of the five classics of ancient Chinese literature, and provided fundamental political philosophies for the country for more than two millennia. Known as 書経 (しょきょう) in Japanese, the Book of Documents was also influential in Japanese history; at least 35 of Japan's era names, including the two most recent (Heisei and Showa), are known to have been derived from this text, suggesting that Chinese political philosophy has been periodically employed in Japan as well.
The origin of 虎尾春氷 can be found in chapter 53 of the fourth section, which dictates a speech by King Cheng of Zhou to Kun-ya (君牙, Japanese pronunciation: くんが). The full speech, provided in English here thanks to the Chinese Text Project, begins with the young king's appointment of Kun-ya as lord adviser, owing to the loyalty his family had shown in prior generations. Worried that his ascension to the throne at such a young age may lead to his quick downfall, the king urges Kun-ya to assist him however possible, and expresses his anxiety using the metaphors of "treading on a tiger's tail" and "walking on spring ice."
Needless to say, both of those metaphorical situations are highly dangerous. So although none of the Japanese-to-English dictionaries I've checked have a translation for this yoji-jukugo, with a little bit of historical background we're able to understand it to mean "an extremely precarious situation." As with some of the yoji-jukugo I've written about in the past, 虎尾春氷 is composed of two quasi-synonymous two-kanji expressions, thereby compounding its intended meaning.
Funnily enough, in English we already have a very similar four-word expression for this: "walking on thin ice." Yet much like its distant relatives "playing with fire" and "tempting the gods," I would argue that the English phrase "walking on thin ice" carries with it the implication that the person is well aware of the danger of the situation, and proceeds anyway. Meanwhile, the history behind 虎尾春氷 suggests that it is used for people cast unwillingly into danger; "being thrown in the deep end" or "walking a tightrope" might actually be closer English equivalents. In either case, I think everyone can still agree that it's really not a good idea to go stepping on tiger tails.
Needless to say, both of those metaphorical situations are highly dangerous. So although none of the Japanese-to-English dictionaries I've checked have a translation for this yoji-jukugo, with a little bit of historical background we're able to understand it to mean "an extremely precarious situation." As with some of the yoji-jukugo I've written about in the past, 虎尾春氷 is composed of two quasi-synonymous two-kanji expressions, thereby compounding its intended meaning.
Funnily enough, in English we already have a very similar four-word expression for this: "walking on thin ice." Yet much like its distant relatives "playing with fire" and "tempting the gods," I would argue that the English phrase "walking on thin ice" carries with it the implication that the person is well aware of the danger of the situation, and proceeds anyway. Meanwhile, the history behind 虎尾春氷 suggests that it is used for people cast unwillingly into danger; "being thrown in the deep end" or "walking a tightrope" might actually be closer English equivalents. In either case, I think everyone can still agree that it's really not a good idea to go stepping on tiger tails.
My attempt at a four-word translation of 虎尾春氷
Far From Safe Ground
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