KANAE

The proverbs

The whole corpus, in the order of the book. Each entry opens onto its word-by-word reading, its origin and its characters.

304 entries

By form All ProverbsFour charactersUntranslatable wordsStories behind wordsHaiku · By theme PatiencePerseveranceWorkDisciplineRelationsCourageHumilityLearningLifeSetback & ReboundNatureTime ·
  1. 001 Even a stone grows warm if you sit on it for three years.
  2. 002 Fall seven times, rise eight.
  3. 003 A journey of a thousand leagues begins with a single step.
  4. 004 Continuity is strength.
  5. 005 Even dust, piling up, becomes a mountain.
  6. 006 Dripping water wears through stone.
  7. 007 If you are in a hurry, take the long way round.
  8. 008 What is good, do quickly.
  9. 009 The best day to begin is the day you think of it.
  10. 010 Even monkeys fall from trees.
  11. 011 Even skilled hands let water slip through.
  12. 012 Failure is the foundation of success.
  13. 013 What one loves, one will do well.
  14. 014 Practice beats being taught.
  15. 015 Never forget the beginner's spirit.
  16. 016 Warm up the old to understand the new.
  17. 017 The frog at the bottom of the well knows nothing of the great ocean.
  18. 018 Hearing a hundred times is not worth seeing once.
  19. 019 Proof beats argument.
  20. 020 Dumplings over flowers.
  21. 021 Gold coins to a cat.
  22. 022 Tap even a stone bridge before crossing it.
  23. 023 A staff before the fall.
  24. 024 Where there is preparation, there is no worry.
  25. 025 To care, add care.
  26. 026 Spilled water does not return to the tray.
  27. 027 Regret never comes first.
  28. 028 The stake that sticks out gets hammered down.
  29. 029 The skilled hawk hides its talons.
  30. 030 The riper the rice ear, the lower it bows its head.
  31. 031 To lose is to win.
  32. 032 Haste ruins the work.
  33. 033 A short temper is a losing temper.
  34. 034 Fortune comes to homes that laugh.
  35. 035 Illness starts with the spirits.
  36. 036 Like calls to like.
  37. 037 Touch vermilion and you turn red.
  38. 038 Kindness is never wasted.
  39. 039 A close neighbor beats a distant relative.
  40. 040 He who chases two hares catches neither.
  41. 041 The child of a frog is a frog.
  42. 042 A kite can give birth to a hawk.
  43. 043 The base of the lamp stands in darkness.
  44. 044 The doctor neglects his own health.
  45. 045 The dyer wears an undyed hakama.
  46. 046 For rice cakes, go to the rice-cake maker.
  47. 047 A skill always ends up helping.
  48. 048 Even those who think they have none have seven quirks.
  49. 049 Ten people, ten colors.
  50. 050 Some insects even relish the bitter knotweed.
  51. 051 Where you live becomes the capital.
  52. 052 In the village, follow the village ways.
  53. 053 On a journey, a companion; in life, kindness.
  54. 054 Send the child you cherish on a journey.
  55. 055 The child does not know the parent's heart.
  56. 056 A child is the clamp of the home.
  57. 057 The eyes speak as much as the mouth.
  58. 058 The mouth is the source of misfortune.
  59. 059 Not saying is the flower.
  60. 060 Good medicine is bitter in the mouth.
  61. 061 Clothes dress up even a stable hand.
  62. 062 People are not what they seem.
  63. 063 Even unfed, the samurai holds his toothpick high.
  64. 064 Early rising earns three coins of profit.
  65. 065 Time is money.
  66. 066 Time flies like an arrow.
  67. 067 The years wait for no one.
  68. 068 One life, one meeting.
  69. 069 One stone, two birds.
  70. 070 Each day, one good deed.
  71. 071 Tomorrow, tomorrow's wind will blow.
  72. 072 A rice cake fallen from the shelf.
  73. 073 A boat just when you need to cross.
  74. 074 Doing is easier than fearing.
  75. 075 A hundred harms, not one benefit.
  76. 076 Everything in life is like the old man's horse.
  77. 077 After the rain, the ground hardens.
  78. 078 Wait, and fair weather will come for the crossing.
  79. 079 The tallest dike fails through an ant's hole.
  80. 080 Great vessels take long to complete.
  81. 081 Act, and it will be done; do not act, and it will not — in all things.
  82. 082 In my deeds, I know no regret.
  83. 083 The unsown seed does not grow.
  84. 084 After ease comes hardship, after hardship comes ease.
  85. 085 The strong one beneath the veranda.
  86. 086 What happens twice will happen three times.
  87. 087 The third time is the charm.
  88. 088 To ask is a moment's shame; not to ask is a lifetime's shame.
  89. 089 Watch others' conduct and mend your own.
  90. 090 Pinch yourself to know another's pain.
  91. 091 If the fish loves the water, the water will love the fish.
  92. 092 Carrying each other.
  93. 093 Better than the tortoise's shell, the merit of years.
  94. 094 The child on your back shows you the ford.
  95. 095 The pestle handle of long ago.
  96. 096 Skilled at everything, rich in nothing.
  97. 097 Too short for a sash, too long for a sleeve cord.
  98. 098 Catching a sea bream with a shrimp.
  99. 099 Accept a loss to gain later.
  100. 100 Buying cheap is losing your money.
  101. 101 Over the moon, gathering clouds; over blossoms, wind.
  102. 102 Snow does not break the willow.
  103. 103 There is not always a loach under the willow.
  104. 104 A mountain is not noble because it is tall.
  105. 105 When the wind blows, the bucket maker prospers.
  106. 106 The autumn sun drops like a well bucket.
  107. 107 As soon as words are spoken, the lips feel cold — autumn wind.
  108. 108 The days and months are travelers of a hundred generations.
  109. 109 The river flows on and on, and yet the water is never the same.
  110. 110 Snow is a letter sent from the sky.
  111. 111 Should we look at blossoms only in full bloom, at the moon only when it is clear?
  112. 112 One inch ahead lies darkness.
  113. 113 Even a one-inch insect has half an inch of spirit.
  114. 114 Strike while the iron is hot.
  115. 115 The neighbor's flowers are redder.
  116. 116 Know what is enough.
  117. 117 Standing, half a tatami; lying, one tatami.
  118. 118 A stomach eight-tenths full needs no doctor.
  119. 119 Too much is as bad as too little.
  120. 120 One thing tells all things.
  121. 121 Begin with Kai.
  122. 122 He who travels a hundred leagues counts ninety as halfway.
  123. 123 Trade is like an ox's drool.
  124. 124 Sending salt to one's enemy.
  125. 125 After victory, tighten your helmet cords.
  126. 126 One leaf falls, and we know autumn is coming to the world.
  127. 127 The large holds the small.
  128. 128 A treasure left to rot.
  129. 129 Unskilled, but devoted.
  130. 130 Act without announcing.
  131. 131 Carving and polishing one another.
  132. 132 One aim, whole heart.
  133. 133 Carry your first resolve through to the end.
  134. 134 Sleeping on firewood, tasting gall.
  135. 135 Plow when it shines, read when it rains.
  136. 136 Flowers, birds, wind, moon.
  137. 137 Clear mirror, still water.
  138. 138 Beyond the clouds, blue sky.
  139. 139 With whole heart, in full sincerity.
  140. 140 Sincere simplicity, quiet strength.
  141. 141 Hold harmony as the precious thing.
  142. 142 Hiding the head but not the rear.
  143. 143 Eye drops from the second floor.
  144. 144 Water on a burning stone.
  145. 145 A bee on a tear-streaked face.
  146. 146 Across the wide world, there are no demons.
  147. 147 Getting along like rider and horse.
  148. 148 Friends of the bamboo stilts.
  149. 149 Too many boatmen pull the boat up the mountain.
  150. 150 Hear one, understand ten.
  151. 151 There is no royal road to learning.
  152. 152 Unpolished jade does not shine.
  153. 153 The old fool moves the mountain.
  154. 154 Hardship is the seed of joy.
  155. 155 The hardships of youth — buy them if you must.
  156. 156 There are mountains, there are valleys.
  157. 157 Advance daily, progress monthly.
  158. 158 Rust comes from the blade itself.
  159. 159 The year's plan is drawn on New Year's morning.
  160. 160 Old pond — a frog leaps in, sound of water.
  161. 161 Such stillness — the cicadas' cry sinks into the rocks.
  162. 162 Gathering the rains of June, how swiftly flows the Mogami.
  163. 163 Skinny frog, do not give up — Issa is here.
  164. 164 Little sparrows, make way, make way! The horse is passing.
  165. 165 A morning glory has claimed my well bucket — I beg water next door.
  166. 166 "Catch me the moon!" cries the child.
  167. 167 The spring sea — all day long it swells and gently swells.
  168. 168 Field of rapeseed — the moon in the east, the sun in the west.
  169. 169 The boat already boarded.
  170. 170 Once past the throat, the burn is forgotten.
  171. 171 No smoke rises where there is no fire.
  172. 172 Ill-gotten money does not stay.
  173. 173 Honesty is the treasure of a lifetime.
  174. 174 Lying is the beginning of theft.
  175. 175 Blossoms last seven days.
  176. 176 Better fifty today than a hundred tomorrow.
  177. 177 Without far sight, near sorrows.
  178. 178 To see what is right and not do it is to lack courage.
  179. 179 The real fault is not to mend one's fault.
  180. 180 In a thousand thoughts, one slip.
  181. 181 Deep autumn — my neighbor, how does he live?
  182. 182 You cannot take the tiger's cub without entering its den.
  183. 183 Charge, even if you shatter.
  184. 184 To gain one life out of nine deaths.
  185. 185 Bringing back to life what seemed dead.
  186. 186 A full turn of the heart.
  187. 187 Returning in a cloud of dust.
  188. 188 Unbending, unbroken.
  189. 189 A resolute will pierces even rock.
  190. 190 If pushing fails, try pulling.
  191. 191 At the dead end, a way opens.
  192. 192 There is no rain that does not stop.
  193. 193 Knowing when to withdraw is winning.
  194. 194 Of the thirty-six stratagems, retreat is the finest.
  195. 195 Even a walking dog runs into something.
  196. 196 Little snail, climb, ever so slowly, Mount Fuji.
  197. 197 Accumulating the small builds the great.
  198. 198 A thousand days of practice to forge; ten thousand to polish.
  199. 199 Think lightly of yourself, think deeply of the world.
  200. 200 A man's life is a long road walked under a burden; there is no need to hurry.
  201. 201 People are the castle, people are the walls, people are the moat.
  202. 202 Calm and equal to oneself, whatever happens.
  203. 203 Standing on one's own, walking at one's own pace.
  204. 204 Echoing the thunder without an opinion of one's own.
  205. 205 Water on a frog's face.
  206. 206 A rumor lives but seventy-five days.
  207. 207 The outcome of a contest belongs also to the hour.
  208. 208 Let the water carry it away.
  209. 209 Summer grasses — all that remains of warriors' dreams.
  210. 210 Sick on a journey — my dreams go wandering still over withered fields.
  211. 211 Harvest moon — all night long I paced around the pond.
  212. 212 Mountain path — something quietly moving: a wild violet.
  213. 213 Wild sea — stretched over Sado Island, the River of Heaven.
  214. 214 Plum blossom scent — and suddenly the sun appears on the mountain path.
  215. 215 Departing spring — birds cry, and there are tears in the eyes of fish.
  216. 216 On a bare branch a crow has settled — autumn evening.
  217. 217 First winter rain — the monkey too seems to wish for a little straw coat.
  218. 218 How many cloud peaks have crumbled away — and here, the mountain under the moon.
  219. 219 This road — no one else walks it. Autumn evening.
  220. 220 Snow has melted — the village is full of children.
  221. 221 A happiness about medium, I'd say — my own New Year.
  222. 222 Come and play with me, sparrow without parents.
  223. 223 Don't swat it! The fly wrings its hands, wrings its feet.
  224. 224 How delicious it looks, the falling snow — softly, fluffily down.
  225. 225 June rains — facing the swollen river, two houses.
  226. 226 What happiness, crossing the summer river, sandals in hand!
  227. 227 A morning glory — one single bloom, the blue of a deep abyss.
  228. 228 The young leaves have buried everything — except, alone, Mount Fuji.
  229. 229 On the great bell, alighted, sleeping, a butterfly.
  230. 230 Again and again I ask: the snow, how deep is it now?
  231. 231 Cockscombs — there must be fourteen, maybe fifteen.
  232. 232 Spring — long ago, a proud castle town of a hundred fifty thousand koku.
  233. 233 Summer gale — every blank page on the desk blown away.
  234. 234 However deep I go, and deeper still — blue mountains.
  235. 235 Answering the moment as it comes.
  236. 236 The right timber in the right place.
  237. 237 One meeting in a thousand years.
  238. 238 The beauty of a completed ending.
  239. 239 Entering alone, blade drawn, straight to the point.
  240. 240 Drawing the water to one's own rice field.
  241. 241 Mistaking the branch for the root.
  242. 242 Writing the praise of one's own painting.
  243. 243 Enemies of Wu and Yue in the same boat.
  244. 244 Suspicion fills the dark with phantoms.
  245. 245 Lost in five leagues of fog.
  246. 246 Dragon's head, snake's tail.
  247. 247 Painting the dragon's pupil.
  248. 248 Legs on a snake.
  249. 249 The spear and the shield.
  250. 250 Three in the morning, four at night.
  251. 251 Grinding one's bones, crushing one's body.
  252. 252 The pen and the sword, both ways.
  253. 253 Two people, three legs.
  254. 254 One single thread, from head to tail.
  255. 255 Praising one's own miso.
  256. 256 One would even borrow the cat's paws.
  257. 257 The moon and the pond turtle.
  258. 258 For all the gain of one's pains: exhaustion.
  259. 259 Braiding the rope after catching the thief.
  260. 260 Water on an upright board.
  261. 261 Spring wind in a horse's ears.
  262. 262 The flower on the high peak.
  263. 263 What remains unseen is the flower.
  264. 264 To meet is to begin to part.
  265. 265 When abuse passes, reason withdraws.
  266. 266 Against a crying child and a local lord, no one wins.
  267. 267 There is fortune in what remains.
  268. 268 An empty stomach fights no battle.
  269. 269 One longs to pick the flower, but the branch is high.
  270. 270 The eyes are the mirror of the heart.
  271. 271 The name reveals the thing.
  272. 272 Learning calligraphy at sixty.
  273. 273 The world seems wide, and it is small.
  274. 274 Tomorrow, it may be me.
  275. 275 Let yourself be wrapped by what is longer than you.
  276. 276 Iris on the sixth, chrysanthemum on the tenth: one day too late.
  277. 277 Laughter is people's medicine.
  278. 278 First chase the flies above your own head.
  279. 279 Skilled of tongue, skilled of hand.
  280. 280 Reading, writing, arithmetic.
  281. 281 Snow, moon, flowers.
  282. 282 A three-day monk.
  283. 283 Learning without thinking leads only to darkness.
  284. 284 Do not do to others what you would not wish for yourself.
  285. 285 Do not count an inch of time as nothing.
  286. 286 In spring, it is the dawn.
  287. 287 Let a house be designed for summer.
  288. 288 Even in small things, a guide is desirable.
  289. 289 The foam floating on still water dissolves here, reforms there, and never lingers long.
  290. 290 Japanese poetry has the human heart as its seed, from which grow myriad leaves of words.
  291. 291 The color of the flowers has faded, while I watched the long rains fall — and my life go by.
  292. 292 Coming out upon Tago Bay, I see: on Fuji's high peak, white, the snow still falling.
  293. 293 In the harvest-watch hut by the autumn fields, its rush roof loose, my sleeves grow wet with dew.
  294. 294 Act on reason, and you grow sharp-cornered. Pole along feeling, and you are swept away. Force your will, and you are cramped. Decidedly, the human world is hard to live in.
  295. 295 Yielding neither to the rain, nor to the wind.
  296. 296 A house that does not leak, meals that end hunger: that is enough.
  297. 297 Kept hidden, it becomes the flower.
  298. 298 Heaven creates no man above other men, nor any man below.
  299. 299 The country is broken; mountains and rivers remain.
  300. 300 Do not forget the flower of your beginnings.
  301. 301 I know only what is enough.
  302. 302 One step a day: in three days, three steps.
  303. 303 Waiting for ripening is also part of the training.
  304. 304 Bloom where you were sown.