106Japanese proverb ことわざ
秋の日は釣瓶落とし
あきのひはつるべおとしAki no hi wa tsurube otoshi
“The autumn sun drops like a well bucket.”
The meaning
In autumn, evening takes you by surprise. The image tells the speed of season's end — and the art of arranging one's days as light shortens.
At the origin
The tsurube is the bucket dropped into the well: a fast vertical fall, like autumn dusk.
The characters
- 秋 akiautumn
- の noof (link)
- 日 hisun, day
- は
- 釣瓶
- 落とし
のParticleLinks two words: possession or belonging, like “of”.
In practice
When a deadline nears, count in remaining light, not in full days.
Themes
Similar proverbs
- 126 一葉落ちて天下の秋を知る One leaf falls, and we know autumn is coming to the world.
- 165 朝顔に釣瓶とられてもらい水 A morning glory has claimed my well bucket — I beg water next door.
- 168 菜の花や月は東に日は西に Field of rapeseed — the moon in the east, the sun in the west.
- 175 花七日 Blossoms last seven days.
- 216 枯朶に烏のとまりけり秋の暮 On a bare branch a crow has settled — autumn evening.
Related expressions
- 107 物言えば唇寒し秋の風 As soon as words are spoken, the lips feel cold — autumn wind.
- 181 秋深き隣は何をする人ぞ Deep autumn — my neighbor, how does he live?
- 219 この道や行く人なしに秋の暮 This road — no one else walks it. Autumn evening.
- 293 秋の田のかりほの庵の苫をあらみ我が衣手は露にぬれつつ In the harvest-watch hut by the autumn fields, its rush roof loose, my sleeves grow wet with dew.