KANAE
252Japanese idiom 四字熟語

文武両道

Bunbu ryōdō

“The pen and the sword, both ways.”

The meaning

Cultivating mind and body, study and action, together. The scholar-warrior ideal remains current: each way keeps the other from its excesses.

At the origin

An educational ideal inherited from the samurai class, still alive in Japanese schools.

The characters

In practice

Balance your week: a share of study, a share of exercise — sacrificing neither.

Themes

Similar proverbs

Related expressions

See also