196Haiku 俳句
蝸牛そろそろ登れ富士の山
かたつむりそろそろのぼれふじのやまKatatsumuri sorosoro nobore Fuji no yama
“Little snail, climb, ever so slowly, Mount Fuji.”
The meaning
To the slowest of creatures the poet entrusts the highest of mountains. No distance forbids setting out; the pace is not the point, the direction is.
At the origin
A haiku by Kobayashi Issa, now a worldwide emblem of patient progress.
The characters
- 蝸牛 katatsumurisnail
- そろそろ sorosoroslowly, gently
- 登れ noboreclimb
- 富士
- の
- 山
In practice
Your Mount Fuji is waiting: take today's snail step.
Themes
Similar proverbs
- 005 塵も積もれば山となる Even dust, piling up, becomes a mountain.
- 123 商いは牛の涎 Trade is like an ox's drool.
- 153 愚公、山を移す The old fool moves the mountain.
- 292 田子の浦にうち出でて見れば白妙の富士の高嶺に雪は降りつつ Coming out upon Tago Bay, I see: on Fuji's high peak, white, the snow still falling.
- 234 分け入っても分け入っても青い山 However deep I go, and deeper still — blue mountains.