KANAE
263Japanese proverb ことわざ

見ぬが花

Minu ga hana

“What remains unseen is the flower.”

The meaning

Imagination embellishes what the eyes have not yet verified. The proverb smiles at our expectations — and consoles too: there is always something beautiful left unseen.

At the origin

A brother proverb of "not saying is the flower".

The characters

  1. 見ぬ minunot seeing
  2. が ga(subject)
  3. 花

The complete word-by-word reading, in KANAE.

ParticleMarks the subject: the one who does, or what is.

In practice

Keep one unverified dream — not every flower must be picked.

Themes

In the collections · Yohaku

Similar proverbs

  1. 111 Should we look at blossoms only in full bloom, at the moon only when it is clear?
  2. 020 Dumplings over flowers.
  3. 059 Not saying is the flower.
  4. 062 People are not what they seem.
  5. 115 The neighbor's flowers are redder.

Related expressions

  1. 018 Hearing a hundred times is not worth seeing once.
  2. 089 Watch others' conduct and mend your own.
  3. 178 To see what is right and not do it is to lack courage.
  4. 292 Coming out upon Tago Bay, I see: on Fuji's high peak, white, the snow still falling.

See also