208Japanese idiom 四字熟語
水に流す
みずにながすMizu ni nagasu
“Let the water carry it away.”
Word for wordTo set it flowing in the water.
The meaning
Entrusting old quarrels to the current and never fishing them back. Japanese forgiveness holds this image: what the water has carried off no longer clutters the bank.
At the origin
An essential expression of the Japanese culture of reconciliation.
The characters
- 水 mizuwater
- に niinto
- 流す
にParticleThe point of arrival: a place, a moment, a destination.
In practice
Choose one old grievance and decide, explicitly, to leave it to the water.
Themes
Similar proverbs
- 109 ゆく河の流れは絶えずして、しかももとの水にあらず The river flows on and on, and yet the water is never the same.
- 011 上手の手から水が漏れる Even skilled hands let water slip through.
- 091 魚心あれば水心 If the fish loves the water, the water will love the fish.
- 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.
- 205 蛙の面に水 Water on a frog's face.