072Japanese proverb ことわざ
棚からぼた餅
たなからぼたもちTana kara botamochi
“A rice cake fallen from the shelf.”
The meaning
Sometimes luck simply falls. The proverb smiles at it — and quietly reminds us not to build a life on falling cakes.
At the origin
Botamochi is a rice sweet; receiving one effortlessly is proverbial good luck.
The characters
- 棚 tanashelf
- から karafrom
- ぼた餅
からParticle“From, starting at” — the origin; sometimes “because”.
In practice
Welcome windfalls with joy, without making them a strategy.