{"id":314,"date":"2008-12-01T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2008-12-01T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2022-04-27T12:57:48","modified_gmt":"2022-04-27T03:57:48","slug":"yojijukugo-japanese-sayings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.genkijacs.com\/blog\/yojijukugo-japanese-sayings\/","title":{"rendered":"“Yojijukugo” – Japanese sayings"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Cat<\/p>\n

What are we talking about?<\/h5>\n

One of my favourite aspects of the language is \u56db\u5b57\u719f\u8a9e (“yojijukugo”, 4-character idioms). A way of Japanese sayings which literally, it means:<\/p>\n

\n

yo(yon) = \u56db = four
\nji = \u5b57 = character
\njukugo = \u719f\u8a9e = phrase
\nThese four character kanji compounds can be used in all sorts of situations and are a very convenient way on conveying a complex concept simply and quickly. Many yojijukugo have an idiomatic meaning that can’t be easily determined just by looking at the characters, although some are quite easy to understand. Becoming a master at using yojijukugo will take a lot of practice. But here are a few of the more common ones to memorize. Break these out in conversation<\/a> with your friends and watch their jaws drop!<\/p>\n

1. \u5f31\u8089\u5f37\u98df (“Jakunikukyoushoku”)
\nCharacter meanings: weak\/meat\/strong\/eat
\nEnglish idiom: Law of the jungle (literally, the weak are meat for the strong to eat)<\/p>\n

2. \u4e00\u77f3\u4e8c\u9ce5 (“Issekinichou”)
\nCharacter meanings: one\/stone\/two\/bird
\nEnglish idiom: Kill two birds with one stone<\/p>\n

3. \u4e00\u671f\u4e00\u4f1a (“Ichigoichie”)
\nCharacter meanings: one\/period\/one\/meeting
\nEnglish idiom: Once in a lifetime<\/p>\n

4. \u81ea\u753b\u81ea\u8cdb (“Jigaijisan”)
\nCharacter meanings: self\/painting\/self\/praise
\nEnglish idiom: Blowing one’s own horn<\/p>\n

As always, there’s a lot more info about these, with examples, on Wikipedia<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What are we talking about? One of my favourite aspects of the language is \u56db\u5b57\u719f\u8a9e (“yojijukugo”, 4-character idioms). A way of Japanese sayings which literally, it means: yo(yon) = \u56db = four ji = \u5b57 = character jukugo = \u719f\u8a9e = phrase These four character kanji compounds can be used in all sorts of situations…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2961,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nGenki Japanese and Culture School - "Yojijukugo" - Japanese sayings<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Japanese Sayings or Yojijukugo is a way of conveying difficult concepts quickly. 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