三寒四温

さんかんしおん
san kan shi on

Pretty much everything about winter weather pisses me off, but nothing gets under my skin quite so much as the big Spring Tease we're suffering through in Japan this year.

It was a brutally cold winter and the first time in 4 years I've seen snow stick in Saga. And it didn't just stick, we had 13cms. And after that it started getting warm, I stopped wearing gloves and long underwear (お爺ちゃんパンツ, as my girlfriend calls them), then BAM! Snow again!

Then it jumped up into the 20s last week, but today and yesterday, I was back to using the はる　ほっかいろ that keep me alive during the worst parts of winter.

Talking about this weather with my co-workers, I found out that not only is this weather an annually expected phenomenon, BUT there's a 四字熟語 for it.

Definition:
冬季に寒い日が三日ほど続くと、そのあと四日ほど温暖な日が続き、また寒くなるというように7日周期で寒暖が繰り返される現象
Translation:
Specific to the transition between winter and spring, cold weather that gets warm for a few days, then cold again.
Literally: 3 days of cold, 4 days of hot.

What's more, generally the cold days during a 三寒四温 period are characterized by clear sunny weather, and the warm days are gray and wet. Absolutely true of this week!

For your practical purposes, you can stop reading here. If you're a "knowing stuff" dork like me, please read on.

The original expression comes from China of course, by way of Korea, because the phenomenon is much more common there. This is due to what's called the "Siberian High," a collection of cold dry air. It goes through cycles of growing weak and strong, which are thought to cause the vascillation between warm and cold as winter ends and spring begins. However, Japan feels the effects of not only the Siberian High, but also the Pacific High, equally dry, but subtropical, so not cold.

Because Japan deals with the two, 三寒四温 is not as regularly occurring as it is in China or Korea. It's more of a "Will it happen this year or not?" kind of thing.

Also of note, in recent years the phrase has started to be used to talk about the beginning of spring when the air pressure alternates between high and low, and warm weather starts. While you can't call this incorrect, it's not the original meaning.

As far as examples of use go, this one is pretty much a stand alone thing. Like if someone said "It's so cold today, but it was warm yesterday," I'd be all like "三寒四温。" The End.

異口同音

いく　どうおん
iku douon

Today's yo-ji jukugo is so straightforward and easy to understand that the only thing I can possibly do to make it more interesting/challenging is throw a bunch of synonymous 四字熟語 at you. Different phrases, but they're saying the same thing. How appropriate.

Before that though, while I'm still basking in how clever I am, let's check the definition.

Definition:
多くの人が、同じ言葉を口にすること。また、多くの人が一致して同じ意見をいうこと。
Translations:
1. In unison
2. Unanimously

The kanji make this one clear enough: different mouths, same sound.

SYNONYM TIME:

異口同声 (いくどうせい；ikudousei) and 異口同辞 (いくどうじ; ikudouji) get away with just switching out the last kanji, to become　"different mouths, same voice" and "different mouths, same language" respectively. But if you're a Rikai-chan user, you'll notice that these don't enjoy the same recognition that 異口同音 does, so don't expect them to work well in conversation.

Then there's 衆目一致 (しゅうもくいっち; shuumokuicchi) which is used to mean a consensus of opinion, or something widely agreed upon, or widely admitted.

And we'll finish out with 満場一致 (まんじょういっち;manjyouicchi) which also means "unanimous."

Things that I'm paying close attention to:

• The reading of 異, which features in a handful of 1級 熟語.
• 衆, which also is important for 1級, in that it gets used a lot for things that are in the public arena, like politics and business, in which direction 1級 content tends to lean (you know, when they're not focused on video games).
• 一致, appearing in two of the synonymous yo-ji, used to mean "agreement," or "union." And coincidence. Not the 偶然 style coincidence, but an act of coinciding.

例文：

騙されやすい先生：先生は宿題があったと思っていたが、教室では異口同音に「なかった」と言われて、やはり出すのを忘れたみたい。
Easily-fooled teacher: I thought you had homework to hand in, but if EVERYONE in class is saying that there wasn't any, I guess I forgot to assign it!

遺憾千万

いかんせんばん
ikan senban

Do you guys know the word 後悔 (こうかい； koukai)? Or the verb phrase 後悔する？ 後悔　is "regret" and as always, adding する verbs it into "to regret." So what about "regrettable?"

後悔的 doesn't really get used very commonly, so if you want to say that something was regrettable, like Brett's decision to sing Mariah Carey's "Fantasy" at Karaoke, you could use the first half of today's yo-ji、遺憾（な）to do the trick: ブレットさんの音域が狭すぎて、極めて遺憾な演奏でありました。

So, with 遺憾 as "regrettable" and 千万 stepping up to represent an extremely large quantity, we've got a yo-ji that means:

Definition:
残念で仕方ないこと。非常に心残りであること。くちおしくてならない。
Translations:
1. HIGHLY regrettable.
2. Deplorable.
3. Mortifying.

It's worth noting that while all of these translations could be applied equally to Brett's singing, you can use 遺憾千万 in lots of other situations as well. The Yoji Databank has a good example with: 「よかれと思い、君に忠告したつもりだったが、逆に恨みを買うとは遺憾千万だ。」 I particularly like the phrase 「よかれと思う: to have good intentions; to mean well.」

Sadly, I have a lot of memories that I look back on as 遺憾千万. Most recently, I was filling out an application at a job interview, and thanks to a combination of nerves and a really crappy clipboard, my 字 were coming out all 汚い. So to help correct that, I took a magazine off of the waiting room table, slipped it in between the clipboard and the paper, and finished filling it out. Unfortunately, when I was all done, I forgot to take it back out and 雑誌がはさんだまま返しました。The girl who was interviewing me noticed it, and noticed that everywhere I had pressed down hard in the attempt to write clearly, the 字のなぞりは雑誌の表紙に残っていました。

She was not pleased.

I like to think of this 四字熟語 as it compares to 言語道断.
Note though, that 遺憾千万 carries a connotation of うらみ (resentment) on someone's part.

Today's example will be a simple one, and hopefully easy for you to use.

例文：お前がそれを理解できないのは遺憾千万だ。
It's beyond regrettable that you can't understand that.

夜郎自大

やろうじだい
yaroujidai

や　is for 「やった！」 As in, 「やった！このや行シリーズがやっと終わるみたい！」

Today will be the last Yojijukugo post that starts with や、ゆ、or　よ! Maybe not the last one FOREVER, but I think we've got enough to smack the smile off of any uppity bangumis that wanna tell us WE don't know Yojijukugo.

(Though, while we're still here, I'd personally like to request that Nirav make a KN^4 post on 余裕, cause seriously, that business is complicated!)

Today's entry is a great one to know as a foreigner in Japan, because I think it aptly describes the attitude that many of us are prone to adopting when we forget that we're not as awesome as Japan can make us feel.

Also, I found the PERFECT picture for this. BOOM!

Definition:
自分の力量をわきまえず、仲間うちで威張ること。知識も力もないのに尊大にふるまうことのたとえ。
Translations:
1. Getting a big head about being a big fish in a small pond, while forgetting that the world is mostly ocean.
2. Using your strength to be the boss of your microcosm, in a way that fails to acknowledge your real worth in the macrocosm. (What's your worth in the macrocosm NOW, fish?)
3. Act with reckless arrogance.

自大, using the kanji for "oneself" and "big" are apparent enough. 夜郎, rather than being ateji for 野郎、is actually the name of a very tiny independent country that we call Yelang in what is now China. The king of Yelang, upon receiving an emissary from the Han Dynasty (yeah, THAT Han Dynasty) displayed remarkably poor judgement (as well of a lack of knowledge about what the Han Dynasty was) and made some unfortunate boasts.

I don't know how accurate this story is, as the accounts of said king also include a Taketori Monogatari-esque birth...

Use 夜郎自大 with になる。Or you can say of someone or something: 夜郎自類である。

例文：
この学校の六年生の態度はやばいですね。行動を正してやる先輩もないし、夜郎自大になってしまいました。来年は中学生になることを知識してないみたい。
This school's 6th graders are rough, huh? With no older students to keep them in line, they've gotten recklessly arrogant. It's like they've forgotten that they're gonna be middle school first years in just a year.

The Russel Series

Morning, yo-ji fans. Continuing on in the や行 vein, today we bring you three useful yo-jis that scholars (at least, one amateur scholar that I know of) like to refer to as "The Russel Series."

勇往邁進
ゆうおうまいしん
yuuoumaishin

Definition:
困難をものともしないで、ひたすら突き進むこと。
Translation:
Pushing forward, without regard for difficulties or distress.

Think of this one as in the same league with 猪突猛進, but without the negative connotation. Use it with する。

(I found this tiger/Great wave picture and thought it was too awesome not to include it in this post. Look at that tiger, ignoring the fact that there's a giant wave coming and that tigers are not ocean creatures. He's gonna do his best anyway. The pic comes from this blog.)

優柔不断
ゆうじゅうふだん
yuujuu fudan
Definition:
ぐずぐずしていて決断の遅いこと。決断力に乏しいこと。
Translation:
Indecisiveness.

I'm not sexist or anything but, some sources also translate this yoji as: effeminacy. Hah. Use it as a な adjective.

用意周到
よういしゅうとう
youi shuutou
Definition:
何事にも用意がすみずみまで行き届き、手抜かりのないこと。
Translation:
Thoroughly, completely prepared, having left nothing out.

Maybe you could think of this along the same lines as one of the two interpretations of 正々堂々？ You can use it as a な adjective, or with に。A 用意周到な旦那 is not necessarily a 亭主関白,　but a dude could be both, right? A 四角四面 guy on the other hand, would definitely like this 四字熟語。

悠々自適

ゆうゆうじてき
yuuyuu jiteki

Ahhh, yet another yo-ji that speaks to the me that I wish I was... (bonus points if you can remember some of the others). And it gets us one more や行 yo-ji, which is our goal for a little while.

Definition:
世間のわずらわしさから離れ、ゆったりと自由気ままに過ごすこと。
Translations:
1. Getting away from it all (as a way of life.)
2. Living life free from worldly troubles.

I like to think of this one as having to do with a hermetic lifestyle, going off to live in the mountains, a la Spider Jerusalem, and while it wouldn't necessarily HAVE to go hand in hand with 自給自足, they would look pretty nice together, don't you think?

Try attaching の afterwards to say things like　悠々自適の生活 or 悠々自適の人生. You can get away verbing it with に過ごす or する、 but both of those usages seem less common　(とくに「する」).

例文：
悠々自適の人生を手に入れるために田舎に引っ越して来ました。しかし、実際に都会での歯車の存在より、畑で野菜作りの方が面倒くさい。
I moved out to the country side to start living a quiet, peaceful life away from the annoyances of the world. But trying to raise your own vegetables in the garden is actually more of a pain in the ass than being a city drone ever was.

羊質虎皮

ようしつ　こひ
youshitsu kohi

I was watching a Quiz Bangumi on TV the other night, and anytime they're focused on either kanji or the Japanese language, you can guarantee a 四字熟語 question or two. Sometimes even a whole category. So I was psyched when they announced that the next game was for a team of contestants to name as many yo-jis as they could... that begin with a character from the や行.

I didn't know a single one. Stupid や行。 To my credit, the players couldn't think of more than two, but I can't get over the burning shame of such a poor showing, so I'm taking steps to revenge myself on that show.

Step one: Post a bunch of yoji that begin with や、ゆ、よ。
Step two: Consume my own bile.
Step three: Wage total warfare against their kingdom.

For a detailed explanation of why steps two and three are necessary, please see 会稽之恥/臥薪嘗胆.

So today we start with 羊質虎皮：　The quality of a sheep, the skin of a tiger. Kind of like the complete opposite of a wolf in sheep's clothing.

Definition:
羊が虎の皮をかぶる。外見は立派だが、実質が伴っていないことにたとえる。見かけだおし。
Translations:
1. Sheep in wolf's clothing.
２．All bark, no bite.
3. Looks great, but lacks substance.

We've covered all kinds of things that you can associate with 羊質虎皮. Do you remember any of them?

How about the extremely rarely used あだ花, that we included in our flower trivia?

Or what about some of the opposites in regard to 能ある鷹は爪を隠す?

This is a yo-ji that's hard to get into sentences, but when you do, try using it with になる、or very plainly. Like ｢あの人よく言うけど、羊質虎皮だ。」

例文：
Aさん：あの政治家はただ美辞麗句を並んでいると思わない？
Don't you think that politician's just making a bunch of flowery, meaningless statements.
Bさん：うん。キャンペーン中だから、特に羊質虎皮になっているって感じだ。
Yeah. Especially since he's in the middle of campaigning. He's really putting sheep into tigers over there*.


*A better translation might be "He's really putting on airs."

四通八達

しつう　はったつ
shitsuu hattatsu

4 and 8 both get used in Japanese to convey totality: on all sides (四面楚歌) or in all directions (八方美人). Using them together increases this effect.

Definition:
道路や鉄道が四方八方伸びていて大変便利なこと。
Translations:
1. Accessible from everywhere/providing access to everywhere.
2. At the center of a comprehensive traffic network.

Like how the definition includes another yo-ji that makes use of the same 4/8 effect?

Note: Don't confuse the 4/8 in 四苦八苦 to mean "suffering from all sides." In this case, it actually refers to a specific number of pains and sufferings. See our post on it for more information.

例文：眼の下に大坂の町なみがひろがり、道は四通八達し、ゆききする人の姿が、蟻のように小さい。
From up here, looking at the way Osaka sprawls out below us, the roads run in all directions and the people coming and going are as small as ants.

四角四面

しかく　しめん
shikaku shimen

Back this week, with what we hope will be a full week of posts. What with Golden Week coming up, we're gonna try to get our study licks in now, before the beach and the road start calling. So, at least for the yo-jis, lets try to go with numbers this week.

The kanji here are easy enough. 四角 is the Japanese word for a rectangle. I'm not clear on the exact definitions, but it means "four angles." 正方形　（せいほうけい; seihoukei) is the term for something that is geometrically perfectly square, and 長方形 (ちょうほうけい;
chouhoukei) is the one for a rectangle. The way I figure it, they're both 四角.

四面, which shows up in THIS other famous 四字熟語, means "four sides," which, in many cases, is ALL sides.

For today's purposes, something with four sides and four angles is, well...

Definition:
きわめてまじめなことのたとえ。まじめすぎて融通がきかないこと。
Translations:
1. Square.
2. Overly formal.
3. Serious/Dilligent/Straight-laced to the point of being inflexible.

The wording of the definition is worth noting: 融通がきかない: inflexible. I've been stuck for too long with 気楽 to mean "easy-going" when often I've wanted to say 融通が利く, to be flexible.

Today's post reminds me of 杓子定規.

例文：あまりに四角四面な考え方でいると、周囲の意見と必ず衝突するよ。
If your way of thinking is too rigid, you're guaranteed to come into conflict with the opinions of those around you.

興味索然

きょうみ　さくぜん
kyoumi sakuzen

As promised, Wednesday's yo-ji stands in stark opposition to Monday's. Whereas 興味津々 is about something that grabs your attention and refuses to let go, 興味索然 lets go pretty fast, cause it never really had you all that interested to begin with.

Definition:

興味が失われていくさま。物足りなくて面白みがない。

Translations:

1. Uninteresting.

2. Something that actually deters interest.

3. Taking the fun/pleasure out of...

4. Raining on the blanket parade...

(Get it? Wet blanket? Hilarious.)

This one is pretty easy to use by adding です, but you can also attach 的 and use it like an adjective.

And forgive the video for the fact that its only relevancy is its title. I was blown away that I found this while researching this yo-ji.



例文：ヒーローズのシーズン１はものすごく面白かったけど、最近はぜんぜん興味索然だな。
The first season of Heroes was really engaging, but recently it's completely uninteresting.

興味津津

きょうみ　しんしん
kyoumi shinshin

We've discussed the kanji 津 before, when we did 津々浦々. It means "port," or "harbor," but remember: we also discussed how referring to multiple ports (津津) in an island nation lends itself to an idea all-encompassing "everywhere-ness." Maybe that has something to do with why 津津 can be defined as "being full," or "brimming," as it is here.

興味, as you probably know, is "interest," as in 「四字熟語に興味あります：I'm interested in Yojijukugo.」

Definition:
興味が次から次へとわいてきて、尽きないさま。
Translation:
1. highly interested
2. being immensely curious
3. with inexhaustible interest

The Japanese definition above specifies an interest that becomes more and more engaging the more you get into it, in a way that seems like it might never end.

Another good word to know in this case is 興味深い (きょうみぶかい；kyoumi bukai): of deep interest. So, "very interesting."

We'll have more in the way of antonyms next time!

例文：テレビドラマの展開が、今後どのようになるのか非常に興味津々である。
There's intense curiousity about how the world of television dramas will develop from here on out.

極楽浄土

ごくらく じょうど
gokuraku joudo

What with KN^4 posts and 1級 Grammar, we've been giving you an awful lot of useful Japanese lately, and I imagine that all of you wish we'd get back to our old, extremely impractical ways.

So in that spirit, if you find a way to use today's 四字 in a casual conversation, you have my undying respect.

Definition:
阿弥陀仏が住んでいるとされる仏教思想における理想世界。
Translation:
1. Paradise, specifically the pure land inhabited by Amitabha, also known as Sukhavati.

According to the Mayahana school, Amitabha, the Buddha of Infinite Light, was once a bodhisattva called Dharmakara, with aspirations for creating a new Buddha realm out of his Buddha merit. He's credited with 48-vows which defined the realm, and laid out conditions for getting into said realm.

Though that might sound intense, Amitabha's school of thought (known as Pure Land Buddhism) was actually a reaction to what he felt was the difficulty of attaining Nirvana through the traditional methods of meditation... so instead, all you had to do to get into the Pure Land was to call Amitabha's name, like ten times or so during your life (18th vow) or to summon Amitabha and his disciples to your death bed.

This meant that ANYONE, including impoverished, or prostitutes, or any social outcast who had previously been denied the chance to receive spiritual services could appeal to Amitabha and have a chance of entering paradise. It began in India, traveled through Pakistan, Afghanistan, Central Asia, and then ran the circuit from China, to Vietnam, to Korea, to medieval Japan, where it became extremely popular for the reasons mentioned above.

(Of course, the 48 vows also stipulate that devotion to Amitabha is the ONLY way into the paradise, which DT Suzuki might say was the EXACT kind of deification that the Buddha warned about when he said "If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him.")

In any case, it's known as 浄土教 in Japanese, and I feel fairly confident in saying that the only time you'll ever be able to use it is when you're talking about this school of Buddhism.

例文：平安時代の貴族は死後、極楽浄土に生まれ変われることを願って阿弥陀仏を信じた。
The aristocrats and nobles of Heian Era Japan believed that after death, praying to Amitabha would allow them to be reborn unto Sukhavati.


I spent a long time looking over the site where I found this last picture, and am 98% sure that there's nothing dirty going on here...

表現 Break: 井戸端会議

I've gotten in the bad habit of including things in posts that I want to write full posts on, at a later time. I mentioned today's expression in the body of one of last week's yo-jis, but I wanted to give it it's own space as well. Promise this'll be the last time.

井戸端会議
いど　ばた　かいぎ
ido bata kaigi

Definition:
主婦達が集まって、人の噂などのおしゃべりをすること。
Translations:
1. Gossip.
2. Idle chatter.
3. Water-cooler gossip.

While the Japanese definition above specifies that 井戸端会議 is used in reference to housewives, I left that out of the translations because you could probably use it about gossipy men as well, or for any conversations that could be considered nothing but "rumor factories." Speaking of which, the word 噂 (うわさ; uwasa), also from the Japanese definition, is a great word word to know and use.

"Water-cooler gossip", or even "water-cooler conversation" is my modern interpretation of something that literally means "the meeting at the side of the well," and I'm not sure how well it holds up as a translation, because my American idea of water-cooler chat is more about last night's TV shows than 噂、let alone 人の悪口. Also, I don't know if American office conventions are the same as Japanese ones. In my school office we had a tea room, with a hot water dispenser instead of a water cooler. Hot tea all summer long. And hanging around in the tea room wasn't really encouraged.

"Well-side meetings", on the other hand, seems to come originate from a history of communities that had common kitchens, or at the least, communal water sources, where the women-folk had a chance to gather and talk women-talk.

I'll take this opportunity to remind you of an old 四字熟語 post, because when they say 悪事千里, one of the ways that bad news travels is by way of 井戸端会議.

Also, I enjoy checking out sites that feature cool or interesting bento lunches, and I found this picture of an 井戸端会議 bento! If you're into this kind of stuff, here are two of the sites that I like:

1.
2.

青天白日

せいてん　はくじつ
seiten hakujitsu

To put kind of a cap on the theme that Brett and I accidentally developed last week, comes a yo-ji that's been languishing on our unpublished draft roster for about half a year. 純情可憐 and 清廉潔白 both deal with people of unassailable character. 青天白日 might be what happens when someone who's character is unassailable gets assailed anyway.

All the kanji in here are about the weather, but don't expect it to be used literally all the time. The feeling and the sense of a bright blue sky and broad daylight are used to express something else.

Definition:
青空に輝く太陽。転じて、心の中が明白で、少しも隠しごとや疑われることがない状態。また、うたがいや無実の罪がはれること。
Translations:
1. Being transparent, beyond even the slightest doubt or suspiscion.
2. Having doubts, or false charges against you cleared away.
3. Being acquitted of all charges.
4. Being secure in the knowledge that your own actions were just; feeling no guilt.

The Yo-ji Databank falls kind of short on this one, providing a cop out 用例: 私はいつも晴天白日だ, but I can see why they went with that. Internet searches reveal tons of results for 青天白日 but most of them are stand alone cases.

It also gets used literally to describe the flag of the Chinese Nationalist Party. This is what a 青天白日旗 looks like.

If we had been formally grouping these 四字s thematically, 正々堂々 would have made a good addition to this run.

例文：刑期が満了した彼は青天白日の身となり、司直を訴えることになりました。
Having been cleared of all charges AFTER his prison sentence had been concluded, he has decided to sue the judicial authorities.

純情可憐

じゅんじょう　かれん
jyunjyou karen

日本の方へのメッセージ：
ＮＳＦＷという略語は「ＮＯＴ　ＳＡＦＥ　ＦＯＲ　ＷＯＲＫ」という意味で、人前で（得に同僚や子供）クリックしない方がいいリンクのことです。

It's rare that we get the chance to post a yoji that doesn't lend itself to pictures of scantily clad women in one way or another, but today is one of those days. These kanji don't allow it.

純 is one that I first learned in 純粋 (じゅんすい；jyunsui), meaning "pure." It has connotations of "unadulterated" but working in the school system I've heard it used to refer to the innoncence of youth. When it's used in the first compound of today's yo-ji, 純情, it becomes "purity of heart," or "naivete."

可 gets used in all kinds of compounds but think of it here like you would think of it in 可愛い. 可愛い has always perplexed me because of it's incredible descriptive range, which Google Image search will help me demonstrate: Can you think of another word that you could use to describe both THIS , THIS ,and THIS[NSFW]?

And if that's not enough, I've never been sure about the connection between 可愛い and 可愛そう. For me "cute" and "pitiful" are two very different things (BIG MISTAKE in this bit. Check the comments to see us getting owned by reader Pazu) , but in Japanese they seem conceptually linked somehow. Even the second part of today's yo-ji, 可憐, can be defined as either "sweet" or "poor," as in "poor baby."

Luckily　純情可憐 doesn't have the same ambiguity. As the definition will tell you, it's actually got a pretty narrow window of applicability.

Definition:
おもに若い女性の清らかで愛らしいさま。
Translation:
1. Beautiful and pure.
2. Sweet.

I like this one because I've had trouble figuring out how to describe a girl in Japanese who, in English, I would refer to as "sweet." Using 八方美人 is risky for reasons we've already discussed, and in a small town where you stand out, it's hard enough to say something nice about a woman without setting off an 井戸端会議 about your romantic intentions.

The one time I tried to explain the ways in which English speakers apply their version of "甘い" to people the conversation became confusing quickly: I didn't know that 甘い could be used to mean generous or indulgent at the time. To compare, think of how quickly 和英 or 英和　conversations can get sketchy when a Japanese person wants to talk about a 優しい女, but doesn't know whether or not to translate 優しい as "kind" or "easy."

純情可憐 resolves these problems for me. It encapsulates what I think of as the epitome of "sweet," and its chastity cuts out any potential for inappropriate interpretation. It is mainly used to refer to women who are below the "Christmas Cake" cut-off, so I might still have trouble applying it to older women, but it's still a lucky find.

It reminds me of 箱入り娘, for obvious reasons.

例文：新人タレントは、テレビドラマで純情可憐な少女の役をみごとに演じきった。
The up-and-coming actress gave a magnificent performance in her latest television drama role, playing a sweet, innocent young girl.

率先垂範

そっせん　すいはん
sossen suihan
Yet another yo-ji that highly appeals to the part of me that wishes I was まじめ, or even えらい.

率先 means taking the initiative: 人の先に立つこと. 先 is usually among the first kanji that most people learn, so I'll leave that alone and just say that 率 is a very, very useful kanji to know, because you can attach it to almost anything to make "the ______ rate:" like 出産率, 死亡率, 失業率 or 換算率. It gets used a lot in relation to percentages (出席率), proportion (倍率), and it's even one of the cornerstones of the word for probability: 確率. Plus, tiny bit of trivia, it's in the Japanese name for pi: 円周率.

垂範 means setting an example, and I'm not sure exactly why. If anyone knows how the first kanji comes into play, please comment away!

Back to 率先垂範.

Definition:
自分がすすんで手本を示す。模範を見せること。
Translation:
1. To lead by example.

Personally, I like to think of this one in conjunction with 不言実行, and in opposition to 反面教師.

Very, very common yo-ji for use in business situations.

例文：
日本のリーダーは“世界標準”あらず、 率先垂範から指導育成への転換が不可欠。
Japan's Business Leaders Don't Meet the Global Standard: A Change from the "Good Example" Model of Employee Training to Guided Development will be Indispensable. (trans. Nirav)

笑止千万

しょうし　せんばん
shoushi senban

As promised, today's yoji came up yesterday during my research of 「ちゃんちゃらおかしい.」

Definition:
この上もなくばかばかしくて吹き出したくなる様子。
Translation:
1. Exceedingly absurd.
2. Nothing could be more ridiculous.

Important to note the inclusion of 吹き出す, which in this instance means "to burst into laughter," which takes the connotation away from the realm of あほ臭い, and into the realm of knee-slapping funny.

I like to think of this one in relation to 破顔一笑, in that they both talk about uncontrollable displays of amusement or pleasure.

例文：外国人が日本について思っている一部分のイメージは笑止千万です。その人たちに「ジャパンカルチャラブ」というビデオシーリーズは役に立つと思います。
Some of the ideas that foreigners have about Japan can be laughable. In those case, the "Japan Culture Lab" series of videos can be a real help.

鶏口牛後

けいこうぎゅうご
keikou gyuugo

~The first in an occasional series of cow-related words and phrases~

As you all are aware (or should be), 2009 is the year of the ox/cow, depending on which language you are speaking. Unlike my two co-writers, one of whom is a boar/pig and the other a rat, I happened to have been born in a cow year, which means that this year I am a 年男, or man born under the same sign as the current year. Accordingly, it's been my plan to do a series of posts on "cow-words" in honor of both the new year and myself for some time now, and this post is the first in that series.

This is something of an odd yoji to start off with, because it doesn't give the most flattering view of cows, but I'm starting with it because it's probably among the more useful ushi-kotoba that I've come across. 鶏口牛後 is another one of those yoji's that has an ancient Chinese backstory, so gather round for storytime!

Back in the day, during the Warring States Period in China, the country of Han seemed on the brink of becoming a tributary state to the expanding country of Qin (later the first dynasty of China). Seeing this, and knowing that becoming a tributary would mean the certain doom of Han, Su Chin (I think - his name, 蘇秦, is read as そしん in Japanese) went to the king and said:

むしろ鶏口となるも、牛後となるなかれ
むしろけいこうとなるも、ぎゅうごとなるなかれ
keikou to naru mo, gyuugo to naru nakare

Better to be a chicken's mouth than a cow's butt!

Jet Li as the first Qin emperor in the stinkfest third Mummy movie...

Moved by these words (and not wanting to be a cow's butt), the King of Han decided against joining the Qin, and instead formed alliances with other neighboring states against them. (Of course, they all ended up being subsumed by the Qin anyway...) 鶏口牛後 is an abbreviation of that famous line.

I know what I want the next time I go to Japan...

Definition:
大きな組織で細々とやるのより、たとえ小さい組織でもトップになれ
Translation:
1. Rather be the first in a village than second in Rome.
2. Better to be a big fish in a little pond, than vice versa.

例文： 大手の企業に入ったって、トップになれる倍率はものすごく低い。だったら鶏口牛後の精神で起業をしたほうがましだ。

Even if you get into a big company, your chances of making it to the top are slim to none. That's why you're better off remembering that it's better to be first in a village than second in Rome and starting something on your own.

I know what I want the next time I go to Japan...

日常茶飯

にちじょう さはん
nichijyou sahan

Give us this day our daily bread, but if you can't do that, at least give us our Daily Yo-ji.

Today's 四字熟語 contains the Japanese equivalent of the idea of "daily bread," although... free of the religious connotations. 茶飯 (also read ちゃめし: lit. tea rice) is rice, prepared with tea and other seasonings. Brett's a big fan of お茶漬け, which is kind of the same thing, at least to my 外人 sensibilities. What makes it the equivalent of 'daily bread,' is in its simplicity.

Just as bread is perceived to be the 代表 of western cuisine, rice and tea are two of the pillars of the Japanese diet. No point in getting into the パン食、米食 debate. No matter how much you might chafe at the idea of "bread" as summing up your country's cuisine, it won't change the fact that Japanese people see it that way. Nor will it change the fact that Japanese people DON'T chafe at the idea of being gastronomically identified with rice. That's the way things are.

On a less debatable point, the addition of "日常' also helps draw the "daily bread" analogy nicely.
You can use 日常 to talk about anything that is routine, ordinary, regular, everyday to the point of being 当たり前.

Of course, the same thing could be said of the entire phrase as well.

Definition:
日常の食事。転じて毎日のありふれた物事や行動のこと。
Translation:
1. An everyday occurrence.
2. Something perfectly ordinary and expected.

Try using this with である。

例文：電車で携帯で話すことは行儀が悪いけど、携帯でメールやインターネットやゲームをすることは日常茶飯であります。
In Japan it's considered bad form to talk on your cell phone on the train, but using it for mail, the internet, or for games is about as common as rice.

打打発止

ちょうちょう　はっし
chouchou hasshi

Before we get too much distance between ourselves and last week's 喧々囂々、侃々諤々、喧々諤々 EXPLOSION, I want to take the time to address a legitimate concern that reader Alex addressed in the comments section: that shit was hard.

Not only are the kanji involved ridiculous, but the first two expressions are rarely used in conversation, and the third is actually not even a real yo-ji!

If only there were a good 四字熟語 that meant roughly the same thing, was easy to use, even easier to remember, and contained a kick-ass sword-fighting metaphor... Oh, wait.

Definition:
刀などで互いに打ち合う音。転じで、刀で切り合うように激しくやりあうさま。言い合いのこと。
Translation:
1. A fierce clashing of words, resembling a fierce clashing of swords.

According to the 「四字熟語」これだけ辞典, which we also posted on today, this yo-ji can also be written like so: 丁丁発止. Internet searches reveal tons of examples of both, but since the book lists 打打発止 as the primary form, and the book has the virtue of being ancient, we're gonna use it as well.

丁々, as Rikai-chan will tell you, is the sound of chopping, and also lends itself to the sound of metal on metal. I'd imagine it as more metallic sounding, but then, I've never heard a mouse say ちゅう either. 発止 gets translated as "a loud clack;" the kanji, meaning "halted departure," convey the idea of something in motion (like a sword) coming to a quick, sudden stop (when it hits another sword).

Sounds like 打打発止 could be used in close proximity to one of Brett's earliest posts: しのぎを削る.

例文：そのアメリカ人二人が何を言っているか知りたいな。いつも英語で打々発止の口喧嘩をしているようにみえるのに、本当は仲が良さそうだ。
I wonder what those two Americans are saying. They're always shouting back and forth in English, like they're having a fierce dispute, but I've heard that they're actually really close.

Note:
If you ever have the opportunity to use this in connection with an actual sword fight, feel free. It can work literally as well.

Challenge: If you know who that anime character is at the top, quick, tell me where I can download a copy of that... I'm incredibly embarrassed to admit that it's the ONLY incarnation of that franchise that I haven't seen.