表現 Break: 灯台下暗し

Before I start today's post, I just wanted to say that yes, the title of these sections should really be "諺 Break." 諺(ことわざ:kotowaza), meaning proverb, is really the most apt description of everything we've ever posted under this headings with the notable exception of 怪我の功名. 表現 as it works in Japanese, is probably better used to describe things like 「あっと言う間に」 or 「顔が真っ白」, but I'm going to stick with the headings as is because, well, I'm stubborn, as far as I'm concerned proverbs are kinds of expressions, and because maybe one day we'll explain what those sample 表現 mean.

That out of the way, today's 諺 is a great way to　talk about people like me, who get caught up in details like slight errors in the heading of the blog, and let it distract them from the bigger picture:

灯台下暗し
とうだいもと　くらし
toudaimoto kurashi

灯台 is a lighthouse, and with the addition of 下、it becomes "the foot of the lighthouse." The literal translation of this expression then, is "the darkness at the foot of the lighthouse."

Originally, I was told that this proverb expresses　that the light is always darkest at the foot of a lighthouse, which my native English brain immediately linked with "the light is always darkest before the dawn."

Of course, this doesn't make much sense, because if you're a person at the foot of a lighthouse, it matters neither that it's dark nor that the light from said lighthouse shines above you. You probably don't need that light. And if you're a ship at the foot of a lighthouse, well, you (and the lighthouse) are pretty much screwed.

So before we get too far down the wrong path, think about what it would mean if you were staring at the ground in the dark, failing to look up and see the light for a better idea of the gist of 灯台下暗し。

Definition:
身近な事情はかえってわかりにくいたとえ。
Translations:
1. Can't see the forest for the trees.
2. Can't comprehend something that's right in front of you.
3. It actually becomes more difficult to understand something, the closer you get to it.

Rikai-chan provides translation number 1, above, and though I am indebted to Rikai-chan for it's awesomeness, I think I'm going to have to take issue with this interpretation. For me, saying that someone "can't see the forest for the trees," means that someone is so caught up in details that they miss the big picture. It carries a portion of blame with it. After all, it's not the forest's fault that someone surrounded by trees fails to recognize a forest. 灯台下暗し is not so much about admonishing someone for their failures, it's more about the intrinsic nature of relationships, closeness, and lighthouses.

It's almost koan-like in its paradoxical assertion. The closer you get to something, the more obscure it gets.



You can use 灯台下暗し in a variety of ways, and you can even try linking it to other concepts, like 上の空, which I first heard it in connection with. I was told that a person caught up in the middle of an important event, but is 上の空で構わないことに浸ってぼうっとしている, might also be described with　灯台下暗し。

Here are some examples:

「叔母との関係はまさに灯台下暗しです。」
My relationship with my aunt is somehow more distant, for being so close.

「灯台下暗しじゃないけど、あの人たちは近くに居すぎて気づかない恋ってあるよね。」
It's not a "forest for the trees" situation, but they're so used to being too close to each other that they don't recognize it's love.

例文：以前、頭の中にしたかったビジネスのイメージをはっきり分かりましたが、店を出してから、灯台下暗しです。日々のすることに倒されているので、ぜんぜん進むことができません。
Before, I had a clear vision of the kind of business I wanted to run. Ever since I opened my shop, though, it's like I can't get a grip on anything. I'm being beaten down by the day to day chores, and can't make any progress at all.

悪木盗泉

あくぼく とうぜん
akuboku touzen

This saying is not one that's very easy to fit into a framing sentence, but it's excellent to use as a stand alone proverb or expression. It works as a warning or an admonition to people who are considering doing the wrong things for the wrong reasons, but it works even better when those people are considering doing the wrong things for the right reasons.

Definition:
どんなに困っていても、悪事に手を染めてはならないという戒め。悪事に近づいて人に疑われるようなことをしてはいけないという意味もある。
Translations:
1. The righteous never stray from the path
2. The ends don't justify the means

The kanji read as follows: bad tree steal spring (spring as in water, not the season) and when I read it I thought maybe it meant that "The bad tree steals the water from the spring," implying some kind of inverse lesson about how we should strive to not be like the "bad tree," but as I've learned the hard way, these kinds of speculative inferences about why something means what it does in Japanese are RARELY accurate. A little bit of web-research yielded the true origins.


This site, despite being one big visual headache, actual contains quite a bit of useful information about Japanese expressions. In fact, it might contain all of it. It says, if you can track down the section on 悪木盗泉, that it's a warning. No matter how hot it is, one should never sit in the shade of the bad trees; No matter how thirsty you are, there is no cause to drink from the stolen spring. It seems more poetic that way, doesn't it?

There are even some other similar expressions that make use of the bad tree imagery: 「熱しても悪木の陰に休まず」 or just ｢悪僕之陰」will do the trick.

I guess, conceptually, we have some similar sayings in English. "The road to hell is paved with good intentions," springs to mind. And with the Japanese cultural emphasis on ideas of karma (因果応報), you can imagine how an evil deed performed by a good man might negate his goodness, or how a noble deed accomplished by immoral means can't really be counted as a noble deed.

I've found some other examples of uses of 悪木盗泉 that prescribe a がんばって、ガマンして code of living, like on this site, SomeGirls_blog, run by a guy who seems to be very 男ポイ. He seems to be lamenting a female friends impending divorce (or horrible marriage), but here's what he says the 悪木盗泉の心構え male is responsible for:

男なら、どんなにプレッシャーが掛かっても前に進まないとね。
A man must press on, no matter how much pressure he is subjected to.
男なら、どんな困難があろうと目の前の人を幸せにしないとね。
A man must work to make the people in his life happy, no matter what difficulties this may entail.
男なら、道を踏み外さないよう自分に厳しくしないとね。
A man must be strict and relentless in his own discipline so that he never makes any missteps, never strays from the path.
男なら、たった一人で正義を貫かないとね。
A man is responsible for himself, and even if he is all alone, he must make sure that all of his actions are just.

Sounds a bit like a martyr-complex to me. I wonder what a woman's work consists of?

例文：社長が不正なやり方で仕事をしているので、僕の首になっても悪木盗泉の心構えで、皆に公表します。

The company president is up to some shady dealings, and even if it means my neck, I'm gonna keep on the righteous path and go public with it.