信成万事

しんせい　ばんじ
shinsei banji

And, after a few days off, we're back with another one of those yojis that will make you question the validity of the site...

This is a yoji that defeats not only Rikai-chan, but it defeats the Japanese keyboard language pack, the Yojijukugo-databank, my yojijukugo dictionary, and all of my books. And yet, at a table full of Japanese co-workers, when someone listed it as their favorite, everybody recognized it and acknowledged it. It is a good one.

Definition:
きっと出来ると信じてやればそのとおりに出来るが、心配したり不安がったりしてやっていると成就しないこと。
Translations:
1. Success or failure is determined by your own belief in your abilities.
2. If you believe you'll be successful, you will. If you doubt yourself, you will fail.
3. Believe in yourself and the magic will happen.

There's another Japanese saying that fits up with this one pretty nicely: 信ずる者は救われる; Those who believe will be rescued. Whenever I've heard this one used, it hasn't been in the sense of "If you sit around and wait faithfully, someone will come along and save you," but rather, things will work out in the end for people who believe that they will.

例文：「信成万事」とよく言われますが、躁うつ病にかかている上に精神分裂症です。どうしたらいいだろう？
People are always saying "Those who believe, succeed; Those who doubt, fail," but I'm a manic depressive schizophrenic. What should I do?

疑心暗鬼

ぎしん　あんき
gishin anki

Ya SUSPECT! One of the things that I love about studying Yo-ji-juku-go is the fun of decoding them. I thought I was onto a Tell-tale Heart with this one, but it wasn't what I expected it to be.

Definition:
疑いの気持ちで見ると、なんでもないことまで怪しく思えること。
Translation:
1. Suspicion breeds suspicion.
2. A state of paranoia
3. When you go looking for demons, you'll find them, even if you have to conjure them up yourself

I could've used this one just a week ago, when I got back from India and was convinced that I had malaria after looking up all the symptoms online... or I could use it to describe how I feel about airplanes. Why does every single noise that an airplane makes sound like some kind of mechanical failure?

You could also use it to describe the Japanese mentality towards crime in their country, as this video, and this article at Japan Probe will illustrate. Enjoy.

Crime-fiction
by newsprb

The important point in using this yo-ji is that it's not a matter of a guilty conscience that creates the paranoia, as I first suspected. It's more like the idea of finding a loose pebble on a mountainside and moving cross-country for fear of an avalanche.

例文：
A-san:　最近、彼女が嘘ついていると思う。
I think my girlfriend's been lying to me lately.
B-san: マジで？何の嘘？
Really? Lying?
A-san: 昨日、7-11で寄って来たと言ったけど、Family Martのレシートだった。何か怪しく思わない？で、車のオドメーターを見て、彼女が言ったより遠くまで行っていた。もしかして、昨日は仕事ではなくて、浮気してたかな？そして、違う道を通って帰って、7じゃなくて、Family Martで夕食を買ってきたのかな。
Yesterday, she said she went to 7-11, but the receipt was from Family Mart. Isn't that suspect? Then, I checked her odometer, and she drove farther than she said she did. What if she didn't go to work yesterday? If she was cheating on me, then she would've taken a different road home, and that would explain why she bought dinner at Family Mart and not a 7-11, wouldn't it?
B-san: わー。お前、本当に疑心暗鬼になっているなー！今、Family Martのバイトに遅れているから、後で話そう。
Wow, you're getting really paranoid, huh? We can talk about this more later. Now, I'm running late for my shift at Family Mart.
A-san: お前だ！！！！
IT WAS YOU!!!!!

半信半疑

はんしん　はんぎ
hanshin hangi

The kanji say it all. Half-faith, half doubt. This yo-ji is attached to です、or で and though it starts with faith, it seems to just boil down to a matter of doubt. .

Definition:
本当かどうか信じ切れないようす。真偽の判断に迷うこと。
Translations:
1. Unsure of what to believe.
2. Half-convinced; half-doubtful
3. To be skeptical.

Most of the online examples I've found are situations that we would translate simply as 'doubt' or 'skepticism:'

半信半疑だけど、やってみる。
I don't know if I can do it, but I'm gonna try.


誰々の年齢が半信半疑です。
to be in disbelief regarding so and so's age.

まずはじめて医者にかかるときは、半信半疑、つまり半分は不信の感をもってよいと思います。
When you first get diagnosed by a doctor, take it with a grain of salt because... it's better to critically evaluate things... *

Learning this one makes me wish I had a transcript of some of the lessons we heard at the zazen retreat in Oita, because I'm sure that the Reverend Paul must have used it when he said the Japanese version of this: "You'll know that you'll be able to learn from a Buddhist teacher if you can do two things: Accept and believe everything he says as absolutely true without exception and also, immediately reject everything he says as bullshit, without exception." Sounds like a super literal version of 半信半疑 to me.

例文：あなたは遅刻した理由は半信半疑です。本当にお化けカニに攻撃されたの？
Your reason for being late makes me incredulous. Were you really attacked by a freaky demon crab?
(If so you should attack his weak point for massive damage.)



*(Okay... just a quick and WAY overdue note about my translations: They can probably be translated better. I tend to try and capture the sentiment instead of what is literally being said. I don't know if that makes me a good translator or a bad one, but I'm sure that if you were to RE-cast my translated English into Japanese, they wouldn't come out the same. A more literal translation of that doctor statement would be "When you first get diagnosed by a doctor, be half convinced and half doubtful, because it's better to have a skeptical feeling, I think.")