There is a saying in Japan, “If the wind blows, the bucket shop will make money.
This means that a certain thing has an unexpected effect on an unexpected place.
Why does the wind blow and the bucket shop make a profit?
Let us consider the mechanism.
(1) In the past, roads were not paved, so when a strong wind blows, dust and sand fly.
(2) Since medicine was not developed in those days, more people went blind due to dust and sand getting into their eyes.
(3) At that time, blind people earned their living by playing the shamisen, so the number of shamisen players increased and the demand for shamisen increased.
(4) The number of cats decreased because cat skins were needed for the body of the shamisen.
(5) The number of cats, the natural enemy of rats, decreased, so the number of rats increased.
(6) Since rats gnaw buckets, the demand for buckets increases, and the bucket shop make a profit.
This is how the proverb works.
From the origins of this proverb, we can also learn something about the shamisen.
First, the body of the shamisen was made of cat skin. Second, the shamisen was a means for the blind to earn a living.
Finally, we can see that the shamisen was so familiar to the Japanese people of that time that such a proverb was born.
Leave a review