What kind of proverbs do you have in your country?
In the past, this blog has introduced you to such proverbs as “If the wind blows, the bucket shop will make money,” “Peaches and chestnuts take three years to bear fruit, persimmons take eight years,.
In this article, we will introduce three more Japanese proverbs related to Japanese instruments.
The first is “shamisen sannen koto mitsuki.
This phrase means that it takes three years until one manages to become proficient at playing the shamisen, which is played while searching for the posision on the fingerboard, and three months until one manages to become proficient at playing the sou-no-koto, which has been tuned in advance.
The second is “Ushi ni taishite koto wo dannzu” (“play the sou-no-koto against the ox”).
This phrase means that “It is of no use to preach any kind of fine reason to the foolish or the lowly in aspiration. In English, the phrase “In one ear and out the other” is the closest equivalent.
The third and final phrase is “Shamisen to tako ha chi wo kuruwasu (Shamisen and octopus make blood go crazy)”.
This phrase means, “When one hears the sound of the shamisen, one’s playful spirit is tickled. Incidentally, there is no scientific evidence that octopus makes one’s blood go crazy.
In fact, the three proverbs introduced here are not well known even among Japanese people.
There may be hidden proverbs related to traditional musical instruments in your country as well.
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