2012-11-15

The prideful

Another quick one from the Chōninbukuro:

In the reign of Toyotomi, there was graffiti which read: "The days of the prideful are numbered." By way of reply, Toyotomi wrote: "The days of the humble are numbered too."

The original graffiti is probably a reference to the opening of the Heike monogatari.

incidentally, the word I am translating as "graffiti" here is rakusho, which doesn't strictly mean graffiti (in the sense of text written on a wall) so much as anonymous lampoonery written on paper which was then posted on walls, or just left lying around, where people would see it.

Popularity factor: 5

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無名酒:

Have you got chōnin in a back?

Well, maybe you should let them/him out!

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無名酒:

(bah, bag not back. Pretend I come from a linguistic culture that fails to make a voiced/unvoiced distinction....)

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Avery:

I only just recently saw an illustration of "graffiti" of kappa and other bakemono stapled to an Edo period gate. Unfortunately I can't remember whether I saw it in a book or dreamt it.

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Avery:

Hold on... it was in a children's book about chōnin which I picked up at a school library after reading your last post.

Good thing, too. I would be concerned if I were having prophetic dreams about chōnin.

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leoboiko:

or postphetic dreams...

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