A cat that can't appreciate a gold coin. A mantis brave enough to stand up to a duke's carriage.
Twelve Japanese animal proverbs, and the stories behind them.
12 Animal Proverbs
01
Neko ni Koban — "A Coin for a Cat"
In the Edo period, the koban was a high-value gold coin most commoners rarely handled. Give one to a cat, the thinking goes, and it means nothing, since the cat has no way to grasp its worth. The phrase later appeared on an iroha karuta playing card, which helped cement it as a household expression.
02
Neko ni Katsuobushi — "Bonito Flakes Left with a Cat"
This one is traced to Nezumi no Sōshi, a book by the Edo-period scholar Hiraga Gennai. Leaving bonito flakes, a cat's favorite food, in a cat's care is asking for trouble, since no cat could resist eating them. It's used for any situation where temptation makes carelessness all but guaranteed.
03
Ken'en no Naka — "A Dog-and-Monkey Relationship"
Several origin stories exist for this one. A common theory points to hunting: when hunters brought dogs into the mountains, the dogs would bark furiously at any monkey that came near, a scene repeated often enough to become shorthand for a hostile pairing. A separate theory ties it to the layout of the Chinese zodiac.
04
Nakittsura ni Hachi — "A Bee Stings a Crying Face"
This proverb owes its popularity to Edo iroha karuta, a set of playing cards where each saying was matched to a syllable of the Japanese alphabet. It was assigned to the card for "na" in the Edo-region deck — Kyoto's version paired a different saying with that same syllable — and from there became the standard way to describe one misfortune piling onto another.
05
Ari no Ikketsu — "A Single Ant Hole"
This traces back to the Chinese philosopher Han Feizi, who wrote that even an embankment a thousand jō high can collapse from a hole dug by ants and mole crickets. The image of a massive structure undone by the smallest opening became a lasting warning: a moment of carelessness, however minor, can bring down something much larger.
06
Tōrō no Ono — "A Mantis's Axe"
The story comes from the Chinese text Han Shi Wai Zhuan. As Duke Zhuang of Qi rode out on a hunt, a single mantis raised its front legs and stood its ground against his approaching carriage. Told that the insect simply didn't know how to retreat, the duke was so struck by its nerve that he had his carriage steer around it instead.
07
Kamo ga Negi wo Shotte Kuru — "A Duck Arrives Carrying Its Own Leeks"
Duck hot pot calls for leeks as an essential companion ingredient. This proverb imagines the impossibly convenient scene of a duck showing up already carrying the leeks needed to cook it, shorthand for a stroke of luck that's almost too good to be true. The Edo-period noodle dish kamo-nanban, duck and leek served over soba, grew out of that same pairing.
08
Tonbi ni Aburaage wo Sarawareru — "A Kite Snatches Your Fried Tofu"
The black kite is a bird of prey known for swooping down without warning and making off with whatever it grabs. One theory traces the phrase to kites stealing food offerings left at Shinto shrines. Either way, it captures that particular jolt of having something taken right out of your hands.
09
Tanuki Neiri — "A Raccoon Dog's Feigned Sleep"
Raccoon dogs, or tanuki, have a genuine defense reflex called thanatosis: under a sudden shock, their bodies go still, appearing dead or asleep even though they're completely unharmed. That real behavior gave rise to the phrase for a person who pretends to be asleep, or otherwise unaware, to dodge an inconvenient situation.
10
Kame no Kō yori Toshi no Kō — "A Turtle's Shell Is Nothing Next to the Wisdom of Age"
This proverb is a pun. Its second half was originally written with kō (劫), a Buddhist term for an almost incomprehensibly long stretch of time, linked by shared pronunciation to kō (甲), the character for a turtle's shell. Turtles are traditionally said to live ten thousand years, making them a natural stand-in for the wisdom age accumulates.
11
Fugu wa Kuitashi Inochi wa Oshishi — "I Want to Eat Fugu, but I Value My Life"
Traced to Ninshin Nozoki Karakuri, a comic novel from the Edo period, this proverb plays on a very real danger: pufferfish, or fugu, is a prized delicacy, but improperly prepared it's lethally poisonous. It captures the tension of wanting something enough to risk it while being fully aware of what that risk could cost.
12
Nō Aru Taka wa Tsume wo Kakusu — "A Skilled Hawk Hides Its Claws"
This phrase is attributed to the words of Hōjō Ujinao, a Sengoku-period warlord, as recorded in Hōjō Ujinao Jibun Kotowazadome. It draws on real falconry: a hawk keeps its sharp talons tucked away right up until the instant it strikes. Genuinely skilled people, the saying goes, don't need to show off what they're capable of.